Intuitive Eating: The Anti-Diet Approach
Ask anyone, and I mean anyone, how many diets they have been on in their lifetime. Then, ask them if the diets were successful, i.e. they lost weight and they kept it off. You will quickly find out that everyone has been on some type of diet and they almost never reach or maintain their targeted weight loss. Is it because we are all destined to be failures at losing weight? No! It’s proof that diets not only don’t work, but that we shouldn’t even be trying them in the first place. But what if, instead of fighting our bodies, we listened to them? We listed to what they needed to function, to survive, to be happy, without food guilt or shame? This is where Intuitive Eating smashes the diet mentality and opens up the world of food freedom.
Intuitive Eating (IE) is a philosophy that encourages individuals to trust their internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to guide their eating habits. It is a non-diet approach that aims to help people develop a healthy relationship with food, their bodies, and their emotions.
The concept behind IE is that the human body has a natural ability to regulate food intake based on its needs. However, many people have learned to ignore or suppress these signals due to external factors such as diet culture, societal pressures, and emotional eating habits. By encouraging people to relearn how to listen to their body's signals and respond to them in a healthy way, they will find it easier to eat when hungry, stop when full, and choose foods that feel satisfying and nourishing.
There are 10 Principles of IE including: rejecting diet mentality, making peace with food, and honoring your health with gentle nutrition. Each principle helps you re-think your relationship with food and provides your tools to enjoy the pleasure of food without judgement or fear.
It’s important to point out that this is not a quick fix or a one-size-fits-all solution. IE requires time, patience, and self-reflection to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body. However, the benefits of IE are significant as demonstrated in over 200 studies to date:
⬇️ binge eating ⬆️ body appreciation
⬇️ thin idealization ⬆️ body trust
⬇️ disordered eating ⬆️ interoceptive awareness (more on that in future posts)
Interested in learning more about Intuitive Eating and how it may be the right approach for you? Click on the link below to schedule a FREE Health Discovery Session today.
