Intuitive Eating 

About a year ago I came across a book on intuitive eating that fundamentally  changed my approach to counseling patients with weight concerns. The Intuitive Eating Workbook, by dietitians E. Tribole MS, RDN and E. Resch MS RDN, pioneers 10 principles of Intuitive Eating that rejects traditional diet mentality and provides a practice-based guide to making food choices you feel good about.  Below, I review principles of intuitive eating and explore how to start integrating intuitive eating into your life. 

What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive eating is defined as “a personal process of honoring your health by paying attention to the messages of your body and meeting your physical and emotional needs.”¹  Children are the ultimate intuitive eaters; they eat when hungry and stop eating when full.  As we get older, we often lose touch with this intuitive sense and look to external cues to shape our eating habits (e.g. fad diets promoting weight loss).  Our intuitive sense never leaves us though, and we all have a natural ability to connect with our bodies, if we pause, listen and trust.²  The principles of intuitive eating will help you retrieve your inner signals of hunger and find the voice of your always present intuitive eater.   

Get Started

Intuitive eating can help you cultivate a healthy relationship with food and understand the best way to nourish yourself. The process of eating intuitively is often a journey, not a straight line.  It takes time and dedication for it to become a natural part of your life.²  It can take weeks, months, or even years.²  There is no set timeline, go at your own pace!  

Reject the Dieting Mindset 

Dieting is being told when to eat, what to eat, and when to stop.²  The advertised pay-off of dieting is the excitement that you will lose weight and find answers to your problems.  But, most of the time, dieting gives you a temporary and false sense of control.²  

A study by Tray Mann at UCLA shows that dieting actually increases your risk for gaining weight.  The study showed that up to two thirds of the people regained weight that they lost.  The study concluded that dieting is a consistent predictor of future weight gain.  

The point isn’t that you should ignore your weight altogether, but instead put your focus of weight loss on the back burner.¹  A focus on weight loss will make eating choices stressful and take away from the pleasure of food. Instead,  focus  on how certain foods make you feel.  For example, perhaps you feel more energetic after you eat a meal with salmon, spinach, and quinoa.  Think about that feeling when you are deciding what to eat and use it to guide your choices.  Shift your focus away from actions you think will change the way your body looks. Instead, focus on actions that will improve the way your body feels.⁵ Once you do this and embrace the intuitive eating process, you will ultimately find the weight that is natural for you.¹  

Challenge Old Food Beliefs

Consistently challenge whether your common beliefs lead to good eating outcomes for you. If not, try to reframe them in a way that is more consistent with the outcome you desire. 

Listen to Your Body

Hunger is a natural biological cue.¹  When your body is hungry it tries to get your attention in unique ways, from mood and energy changes to increased thoughts about food.¹  Look for different signs of hunger.  Are you irritable, light headed, or have difficulty concentrating?  Each time you eat, ask yourself: Am I hungry? What’s my hunger level?  Any of the following can be hunger symptoms: mild gurgling in the stomach, lightheadedness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and headache.¹  To be mindful of different ranges of hunger, rate your hunger on a scale of one to ten.²  Some days your hunger may be higher (perhaps you exercised longer the day before), and some it may be lower.  It’s okay to eat more or less based on the hunger you feel.  

Permission to Eat

Restricting food makes food exciting.¹  Unconditional permission to eat takes away the excitement and associated anticipation.  When you know the food will be there, it removes the desire to overeat.¹   This doesn’t mean you should eat unconditionally without awareness, it means eat what you desire with attention to your hunger and fullness levels.¹

Come from a place of curiosity and non-judgement.  Food choices are emotionally equal.  Remove guilt associated with eating foods you may have deemed as "bad" in the past.⁴ You are not a good or bad person based on what you eat.⁴  Your values haven’t changed just because you ate French fries.⁴

When all foods fit into your diet it allows space for you to ask the following questions:  “Do I really like the taste of this food?” “Do I like how this food feels in my body?” “Would I choose to feel this way again?”⁴   And if you really want whatever you’re craving, then allow yourself to eat without guilt.⁴  Focus on savoring the food.

Discover the Satisfaction

Savor the food with all of your senses.⁵  What does the food look like? Is it appealing, or unappealing? What do you hear? Is the food sizzling? Is the music you chose relaxing? What does the food smell like? Are there smells other than the food? How does the food feel in your hands or in your mouth? What’s the texture like? How does the food taste? Is it savory, or sweet? Taste everything and chew slowly.  Try to identify ingredients and flavors.⁵ 

Eating in an environment that is inviting has a huge impact on meal satisfaction.  Mealtime rituals can be helpful for you to enjoy other aspects of eating. This may include setting the table, putting away electronics, or turning on some relaxing music to enjoy during meals.⁵ 

Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract, and resolve issues without using food.²  Although it may be comforting for a short amount of time, food won’t solve your problems or change your emotions.¹   Find effective and healthy ways to deal with emotions like loneliness, boredom, or anger.  Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel well.  You don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy.¹  

Honor Your Health

As a nutritionist, I still promote a whole-foods diet as the optimal food choices, and still provide patients with menus and ideas for new ways of eating.  The difference is now I'm not providing a caloric restriction with the intent of weight loss.  Menus can be helpful if someone has never experimented with different styles of eating or foods.  A nutrition counseling session is extremely individualized (or personalized), there is no one-size-fits all approach.

Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good. Tune into how your body feels during and after meals and snacks. How do you want to feel? What types of foods may support that? Experiment with new foods.  You are the expert of your body. Only you know how certain foods feel, or how you experience hunger and fullness.  You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day.¹  It all depends on what you eat consistently over time.  The process of learning to eat intuitively is a journey, make sure to enjoy it!