Are you trying to eat intuitively, but feel like you are spending WAY to much $$$ on groceries?

I mean, who isn’t right now? Produce prices are bananas 🍌, eggs are no yolk pricey 🍳, and somehow, that grocery bill keeps creeping up week after week 🛒.

With food costs rising, it’s impossible not to consider your budget when making choices at the store.

Do you splurge on the creamy, decadent organic milk that makes your morning latte just right—even if it’s $8 a carton? Or do you stick to the budget and risk feeling unsatisfied with a swap that just doesn’t hit the same?

Balancing intuitive eating with financial realities can feel tricky—but it’s absolutely possible. Let’s talk about how.

How Budgeting Has Shifted My Intuitive Eating Approach

On a personal note, my relationship with grocery shopping has changed a lot—especially after navigating the challenges of grad school on a tight budget.

For years, my shopping trips were ruled by price tags. I bought whatever was che...

How often have I found myself in this trance? Aimlessly wandering through the house with a restless lack of direction, motivation, and a daunting sense of uncertainty about how to break free from this stalled out inertia. Luckily, I’ve been hit with a BRAIN BOLT that once again reminds me of the trusty tool that has rescued me time and time again from this restless state. 

Out of the desk drawer and into the light, I unearthed my once-forgotten but still perfectly serviceable "dopamine menu". Its novel, yet familiar presence was just the guidance I needed to pinpoint activities that could infuse my brain with some MUCH-needed dopamine, providing the energetic *spark* necessary to tackle the day of pending tasks.

In the whirlwind of our fast-paced world, where distractions abound and demand after demand looms, creating and sustaining focus and motivation is a very real challenge, especially for folx with ADHD. 

Cut to our shining “dopamine menu” - a dynamic visual tool craft...

Transitions, changes, the unknown. Boredom, monotony, lack of stimulation. Both sides of the spectrum, both faces of the coin, can bring a sense of restlessness within us. It can feel unsettling in the body and for many of us, it’s hard to sit and be with that buzzy feeling of unease. 

Our natural human instinct is to sound the brain sirens, react to that restlessness, impulsively grab the quickest and trustiest toolbox tool we’ve got, and hope the discomfort can be pacified, just for a moment, please! 

So what does that trusty tool look like for most of us? Like a mother that gives a bottle to a crying baby, our lifetime body wisdom tells us food will comfort, console, and bring relief to us during those pesky periods. 

And yes! Lived experience has shown us time and time again that the action of eating does soothe the ever-so-ancy soul. It is a tried and true tool in the emotional toolbox and because it’s also linked to the nourishment of this living and breathing body, i...