What is Intuitive Eating?

It’s not a diet

Maybe you’re a dieter who wants to give up restrictive eating because you just…can’t…do it…anymore. Or maybe you’re someone who has struggled with overeating for some time. Either way, you’re wondering how you can eat healthier while still feeling relaxed around food. The answer: Intuitive Eating!

Intuitive Eating is a book by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch that teaches the reader how to stop dieting and start looking within for guidance around eating. The 10 principles of Intuitive Eating are:

1. Reject the Diet Mentality
2. Honor Your Hunger
3. Make Peace with Food
4. Challenge the Food Police
5. Respect Your Fullness
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food
8. Respect Your Body
9. Exercise–Feel the Difference
10. Honor Your Health

Reject Dieting

In my opinion, rejecting dieting mentality and honoring your internal hunger and fullness cues are the core elements of Intuitive Eating. Within the this framework, I believe there is a lot of flexibility (it’s intuitive, after all!) to suit anyone’s needs. Long-time restrictive eaters might benefit more from “demand feeding” – eating whenever you feel hungry for food, even if it is not on a schedule. Some may enjoy a more structured approach, such as having regular breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack times, but within that structure, giving yourself food that you really love and eating as much as you want while honoring hunger and fullness signals.

Others might find yet different ways to eat intuitively. The main point is to not get to that overly hungry, starved place before a meal – the feeling I like to call hangry (yeah, you know it, hungry-angry) – which usually results in eating way too much. The other key is finding that magic stopping point, the one where your stomach says to you, in a very rational voice (which I imagine to sound a lot like KITT, the car from Knight Rider), “That was delicious, and even though I’m not stuffed yet, I really think I’ve had enough.” It sounds easy, but if you’ve been dieting a long time, these are skills you may have to re-learn (we know how to do this as babies). Depending on how long you’ve been ignoring these internal cues, it could take a while to become skillful at eating intuitively again, but rest assured it is way easier and a lot more enjoyable than counting calories.

What Intuitive Eating is not: Emotional eating. Eating to self-medicate. Eating to meet someone else’s idea of what you should eat. “Letting yourself go.”

The results of Intuitive Eating

What is the result of Intuitive Eating? Well, this is how it has worked for many of my clients

• They can eat whatever they want without feeling instantly guilty.
• They start to eat more variety.
• They enjoy what they eat.
• They stop overeating or bingeing.
• They sometimes leave food on their plates because they are satisfied.
• They can savor a meal at a restaurant without first eating the entire bread basket.
• They enjoy sweets in normal and enjoyable amounts.
• They don’t think about food all day long.
• They can enjoy meals with friends.
• They forget about the ice cream in the freezer.

In other words, they are free from the hold food had on them. And then they are free to live the other aspects of life fully.

I am a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, so if you want to feel free of the power food has over you, schedule a 30 minute free call and we’ll see what could help.

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Start your path to normal eating with my free guide, 5 Strategies to Stop Overeating