10 Principles of Intuitive Eating Series, Principle 1: Rejecting Diet Mentality

Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S; and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-S, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND created the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating. These principles were developed to act as guidelines and steps for anyone and everyone to learn about intuitive eating and incorporate them into their lives. We will go into the ten principles individually, what they mean to me and what they can mean for you, and how they will help to guide you on your journey through intuitive eating. Throughout this series of blog posts, we will go in-depth on the individual principles. Today, we start with Principle 1: Rejecting Diet Mentality.

Principle 1: Rejecting the Diet Mentality.

Rejecting the diet mentality means putting weight loss on the back burner and begin divesting from old behaviors. This will be a big step in your Intuitive Eating journey, especially if you have been dieting for an extended period of time. Unlearning your dieting habits is a slow process. Be gentle with yourself, it is a practice. If you have been engaging in behaviors like counting calories, points, and macronutrients, allow yourself a full cycle of seasons to learn a new way of life.

The diet mentality disproportionately affects marginalized folks. This can include people of color, LGBTQIA folks, and those with disabilities. Marginalized folks are directly affected by institutionalized racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism.

Dieting leads to long-term weight gain, in most cases. This is because dieting habits can force the body into starvation or famine. When this occurs and the body goes into preservation mode. The body will begin to convert muscle mass and tissue into fat tissue to give the body an energy source. This leads to "Fat Overshooting," a phenomenon where you can gain more fat than you originally had to get back to your original level of muscle. This is why folks gain weight in response to dieting within a few years of a big loss.

What is Cheat Day?

Another habit that can grow from a diet mentality is the idea of "Cheat Day." People know a "Cheat Day" as the one day a week that they are allowed to eat all of the 'bad,' 'forbidden,' or 'demonized' foods that they would never eat on the daily or more than once a week. According to a BBC article titled, "Are Diet 'Cheat Days' Ever a Good Idea?" they have the following to say,

"A cheat day is a scheduled break in a diet. The concept emerged around the same time as 'clean eating' and is based on the idea that a dieter can 'cheat' for one day a week as long as they eat to their diet plan for the remaining six days. Social media has increased awareness of these days off, notable among those dieting to gain muscle." (BBC Food, Are diet' cheat days' ever a good idea? 2020)

Due to the basis of a cheat day, a person would or could only consume high-fat foods, normally correlated with foods that are distinguished to be unhealthy. Eating habits like this are actually planned binge days. This way of thinking can be backed up by the definition of a binge. According to the Mayo Clinic, binge is defined as, "Frequently consuming unusually large amounts of food in one sitting and feeling that eating behavior is out of control." (Mayo Clinic)

How Diet Mentality Can Disrupt Our Bodies

Diet mentality is also known to erode trust in our bodies. Specifically, the body has the wisdom to signal us when hungry and full from eating. Dieting can inhibit these sensations. That can make it harder to know when we are hungry or full. It is also important to note that there is no set schedule for eating; your life dictates when you need to eat. Following this note, no scientific evidence proves that eating food after a specific time, usually 8pm, leads to weight gain.

Not everyone has the exact same life schedule, nor can they eat at the same time. This varies based on age, your work hours, whether you go to school and have time constraints due to your class schedule, and when you have food available. Whether you work the morning or night shifts will dictate when you eat your meals. If your shift ends at 11 pm, would you deprive yourself of an 8:30 pm meal break? Feeding yourself regularly is essential for building trust with your body. Deprivation due to external rules will inhibit satisfaction, which is the hub of Intuitive Eating.

Rejecting diet mentality is a difficult first step to Intuitive Eating. Still, it will also help to overcome toxic behaviors or mindsets developed over the years of dieting. Diet mentality prevents us from developing a healthy relationship with food and ourselves. If you have questions about Intuitive Eating, please message Robin Harris through email, robin@bodypositiveacupuncture.com, to schedule a workshop. Look forward to more posts like these, which will cover the ten principles of Intuitive Eating.

Sources:
“Are Diet ‘cheat Days’ Ever a Good Idea?” BBC Food, 7 May 2020, www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/cheat_days#:~:text=The%20concept%20emerged%20around%20the,those%20dieting%20to%20gain%20muscle.

Mayo Clinic. “Binge-Eating Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, 5 May 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/binge-eating-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353627.