What is Intuitive Eating? Have you heard of Intuitive Eating? Maybe you’ve seen something about it on social media or heard it in conversation.
Intuitive Eating is a non-diet approach to nutrition and health by making peace with food created by two Registered Dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.
They published their original Intuitive Eating book in 1995. It has since been updated, revised multiple times, and expanded upon. The newest 4th edition book just came out in 2020. And they added an Intuitive Eating Workbook published in 2017.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive eating is defined as “a dynamic mind-body integration of instinct, emotion, and rational thought. It is a personal process of honoring your health by paying attention to the messages of your body and meeting your physical and emotional needs. It is an inner journey of discovery that puts you front and center; you are the expert of your own body.”
Intuitive eating is an individualized process of figuring out what works best for you and your body. This includes food preferences, schedule, health issues, etc. It looks different for everyone because everyone has different needs and goals when it comes to food, nutrition, and health.
The Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating
The Intuitive Eating topics are divided up into ten 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
- Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition
The Benefits of Intuitive Eating
The goal behind Intuitive Eating is to stop yo-yo dieting and normalize your relationship with food. In order to do this, you must move your focus of weight loss to the back burner. It is hard to listen to your body and trust your body around food when you are constantly battling with thoughts of weight loss.
We were all born with the innate ability to be an Intuitive Eater. Diet culture such as societal expectations, body comparison, negative body image comments, and weight loss diets are the culprit that have thrown us off track from relying on our internal physical cues and needs.
Intuitive Eating is a PROCESS. It does not happen overnight. It is a journey that is different for everyone, but if you stick to the process with compassion and kindness for yourself, it is POSSIBLE to heal your relationship with food and get back to living a fulfilling life without the obsession and guilt surrounding your food choices.
JOIN THE INTUITIVE EATING SUPPORT GROUP FOR WOMEN
If you are wanting to learn more about Intuitive Eating, or you’ve been doing some learning on your own and are ready to have the support of others on the journey with you, I have the perfect resource for you:
A 12-week small group coaching experience to help you heal your relationship with food and your body, ditch dieting for good, get back to trusting yourself around food AND enjoying the foods you actually like!
Group will be held live via online video. This group runs every quarter. FULL DETAILS HERE.
Follow Along on this Journey
If you would like to follow along without actively participating in the group, I will be doing a blog post series on the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating here on this website and also on my Instagram page. You can follow along and comment with your thoughts that way as well.
As always, if you need additional guidance and support via individual nutrition coaching or counseling, please reach out or join the next Intuitive Eating virtual small group.
