Intro to Intuitive Eating
Co-Written by Emily Stevens, Dietetics Student
You may have heard the phrase 'intuitive eating' thrown around in various health and wellness spaces lately with conflicting information, depending on your source. You might be wondering what Intuitive Eating means – can you really eat whatever you want all day? Will your weight change if you adopt Intuitive Eating into your lifestyle? Will you be able to control yourself around food? Is this just another fad diet?
Below we will aim to answer all your questions and provide an overview of the 10-principles of Intuitive Eating.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is an evidence-based, weight-neutral model first described by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995 (1,2). Tribole and Resch developed this model in response to observing the struggles their clients had with weight loss and dieting, and the guilt, shame, and body image problems that seemed to come with that (1,2).
If you have ever felt guilt for 'failing' at a diet or gaining weight back after losing it, you are not alone. However, research is now showing us that this is not the individual's fault, and that weight may not be under our control to the extent that was previously thought (3). In fact, repeated weight loss attempts and weight cycling (the process of losing weight, gaining weight back, and then losing weight again) may be related to a higher incidence of heart disease and bone density loss (3). Aside from the physical consequences of dieting and restricting, psychological effects to dieting including negative body image, a preoccupation with food, and for some, the development of eating disorders (3).
The concept of respecting and responding to hunger cues without the pressure of diet culture is not new (think of how an infant or toddler inherently knows how much they need and want to eat each day, even as this may vary day to day). Tribole and Resch, however, were able to create a framework for those of us who have become out of touch with these natural cues, and this is what the practice of Intuitive Eating teaches. Intuitive Eating is comprised of 10 principles - each of these principles aim to build body awareness, empowerment, and honour health through listening and responding to the needs of our bodies (3). These practices are also sometimes called interoceptive awareness and interoceptive responsiveness (1,2,4).
Why Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is meant to be an explorative journey and is not a diet or weight-loss plan (1). It is a weight-inclusive, evidenced-based model that has a validated assessment scale and has been researched in over 100 studies (4).
If you have spent many years dieting, this may feel foreign at first. However, with some work, time, and exploration, Intuitive Eating aims to allow you to listen and respond to your body's sensations without counting calories, macros, or restricting your intake (4).
The intuitive eating framework is aligned with Health at Every Size® and firmly believes that all bodies deserve dignity and respect (4). You deserve to feel empowered and in complete control of your own body and its physical and psychological needs – without any external factors getting in the way of you meeting your body's needs.
An Overview of the 10 Principles(2,5):
Principle 1: Reject the Diet Mentality
It is ok to feel angry at diet culture and challenge everything you thought you knew about dieting and weight loss. Understand that it was never your fault if you tried multiple diets or weight loss attempts and gained the weight back or felt that they did not work – you are not, and were not a failure. Diets are not built to be sustainable, and more often than not – they will fail you (not the other way around).
The first step towards rediscovering intuitive eating and food freedom is to get rid of any dieting books and reject the mentality that a new diet might solve all your problems.
Principle 2: Honour Your Hunger
Ensure that you are keeping your body fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Any restriction can lead to excessive hunger and a drive to overeat. Eat when you feel those first biological signs of hunger. Learning to recognize and honour these hunger cues will help you in your journey to building trust in your body and food.
Principle 3: Make Peace with Food
This is hard – but make peace with food, stop fighting and resisting the basic biological need to eat and fuel your body. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. Just as not respecting your hunger can lead to overeating, telling yourself you cannot have a particular food can also lead to uncontrollable cravings and bingeing. Allow yourself to have these foods that you once told yourself were forbidden with no self-judgement and no guilt.
Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
Challenge the idea that foods can be ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Adopt the idea that foods do not have any inherent moral value. When that voice in your head tells you that you are bad for eating too many slices of pizza or that you have been good when you choose the salad, question where these thoughts come from and push back. These thoughts and rules have been so ingrained in us through common discourse and diet culture and challenging them is a critical step in Intuitive Eating.
Principle 5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Food is a deeply cultural and social aspect of our lives, just as much as it is a necessity for us to live. As humans, we can find so much pleasure and satisfaction in eating. When you allow yourself to eat what you want and in a comfortable environment, you can begin to find and discover this satisfaction and enjoyment once again.
Principle 6: Feel Your Fullness
Just as you need to feel your hunger, you also need to feel your fullness. Your body will send you signals when you are no longer hungry and listening to these cues will help instill trust in yourself with food. Be mindful. Pause as you eat. Pay close attention to how the food tastes and how your body is responding to your meal.
Recognizing both hunger and fullness cues can sometimes be the most challenging part of reconnecting with your body, especially if you have chronically dieted or otherwise ignored these cues for many years. Know that it can take time to learn to recognize them again, but trusting in your body’s ability to regulate appetite and knowing the factors that influence it can help to heal your relationship with food, and yourself.
Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions and Kindness
Self-compassion is incredibly important in intuitive eating. Recognize that restriction can lead to a loss of control which might feel like emotional eating. It is important that you find ways to comfort yourself through negative emotions such as anxiety, loneliness, or boredom, and working on getting to the source of the feeling, when able.
It’s important to recognize that while emotional eating can sometimes feel scary, overwhelming, or like a loss of control – there is nothing inherently wrong with it. Using food to cope with emotions (whether positive or negative) is a normal human response. The focus of intuitive eating is to work on building other emotion coping skills, so that emotional eating is not your only coping technique.
Principle 8: Respect Your Body
Respect your body for what it is here and now today. Each of us has a genetic makeup that makes us who we are, including our body size. When you are over critical of your body, you will struggle to reject diet culture and embrace Intuitive Eating completely. All bodies deserve dignity – including yours!
Principle 9: Movement – Feel the Difference
Find movement that you enjoy. Forget what program your favourite fitness influencer is selling and find an activity that makes you feel good! Focus on the positive effects you feel from exercising when participating in an activity you genuinely enjoy. Feel the difference in your body when you focus on how movement feels.
Principle 10: Honour Your Health with Gentle Nutrition
Finally, make food choices that will honour your health by incorporating gentle nutrition. It is possible to make food choices that make you feel good and taste good. Understand that you do not need to eat perfectly to be healthy, consistency over time is most important.
Eating Intuitively means finding a comfortable middle ground of both listening to, and trusting in, your body while also listening to health guidelines and recommendations – it does not have to be one or the other!
Intuitive Eating can feel like a scary step, especially if you have been deeply immersed in dieting for a long time. However, Intuitive Eating is an incredibly natural way to care for and honour our bodies. By working through these 10 principles, you can begin to reject the diet mentality and enjoy food again.
A dietitian who works with you to explore intuitive eating can be an invaluable and resourceful guide for you as you embark on this journey!
References
1. Tribole E. What is Intuitive Eating? [Internet] The Original Intuitive Eating Pros. [cited May 10, 2021] Available from: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/what-is-intuitive-eating-tribole/
2. Tribole E, Resch E. Intuitive Eating, 4th ed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press; 2020
3. Rothblum ED. Slim Chance for Permanent Weight Loss. Archives of Scientific Psych. 2018 ;6:63-69
4. Tribole E. Intuitive Eating: Research Update. Scans Pulse. 2017;36(6):1-5.
5. Tribole E. 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating [Internet] The Original Intuitive Eating Pros. [cited May 10, 2021] Available from: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/
Other potential resources for more in-depth information or a future ‘deep dive’:
Osward A, Chapman J, Wilson C. Do Interoceptive Awareness and Interoceptive Responsiveness mediate the relationship between body appreciation and intuitive eating in young women? J Appetite. 2016; 109:66-72
Bacon L, Aphramor L. Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift. Nutr . 2011;10-9
Van Dyke N, Drinkwater EJ. Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: literature review. Public Health Nutr. 2014 Aug; 17(8):1757-66
Smith T, Hawks SR. Intuitive Eating, Diet Composition, and The Meaning of Food in Healthy Weight Promotion. Am J Health Educ. 2006; 37(3):130-136
