What Is Intuitive Eating and Is It For Me?

Intuitive Eating is an intuitive eating practice focused on helping you find your exit ramp from diet culture and cultivate a better relationship with food and your body. The approach builds on the wisdom of Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole (both experienced dietitians) who wrote the book called Intuitive Eating. This process is an avenue to regain the healthy relationship with food we all had as children. This process of reconnection is a slow one, and that is intentional. It is necessary to go at your own pace, this isn’t a “program” to complete. Unlearning diet culture will take some patience, there is no rush.

Let's start with what Intuitive Eating is; it is a means by which we can begin to deconstruct diet culture be able to identify the it’s harm. To reiterate, intuitive eating is about honoring your hunger regardless of the binary that our culture has created around supposed “good” or “bad” foods.

It is about making peace with food, rebuilding our relationship with food that was so natural when we were children. Eating until the full and satisfied helps rebuild that internal relationship. You can let yourself off the hook, when it comes to cleaning your plate, that rule is enforcing an external relationship with food.

Satisfaction is the touchstone of an Intuitive Eating approach. Satisfaction is powerful. Coming away from a meal unsatisfied will keep you on a search for food when you are no longer hungry. Perhaps you can think of some favorite foods that do not allow yourself to have. These foods may be deemed forbidden by diet culture.

Intuitive Eating can help neutralize those foods and get rid of the binary of good vs. bad. This internal approach allows food to lose its morality, which is created by diet culture. This involves Challenging The Food Police. The food police live deep in your psyche and shout what to eat and what not to eat. Breaking the mindset that there are 'good foods' and 'bad foods' is possible. You get to choose how you eat based on your hunger level, preferences, and individual tastes.

What we know about restriction and deprivation, is that it leads to a binge. For example, if you order a salad for dinner because it is the healthiest option on the menu, but you are craving a protein choice, like a steak, you will be craving that food until you eat it. Or you will replace it with lots of different food and feel both overfull and unsatisfied for the rest of that day.

Intuitive Eating is great for folks who are trying to rid themselves of diet culture. It is a great avenue for folks in late-stage recovery from disordered eating. This can be difficult to asses on your own. Robin is open to all and any questions about how to navigate this territory. Timing is everything, when it comes to recovery.

If you have any questions about Intuitive Eating, please message Robin through email, robin@bodypositiveacupuncture.com, to schedule a workshop or a one-on-one coaching session. I hope this blog post was helpful and answered any questions about what Intuitive Eating is and if it is for you!