If you’re clued in to the latest diet or health trends, then it’s likely you’ve heard of intuitive eating. However, it’s very different to the usual diet fads and fleeting trends. It’s a philosophy about eating that takes us back to our most basic instincts. In a sense, it’s the anti-diet, as it doesn’t provide any universal guidelines or restrictions.
The main principle of intuitive eating is that you are the best person to decide what your body needs and when. We are each an expert in our own body’s hunger signals in a way that no one else can be. Intuitive eating is about trusting yourself, learning to listen to your body, and developing a healthier relationship with food.
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The origins of intuitive eating
Some of the concepts in intuitive eating go as far back as the 1970s, built on by psychotherapists, nutritionists, and feminists of the time. The common theme was that diets simply don’t work, and we benefit more from making lifestyle adjustments and taking care of ourselves.
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There is no universal diet
The problem with diets is that they lay out a universal food plan when in reality no two people have the same body, lifestyle, or needs. Our levels of energy and hunger vary from day to day depending on an endless list of factors.
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Hunger varies
Apart from the obvious things like our activity levels, it’s natural to feel increased hunger during certain phases of the menstrual cycle, or to eat more during the winter than in the summer. Intuitive eating accepts and respects that our hunger will vary from day to day, and that our bodies know best what we need.
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The concept
The basic idea is that you eat when you’re hungry, and you stop when you’re full. This should be intuitive, but for many people, it’s not. We are surrounded by diet culture from such a young age that we learn not to trust our bodies. This means we have to relearn how to listen to our hunger.
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Understanding your needs
One of the key skills that comes with intuitive eating is identifying physical hunger and emotional hunger. If you try to practice intuitive eating without considering this, then you might end up having a pint of ice cream and a bottle of red wine every night.
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Physical hunger
Physical hunger is a biological signal that tells us we’re lacking in fuel or nutrients and need to top up. It’s expressed through fatigue, a growling stomach, and irritability, which should go away once you’ve eaten.
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Emotional hunger
Emotional hunger is driven by an emotional need rather than a physical one. Feelings of sadness, loneliness, or boredom can lead to cravings for food as a method of comfort or distraction. It often leads to feelings of guilt.
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Reconnecting with your body
Intuitive eating is likely to be beneficial to anyone who tries it, but it’s particularly helpful for those who previously suffered from eating disorders, have a history of dieting, or a negative body image. It helps you connect with your body in a gentle and non-judgmental way.
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Getting back to basics
If you think about the way a baby eats, it’s very simple. They cry and demand food when they’re hungry. They turn their heads away and immediately stop eating when they’re full. We are born with this ability to easily discern hunger and fullness, but a lot of us lose it along the way.
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Noticing the impact
It helps to start paying attention to the way certain foods or eating habits make us feel. Did you have more or less energy and focus the day you ate breakfast rather than skipping it? Do you feel heavy and lethargic after eating red meat? This is the start of understanding what your body wants.
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Check in with your emotions
It’s also important to stop and analyze your food cravings. Check in with how you’re feeling to see if the craving is driven by an emotion. It’s okay to indulge your cravings sometimes, but it’s important to differentiate this from emotional eating.
Now, let’s take a look at the key principles of intuitive eating.
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1. Reject the diet mentality
Reject the idea that there’s a diet out there for you that will finally “work.” Most people who lose weight through a restrictive diet will eventually regain it because it’s not realistic or sustainable.
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2. Respect your hunger
Hunger is not the enemy, even though we’ve been taught to see it that way. Hunger is simply the body’s way of telling us we need something in order to carry on and thrive. We should be thankful to feel hunger because it means our bodies are doing their jobs.
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2. Respect your hunger
When you feel the early signs of hunger, feed yourself. Many people have a habit of delaying their meals, but this can lead to over-eating.
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3. Respect your fullness
In the same way that we need to listen to our bodies and eat when we’re hungry, we also need to recognize when we’re full. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the enjoyment of the food, or be distracted by watching TV or talking over the dinner table.
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3. Respect your fullness
Try to eat mindfully and check in with yourself as you’re eating. Think about how the food tastes and smells, and how your body feels. These small exercises will help you to stay in touch with yourself and recognize when you’re comfortably full.
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4. Stop moralizing food
Most of us have developed a vocabulary around food that’s almost biblical. Everything is either good or bad, healthy or harmful. Categorizing food in this manner makes it difficult to enjoy certain foods and honor our hunger.
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4. Stop moralizing food
It’s okay to go out for pizza with your friends, it’s okay to have some chocolate if you feel like it. Those foods are not “bad,” and you are not “bad” for eating them. We don’t need to call them cheat meals. We’re not doing anything immoral or bad by eating. Make peace with food.
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5. Focus on the satisfaction
Make eating an enjoyable experience. Prepare a meal that tastes good to you, and take the time to sit down and eat it comfortably. Focus on the flavors and enjoy the experience.
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5. Focus on the satisfaction
When eating is a pleasurable experience, it often takes less to satisfy hunger. Standing at the kitchen counter eating leftovers out of a tupperware isn’t a particularly satisfying experience, so you may find yourself craving something else even though your physical hunger has been taken care of.
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6. Find coping strategies
Emotional eating is a strategy that many people fall back on to cope with difficult feelings. Try to pay attention and notice when you’re feeling something similar to hunger that’s actually caused by an emotion.
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6. Find coping strategies
Look for other coping strategies to deal with these feelings. Going for a walk, writing in a journal, or talking to a loved one are great ways of processing these emotions without food.
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7. Respect your body
We don’t all have to love our bodies, but at the very least we need to respect them! Whatever way your body looks right now, it is an amazingly intelligent and complex creation that allows you to do all sorts of wonderful things.
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7. Respect your body
Challenge negative thoughts you have about your body, particularly ones that relate to appearance, and remind yourself of all the great things it does.
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8. Find enjoyable movement
Some people feel that exercise is a vital part of their daily lives, while others can’t stand it. Wherever you land on that scale, it’s important to find ways of moving your body that you enjoy.
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8. Find enjoyable movement
There’s no need to focus on weight loss or any such long-term goals that will make the movement feel like an arduous task. Try to let go of these ideas and simply enjoy feeling strong, energized, and alive.
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9. Practice gentle nutrition
The foods that our bodies crave shouldn’t just taste good–they should also make us feel good. We all crave pizza sometimes, which is absolutely fine, but if we eat pizza every day then our bodies won’t feel their best.
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9. Practice gentle nutrition
As long as you generally feel good day to day, i.e. you don’t feel sluggish or suffer from indigestion, then you don’t need to worry about one meal here and there. Indulging in a craving sometimes isn’t going to make or break your health.
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Benefits of intuitive eating
Weight loss isn’t the goal of intuitive eating, but it may be a side effect for those who frequently use emotional eating as a coping mechanism and over-eat. The goal of intuitive eating is to listen to your body, and when you do that, you’re likely to start feeling a lot better!
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Improved mental health
In addition to the improved energy levels that come with nourishing yourself properly, intuitive eating has a range of mental health benefits. It has been linked with improved body image, lower levels of depression, higher self-esteem, and overall better quality of life.
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Improved physical health
Studies found that the physical benefits include lower body mass index (BMI), easier weight maintenance, improved cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and reduced inflammation. Intuitive eating is likely to make you feel better, physically and mentally. Creating a healthier relationship with food and our bodies is essential for us and for generations to come.
Sources: (Healthline) (Bustle)
See also: Understanding body positivity, neutrality, and acceptance
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