Intuitive Eating: Embrace Your Body’s Cues for Better Health
Intuitive eating is a refreshing approach that encourages listening to your body's natural cues instead of adhering to rigid dietary rules. In this blog post, we’ll dive into what intuitive eating truly entails, dispel some common myths, and offer practical tips to help you embrace this empowering approach to food. Let’s explore how intuitive eating can transform your relationship with eating and well-being.
What is Intuitive Eating?
You may be hearing a lot about intuitive eating if you’re exploring the anti-diet world. It is an eating framework created in 1995 by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. Intuitive eating is defined by ten guiding principles: Reject the Diet Mentality, Honor Your Hunger, Make Peace with Food, Challenge the Food Police, Discover the Satisfaction Factor, Feel Your Fullness, Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness, Respect Your Body, Movement - Feel the Difference, and Honor Your Health - Gentle Nutrition. But what does intuitive eating really mean?
Understanding Intuitive Eating Through Childlike Eating Habits
Imagine eating like a child. Most children eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. This, in the simplest sense, defines intuitive eating. It’s about listening to internal cues to help you decide when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat rather than external cues. External cues you might currently be listening to include diet culture messages such as the avoidance of a whole food group or waiting for the clock to strike an exact time before allowing yourself a meal. If you’re relying on external cues to decide when and what to eat, your internal cues (hunger, fullness, cravings, etc.) can begin to dampen in their strength.
Responding to Your Body's Needs
In order for our bodies to communicate with us effectively, we need to listen and respond to what our bodies are telling us. For example, if your body feels hunger in the morning but you repeatedly ignore this feeling because you don’t want to eat breakfast, eventually you will stop feeling hunger in the morning. This does not mean your body doesn’t need nutrition in the morning. But it does mean your body has given up trying to communicate that need to you because you’re not responding. The good news is that these cues can always be restored with time and rebuilding of trust with your body.
The Emotional Aspect of Intuitive Eating
Children don’t typically feel guilty for eating dessert; they also don’t beat themselves up when they eat more than they intended and feel too full. However, many adults do both of these things. The practice of intuitive eating means liberating yourself from food restrictions and allowing yourself all foods in the amount that feels good to your body. It also means accepting that eating more than you intended to is sometimes part of normal eating and that the physical discomfort that comes with that experience will always pass.
Intuitive Eating and Nutrition
But what about nutrition? Does intuitive eating just ignore the importance of good nutrition? The beautiful thing about eating intuitively is that in listening to your body when making food choices, you will begin to tune in to what makes your body feel good and what does not. Just as you would not feel your best if you only ate cake, you would not feel your best if you only ate broccoli. There is a balance that will allow you to confidently nourish both your body and soul with the food you eat.
Seeking Professional Guidance
If you find yourself somewhere along this journey - interested in learning more about intuitive eating, wanting to sharpen your introspective awareness, struggling with one of the principles of intuitive eating, meeting with a Registered Dietitian specializing in eating disorders and intuitive eating is a great place to start. A credentialed professional in this area will be able to assess your individual nutrition needs, help shed light on any areas of your relationship with food and your body that may be fractured, and provide guidance for healing these relationships and meeting your needs. If this sounds like something you would benefit from, please feel free to reach out via the book an appointment link on my practice website to learn more.
