Intuitive Eating
What is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is not a diet but a weight-neutral approach to food and eating that is based on your own individual needs. These may be internal, emotional, physical or mental and do not relate to food or calories. We rely on our instinct, and rational thought to determine what we, as the expert of our own body, need in a given moment.
There are the key principles to intuitive eating which include:
Reject the Diet Mentality
Honor Your Hunger
Make Peace with Food
Challenge the Food Police
Respect Your Fullness
Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Honour Your Feelings without Using Food
Respect Your Body
Exercise—Feel the Difference
Honour your health - using gentle nutrition
Intuitive eating builds on these principles to help us connect with ourselves in two different ways.
Creating stronger attunement
Honouring these principles helps us connect to our physical sensations and understand what our biological needs are. This may look like re-learning to feel our hunger and fullness cues, sitting in uncomfortable emotions without distraction or noticing how our body feels during and after movement.
Removing barriers and obstacles
The principles of intuitive eating remove barriers and obstacles to attunement by challenging behaviours, food rules, thoughts and beliefs that disconnect us from what we biologically and physically need.
Why does this matter?
Intuitive Eating has benefits beyond what you might expect. Not only do intuitive eaters have greater weight stability, they also have greater awareness of their internal body signals (we call this interoceptive awareness), greater connection to their physical hunger sensations, improved mental health, and reduced binge eating behaviour. They have lowered risk of eating disorders and better overall wellbeing.
Compared to weight loss programs, those in intuitive eating programs had improved outcomes (better cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides), results that were sustained two years later, and improved self-esteem.
How do we shift towards a more intuitive way of eating?
This can take time and practice. Working with a professional for some accountability and support with awareness around your eating behaviours is a great start. Self-compassion is also often one of the first things we start practicing.
To start, try asking yourself the following questions:
Think about some times when you struggled with your eating. How do you normally respond - what do you do or say to yourself? What is your tone?
If you had a friend or loved one who was going through something similar, how would you respond to them? Write down what you might say to them. How is your tone in this scenario?
What factors (or fears/worries) lead to the difference between how you talk to others and how you talk to yourself?
What might change if you responded to yourself with more kindness?
These questions are adapted from the Intuitive Eating Handbook by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The principles are taken from Intuitive Eating the 4th Edition by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.
If you are interested in learning more about how we approach food, weight-management and mental health, book with one of our naturopathic doctors to discuss how we can support your goals.