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! Fact Checked
Intuitive Eating: The Anti-DietingApproach to Losing WeightBy Jillian Levy, CHHC
August 6, 2019
Most people are starting to accept the idea that “diets” — the kind
you go on and then off of — don’t work in the long run. In fact, reports
now show that about 90 percent to 95 percent of all diets fail —
which is where intuitive eating comes in.
One of the ironies behind failed diets and yo-yo dieting is that,
ultimately, some fad diets even make you fat.
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Meanwhile, people tend to blame themselves, feeling like a lack of
willpower, no self-control and bad genetics are the reasons they
can’t lose weight and keep it off. Sometimes they blame themselves
so much that they stop eating and enter into a dangerous starvation
mode, rather than adopting a more healthful approach, like mindful
eating.
Along the lines of more healthful approaches to eating comes
“intuitive eating” (IE), an emerging approach to sustainable healthy
eating and body acceptance. Intuitive eaters believe the blame
shouldn’t be put on “dieters” themselves, but instead on the Sawed
process of dieting.
Is intuitive eating evidence-based? Yes, according to dozens of
studies, this approach seems promising and a “realistic alternative to
address overweight and obesity than conventional weight-loss
treatments.”
What Is Intuitive Eating?
What is the deXnition of intuitive eating? There isn’t just one deXnition
of intuitive eating, as different people approach this style of eating in
unique ways.
The term “intuitive eating” was Xrst coined in the 1990s by the authors
of the Intuitive Eating book, Registered Dietitians Evelyn Tribole and
Elyze Resch. They described IE as:
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… a new way of eating that is ultimately struggle-free and
healthy for your mind and body. It is a process that unleashes
the shackles of dieting (which can only lead to deprivation,
rebellion and rebound weight gain). It means getting back to
your roots — trusting your body and its signals.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, the deXnition
of intuitive eating is: “Trusting your inner body wisdom to make
choices around food that feel good in your body, without judgment
and without inSuence from diet culture.”
Rates of obesity and being overweight continue to climb, yet more
and more people report being on “diets” than ever. It’s Xnally clicked
with some of the public that we need another way to approach
healthier eating.
Many studies have found positive implications for IE, including
protecting against obesity, lowering body mass indexes, leading to
a healthier mindset about food, lowering cortisol levels and
improving body image.
The Basics of IE:
Evelyn Tribole and Elyze Resch call their approach a “180-degree
departure from dieting.” Instead of a strong focus on weight loss,
deprivation, cutting or counting calories and writing off certain foods,
their goal is to teach people how to eat in a way that supports a
healthier relationship with food.
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In essence, the goal of IE is to practice health on every level — both
physically and mentally.
How do you learn to be intuitive when it comes to making food
choices? One way is to follow the 10 principles of intuitive eating (see
below).
Dietitians and therapists involved in intuitive eating research have
also put together several different general guidelines for IE, which
include:
1. Mostly intrinsic eating (mostly eating based on your inner cues
for fullness and hunger)
2. Sometimes extrinsic eating (at times eating based on your
mood, social situation, time of day or food availability without
feelings of guilt)
3. Anti-dieting (eating that’s not determined by any speciXc diet,
like counting calories or following a risky low-fat diet plan, or
purely just for weight loss)
4. Self-care and body acceptance (regardless of current size)
10 Core Principles
What are the principles of intuitive eating? According to
IntuitiveEating.org, the 10 intuitive eating principles are as follows:
1. Reject the Diet Mentality
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“If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet
might be lurking around the corner, it will prevent you from being
free to rediscover intuitive eating.”
2. Honor Your Hunger
“Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and
carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat.”
3. Make Peace with Food
“Call a truce, stop the food Xght! Give yourself unconditional
permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have
a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that
build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing.”
4. Challenge the Food Police
“Scream a loud ‘NO’ to thoughts in your head that declare you’re
‘good’ for eating minimal calories or ‘bad’ because you ate a piece of
chocolate cake.”
5. Respect Your Fullness
“Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer
hungry. Observe the signs that show that you’re comfortably full.”
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
“When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is
inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful
force in helping you feel satisXed and content.”
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7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food
“Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract and resolve your issues
without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, anger are emotions
we all experience throughout life. Each has its own trigger, and each
has its own appeasement. Food won’t Xx any of these feelings.”
8. Respect Your Body
“Accept your genetic blueprint … It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if
you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.”
9. Exercise — Feel the Difference
“Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the
calorie-burning effect of exercise.”
10. Honor Your Health
“Make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while
making you feel well. Remember that you don’t have to eat a perfect
diet to be healthy.”
4 BeneXts
1. Lowers Stress and Anxiety Regarding Food Choices
Of course, nutrition and exercise are important pieces of the puzzle
when it comes to living a healthy life, but Xrst and foremost the
priority in terms of IE is to “reject the diet mentality” that causes many
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people to feel guilty, chronically stressed and out of touch with their
own bodies.
According to a 2019 article published in Health Psychology Open,
eating intuitively may result in improved well-being, lower stress
levels and lower cortisol output, the primary “stress hormone” that is
tied to weight gain, mood disturbances and trouble sleeping. People
who focus on health before weight tend to experience more pleasant
emotional states in general, according to studies.
Intuitive eaters report feeling upbeat, happy, appreciative, more
socially integrated, effective and resilient. They’re even more likely to
be physically active on a regular basis, perhaps because they value
their bodies more and have more energy.
2. Encourages Flexibility and Eating A Wide Variety of
Foods
Just the opposite of most quick-Xx diet plans, IE proposes a way of
eating that allows for any and all food choices. Essentially nothing is
off limits, and there is no cap on how many calories, fat grams or
carbohydrates can be eaten in a day.
While “anti-dieting” alone doesn’t necessarily help someone lower
health risks and make smart dietary decisions, IE hopes to
encourage healthy eating in a radically new way: reconciling
forbidden food issues, unleashing the common shackles of dieting
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(deprivation, rebellion and rebound weight gain) and helping people
to get back to trusting their body’s own natural signs and
preferences.
This is why a 2019 study found evidence that IR can help adults eat
for physical reasons rather than emotional reasons and to better rely
on hunger and satiety cues.
3. Can Help Improve Health Even Without Weight Loss
Wondering about how “healthy” this way of eating can really be when
it comes to nutrition and weight? One study published in Public
Health Nutrition found that higher intuitive eating scores were tied to
healthier weight management and healthier BMIs and improved
physical health indicators other than BMI (like blood pressure and
cholesterol levels).
This suggests that listening to your body’s signals for determining
what, when and how much to eat is one of the best ways to prevent
weight gain long-term.
How does intuitive eating work for improving health markers like
blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.?
Ohio State University published a large study on over 1,300 women
that focused on several key features of intuitive eating, including:
1. Unconditional permission to eat when hungry and the types of
foods that are desired
2. Eating for physical rather than emotional reasons
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3. Reliance on internal hunger and satiety cues to determine when
and how much to eat
The women Xrst completed the intuitive eating scale (IES) to
measure if they self-identiXed as intuitive eaters. Compared to
women scoring low on this scale, intuitive eaters were found to have
higher self-esteem, body acceptance and satisfaction; lower stress
levels about being thin and Xtting cultural ideals; more satisfaction
with life and positive feelings, including optimism and proactive
coping with emotions; better awareness of physical sensations
originating from the body (hunger, fullness, fast heartbeat, heavy
breathing, etc.); and overall healthier body mass indexes.
To sum things up, those practicing IE seem to beneXt from less
stress, inclusion of a variety of foods and self-care.
4. Builds Self-Trust and ConXdence
Since it removes stress, deprivation and mistrust from the weight loss
equation, IE relies on a better mind-body connection. This helps most
people to make good food choices more often than not, to get better
in touch with their body’s signals of hunger versus fullness and to
respect and appreciate their unique body at any size.
The American Psychological Association identiXed an additional
beneXt of intuitive eating: better self-trust and reliance on the body’s
innate hunger and satiety cues. Intuitive eaters primarily rely on their
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bodies to tell them when and how much to eat, instead of what food
is in front of them, the time of day, portion sizes being served in
restaurants or what others are eating.
Studies also show that better trust in one’s own body leads to more
self-appreciation (despite size and perceived imperfections), being
more attentive to the body’s basic needs and having a lower risk for
eating disorder symptoms (like bulimia, binge eating disorder or
anorexia) or negative body image.
Does It Work for Weight Loss?
If you’re hoping to Xnd intuitive eating before and after photos
showing drastic weight loss results, you’re probably going to be
disappointed. The connection between intuitive eating and weight
loss is controversial, but many IE experts state that weight loss is not
a primary goal of IE.
Most IE proponents believe that the goal of weight loss shouldn’t take
center stage, but rather it should be “put on the back burner” in order
to focus on general health and feeling well. Some studies have also
found that IE doesn’t lead to weight loss in many cases, especially
compared to strict control of calorie intake.
Here’s the good news: some studies have found that people who eat
intuitively are less likely to yo-yo diet (or lose and gain weight over
and over again, which can damage the metabolism), because they
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engage in fewer behaviors that lead to emotional eating or weight
gain. Intuitive eaters may be less likely to eat in the absence of
hunger, eat to soothe stress, eat due to situational or social factors
like peer pressure, to restrict certain food groups and to binge due to
deprivation.
Intuitive eaters feel that a lack of knowledge about general nutrition
isn’t one of the main reasons many adults can’t lose weight — rather
it’s the emotional reasons behind eating that are hardest to
overcome.
Initially, some people are highly skeptical about how any eating plan
that allows for all foods and zero calorie-counting can really help
bring about weight management and better mental health. But
numerous studies show that downright rejecting most “diets” results
in better body acceptance, healthy weight control, less yo-yo dieting,
mostly well-rounded and nutritious food choices and even lower
incidences of eating disorder symptoms.
Intuitive Eating vs. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating describes the process of being aware while eating. It
involves paying attention (on purpose) to your actual eating
experience, without judgment.
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Mindful eating is considered by some to be an important part of
intuitive eating, as IE is all about attunement of mind, body and food;
however, IE is a broader philosophy that also touches upon physical
activity and rejecting societal norms.
Can you combine principles of both? If so, what is “mindful intuitive
eating”?
Yes, you can. You do this by listening to your inner body signals that
tell you that you are starting to get hungry, and when you’ve had
enough, to feel satisXed.
Get to know what it feels like to be “comfortably full” without being
overly stuffed. Also, try to eat before you feel “ravenous,” which can
easily lead to overeating before reaching satiety.
Many people Xnd it helpful to slow down when eating, chew food
well, eat undistracted (not emailing, watching TV, driving, etc.) and
to pause in the middle of a meal or snack to take note of how full
they feel
Practice mindful eating and ask yourself if what you’re having is
actually satisfying you, or if you’re simply eating it because it’s there.
One principle that many intuitive eaters love to follow is: “If you don’t
love it, don’t eat it, and if you love it, savor it.”
6 Steps to Become an Intuitive Eater
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Ready to learn how to start intuitive eating? Begin by following these
helpful intuitive eating tips:
1. Acknowledge That Quick-Fix or Fad Diets Don’t Work
It’s tempting to believe there’s a way to lose weight quickly, easily
and permanently by taking drastic measures, eliminating entire food
groups, radically cutting calories or going on a low-carb diet. But in
reality, most people can’t override their body’s natural biology and
cravings for extended periods of time.
Instead of trying diet after diet only to feel like a failure every time
you “fall off the wagon,” stop dieting all together.
Give up the idea that there’s new and better diets lurking around the
corner and return to what has worked for people for centuries: eating
real foods, practicing moderation and moving your body! Aim for
a nutrient-dense diet that supports a healthy body, stable mind and
steady energy levels, all without trying to be “perfect.”
Make food choices that honor your health and satisfy your taste
buds, while also making you feel good. If you’re not exactly sure
which foods work best for you, and which may not, consider using an
intuitive eating workbook to track your reactions to different foods, or
perhaps work with a trained intuitive eating coach.
2. Fuel Yourself with Enough Calories
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The motivation of simply wanting to lose weight to look better,
especially for a speciXc event, can be temporary and Seeting — but
even more importantly, it causes many people to deprive
themselves of enough calories and rest, which has damaging effects
on the metabolism. Recognize that it’s important to give your body
the calories it needs, otherwise you’re likely to deal with feelings
of chronic fatigue, deprivation and resentment, plus you have the
urge to overeat or binge eat due to biological changes.
3. Avoid “Good/Bad” or “Black/White” Thinking About
Certain Foods
It’s true that some foods are more nutrient-dense than others, but
vowing to 100 percent eliminate certain foods or food groups from
your diet forever can just increase stress and feelings of
preoccupation with “forbidden foods.” Intuitive eaters aim to “make
peace with food, call a truce and stop the food Xght.”
Of course, you want to prioritize eating all types of healthy foods over
highly processed foods, but don’t expect perfection and assume
you’ll never have your favorite comfort foods again.
If you tell yourself you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food ever
again, it can lead to intense feelings of shame along with
uncontrollable cravings. Experts believe that all-or-nothing thinking
about foods can increase the likelihood for bingeing, because when
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someone Xnally “gives in” to their forbidden food, they are then
tempted to eat very large amounts, to feel like it’s their “last chance”
and then to feel overwhelming guilt.
Remember that it’s what you eat consistently over time that matters
and that “progress, not perfection” is the goal. Try your best not to
view certain foods (or entire food groups like carbohydrates, fats or
animal proteins, for example) as “bad.”
Instead, just aim to have them less often and focus your attention
on adding in more of the things that support your health and make
you feel good.
4. Learn to Eat When You’re Hungry and Stop When Full
“Feeling your fullness” and “honoring your hunger” are two key
principles of intuitive eating. Many people Xnd that when they don’t
categorize any foods as totally off-limits or deprive themselves of
enough calories, they can Xnally start to eat in line with what their
body really needs.
5. Find Ways to Handle Stress and Emotions Without the
Use Of Food
For many people, IE opens the doors to Xnding new ways to destress,
comfort, nurture or distract themselves, and resolve emotional
issues, without overeating or turning to comfort food. We all feel
tough emotions from time to time like frustration, anxiety, loneliness
or boredom, but it’s important to realize that food can’t actually Xx
any of these feelings or solve problems in your life.
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Emotional eating might feel good in the moment, but it actually
usually winds up making the initial problem even worse, because
then you have to deal with feelings of shame or discomfort, too.
Wondering how to be happier everyday and to Xnd appropriate
outlets for uncomfortable emotions and stress? Try exercising in a
fun way, meditation or healing prayer, writing a journal, massage
therapy, acupuncture or spending time with people you love.
When it comes to learning how to cope with stress in a healthy
manner, many people can also beneXt from keeping an intuitive
eating journal or using an intuitive eating app for support, such as
YouAte. These are helpful for becoming more aware of unhealthy
habits, of what you’re eating and why and of how you feel before and
after you eat.
For example, you may choose to write down what you ate, how you
felt, how hungry you were, how full you were after and your feelings
regarding different eating experiences. According to a 2019 pilot
study that is investigating the use of smartphone apps for learning IE,
engaging in these types of practices is believed to help “bridge the
gap between intentions to perform a particular behavior and the
actual behavioral change.”
6. Practice Body Acceptance and Be Realistic About Your
Goals
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We all have unique genetic blueprints, and for many people,
reaching their “ideal weight” is unrealistic, unsustainable and possibly
even unhealthy. Just because you’re carrying around a little extra
weight than you’d like to doesn’t necessarily mean you’re unhealthy
and that you need to force yourself to be smaller.
Ask yourself if your goals are realistic. Are you setting the bar too
high? Is your current diet or exercise routine causing more stress and
harm than it’s worth?
Are you accepting of your natural body or constantly Xghting your
genetics and beating yourself up? Respect your body, drop the guilt
as much as you can, and start feeling better about who you are so
you can take better care of yourself long-term.
How Do You Raise an Intuitive Eater?
Principles of intuitive eating can beneXt children and parents alike, as
eating intuitively builds autonomy and self-trust. A highly regarded
specialist in children’s eating named Ellyn Satter even created the
Feeding Dynamics Model (or “division of responsibility in feeding“) in
the early 1980s to help parents raise intuitive eaters.
In this model, the parent or caregiver provides structure by choosing
what food to serve at regular meal and snack times, while the child
decides how much of the foods offered to eat. The goal is to allow
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children to remain sensitive to internal hunger and satiety cues and
to avoid disrupting the child’s ability to self-regulate energy intake
and the amount of food eaten.
According to an article published by Today’s Dietician Magazine:
Allowing kids to eat intuitively gives children a greater sense of
self-esteem, understanding of boundaries [and] connection to
family and caregivers during meals, and typically they will enjoy
a wider variety of foods … while strategies such as encouraging,
bribing or tricking may be well-intentioned, they end up
increasing picky eating and escalating power struggles at the
table.
According to dietitians trained in IE for children, the best thing
parents can do when feeding their children is to not say anything
once the food is in front of the child, but rather to focus on offering
nutritionally complete snacks and meals that provide at least two of
the three macronutrients.
This is said to “help promote stable moods and blood sugar, helping
kids and parents hone in on true hunger and fullness.” Many experts
also recommend eating as a family at the table, without devices or
other distractions.
Risks and Side Effects
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How do you start intuitive eating if you have a history of disordered
eating or a complicated relationship with food? The best thing to do
in this situation is seek out help from an intuitive eating counselor,
who may be a registered dietician, therapist or health coach who
has received an intuitive eating certiXcation.
This is especially important if you’ve struggled with an eating
disorder in the past, as IE tends to bring up a lot of difXcult feelings
and can be hard to navigate on your own during different stages of
recovery from eating disorders. One reason that IE can be tough
during recovery is because hunger/fullness cues tend to be
unreliable for a period of time as the body adjusts.
During early stages of recovery, meal plans are often necessary to
help with weight restoration, re-nourishing the body and establishing
normalized eating patterns, but after some time, IE can become
more of a focus.
It’s recommended that those who struggle with eating-related issues
Xrst read the ofXcial Intuitive Eating book and/or buy the ofXcial
Intuitive Eating Workbook to help themselves learn more. It’s also
recommended they Xnd a therapist or dietitian who truly
understands this work and how it should be implemented during
recovery.
Final Thoughts
What is intuitive eating? One deXnition of intuitive eating (IE) is,
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“trusting your inner body wisdom to make choices around food
that feel good in your body, without judgment and without
inSuence from diet culture.”
Here’s how to practice intuitive eating: follow the 10 principles of
intuitive eating as described by authors of the Intuitive Eating
book, some of which include: reject the diet mentality, honor your
hunger, make peace with food, challenge the food police,
discover the satisfaction factor and honor your feelings without
using food.
Keep in mind that weight loss is not necessarily how you should
judge your intuitive eating results. While weight loss may occur, it
isn’t the primary beneXt or goal. The real beneXts of IE include
lowered stress, more Sexibility, eating a wide variety of foods,
better self-trust, increased conXdence and improved overall
health.