Maybe you’ve heard the following sentence: “Eat when you’re hungry; stop when you’re full.” However, what does that even mean? According to Aaron Flores, RDN, intuitive eating is “learning to let go of the food rules and be open to the experience of eating. When we truly listen, we begin to understand and heal our relationship with food.”
In the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, there are 10 principles of intuitive eating:
Reject the diet mentality
Honor your hunger
Make peace with food
Challenge the food police
Discover the satisfaction factor
Feel your fullness
Honor your feelings without using food
Respect your body
Exercise
Honor your health
1. Reject the Diet Mentality
Maybe you’ve tried numerous diets in the past, such as keto, no sugar, vegetarian, or even vegan. It’s easy to continue to embrace the diet mentality because a lot of times, it works in the short-term. However, when looking at diets over a 3-5 year period, diets do not work 90-95% of the time. On top of that, most people regain some, all, or even more than they lost within 3-5 years. There is almost a complete lack of data that suggests that long-term weight loss from dieting can be sustained. Moreover, despite the number of people attempting weight loss, the population as a whole isn’t getting thinner, but why? Some people move towards self-blame, but there is more to it.
Dieting can have tolls on our mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. For example, have you ever restricted or did not allow yourself to eat certain foods that you think are “bad”? Deprivation is associated with food obsession and preoccupation. Have you ever thought about how your “forbidden” foods (e.g., french fries, ice cream, candy, pizza, etc.) are the ones you think about the most? (“Ugh I wish I could just eat ___,” or “I can’t wait until my diet is over so that I can finally have ____”). For example, depriving and starving yourself all day can increase the risk for binge eating later at night. Have you ever done “so well” during the day with your diet and ended up so hungry at night that you end up eating a whole bag of chips? (Don’t worry, I’ve done it too). Intuitive eating can help decrease this obsession and help create a more balanced and healthy relationship with food.
In addition, dieting also increases stress due to the pressure we put on ourselves to stick to it on a daily basis, and unfortunately, stress means increased cortisol, which is then associated with weight gain. Has anyone ever told you that you have no willpower if you can’t stick to a diet? Well, biology actually plays a tremendous role in weight because genes are responsible for about 70% of people’s weight. The next time someone says you don’t have willpower, remind yourself of this fact. On top of that, dieting impacts your metabolism because starvation and deprivation trigger one’s metabolism to slow down in order to conserve energy. Thus, the body needs fewer calories to run the body, so then more calories can then be stored as fat, resulting in increased weight.
In all, long-term dieting can lead to increased binge eating, decreased metabolic rate, increased preoccupation with food, increased deprivation of food, increased sense of failure, decreased sense of willpower, and weight gain.
The reality for the longest time is this: we live in a culture that is obsessed with weight and a culture that romanticizes different diets. Rejecting that long-term truth that “dieting works” and “dieting is the only way to lose weight and be healthy and happy” might be one of the hardest things to do, but working towards fully rejecting it and moving towards intuitive eating is 100% worth a shot.
See below for the differences between a diet mindset and intuitive eating.
Diet Mindset | Intuitive Eating |
External rules Rigidity Deprivation Guilt Fear Preoccupation Weight loss Shame Judgment Constriction Feeling in control | Internal cues Flexibility Satisfaction Pleasure Trust Empowerment Nourishment Compassion Acceptance Freedom Feeling in charge |
2. Honor Your Hunger & 6. Feel Your Fullness
Based on the hunger-fullness scale above, where do you lie in this present moment? Honoring our hunger and feeling our fullness requires interoceptive awareness, which is our ability to feel our body and be aware of cues in our body. What do you experience when you’re hungry? Do you get a headache? Does your stomach growl and grumble at you? Do you experience nausea? Do you get irritable and angry? What do you experience when you’re full? Do you get bloated? Do you get a stomachache? Do you feel tired? Pay attention to the cues your body gives you when you might be hungry or reaching fullness. Ideally, you want to start eating when you reach a 3-4 on the scale and stop when you reach about a 6-7. However, how many of us wait until we’re “hangry” to start eating and wait until we're in a “food coma” to stop eating? Interoceptive awareness can help a lot with this.
Interoceptive awareness involves a lot of mindfulness, practice, and getting to know and connect with your body, which takes time, as well as trial and error. We aren’t just a “floating head” connected to our bodies. Our minds and bodies deserve to communicate to each other.
Here are 3 E’s for mindful eating:
Eat slowly. Savor the bites. It takes about 20-30 minutes (from the start of eating) for your brain to process or get a signal from your stomach that indicates you’re full. Try taking smaller bites to avoid eating too fast.
Eliminate distractions. Be present with your food. Avoid turning on the TV or going on your phone because it can distract us from recognizing our hunger and fullness cues.
Engage all of your senses. How does your food taste? What does it smell like? How does it look? Is it hot or cold? If it’s food that you hold, what does the food feel like in your hands? How do you feel emotionally? Engaging your senses can help you feel mindful and grounded while eating.
3. Make Peace With Food
Do you label foods as “good” or “bad”? Have you ever said phrases such as, “I’m good because I ate ____” or “I’m bad because I ate ____”? Do you sometimes crave a certain food more if you haven’t had it in a while? Let’s try to stay away from that cycle of “good” and “bad” foods and move towards allowing ourselves to have unconditional permission to eat whatever we desire. If we allow ourselves to eat anything, we will reach a state of habituation, and eventually, we’ll know our limits of how much to eat based on how it makes our body feel (which, again, involves time and trial and error).
For example, if I love oreos, and I restrict myself from eating oreos for weeks, then all I’ll think about is eating oreos and wanting oreos, and when I finally allow myself to have them, I may even overeat and have 10 oreos at once because I want to “take advantage” of that moment before I “have to” start my diet again. Alternatively, if I give myself unconditional permission to eat oreos whenever I want, then maybe a few times per week, I’ll have 1 or 2 oreos in one sitting, but it’ll drastically lessen the cravings and desire I have for it because I am not restricting. The latter has more balance and flexibility than the former. So, give yourself permission!
Here are some affirmations to help make peace with food:
Food does NOT dictate my VALUE as a person.
I am allowing/giving myself permission to eat ___.
I give myself unconditional permission to eat whatever I desire.
4. Challenge the Food Police
Have you ever encountered “food police?” Perhaps it’s a voice in your head telling you that you have to diet or telling you certain foods are “good” or “bad.” Or perhaps it’s an external voice, like a relative, friend, doctor, or even accounts on social media, that tells you what you “should” or “should not” eat. Just like when we reframe or challenge negative thoughts, it is also important to challenge the food police voices.
Food Police | Challenge |
This cake is bad for me. | Cake is just food. I can enjoy it in moderation without guilt. |
I shouldn’t eat carbs. | Carbs give my body the energy it needs to move, so I deserve them. |
I ate too much. I am bad and have no self-control. | I’ll check in with my body and see how I feel every now and then. I can learn this without beating myself up. |
I can’t believe I ate that. I’m going to gain weight. | It’s okay to enjoy food. One meal doesn’t define my health or worth. |
I have to exercise to burn all of these calories. | I don’t need to earn food or burn it off. My body deserves nourishment, and exercise isn’t punishment for eating. It’s a way to care and respect my body. |
I can’t eat sugar. | I am allowed to enjoy all foods in moderation. Balance matters more than perfection. |
I’m hungry, but it’s 9pm, I can’t eat. | I am going to honor my body’s cues and needs at this moment. |
I ate too much yesterday. I’m going to eat less today. | Skipping meals will only make me hungrier and overeat later. It’s better to nourish my body to stay energized. |
5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
What foods “satisfy” you? What tastes good to you? What makes your body feel strong, nourished, and energized? As stated earlier, give yourself permission to eat enjoyable food. Give yourself permission to eat food that tastes yummy to you. Eat with full vibrancy. Eat with brilliance. Eat all the colors of the rainbow. Make your eating experience colorful and flexible, rather than strict and rigid. I’m sure you’ve heard of “black-and-white” thinking. Well, let’s move away from“black-and-white” eating.
7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food
It’s important to eat for physical rather than emotional reasons. Although food and emotional eating is ONE tool we can use to soothe, there are countless other tools we can use as well, such as square breathing, taking a cold shower, journaling, talking to a loved one, getting sunlight, taking a walk, singing, guided imagery, meditation, exercise, skincare, and much more.
Have you ever felt stressed or down and immediately reached for a “comfort food”? Have you ever been through a breakup, felt so heartbroken, and ate so much ice cream to “drown your sorrows away”? Have you ever felt so burnt out or lonely that you ended up eating more fries than intended? Let’s take a pause and differentiate between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Ask yourself, “Am I hungry, or am I feeling ____?” Check in with yourself constantly. Doing so can increase your mindfulness and ability to understand what your body cues are communicating to you.
The most important part here is SELF-COMPASSION. Be kind to yourself. Some days will be harder than others, and that’s okay. Some days we might have a little misstep, but does that mean we have to throw ourselves down the rest of the stairs? Let’s grab the railing when we recognize that we’ve tripped on a step, practice self-compassion, get back up, and continue forward. As Kristen Neff said:
“Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings – after all, who ever said you were supposed to be perfect?”
8. Respect Your Body
Has anyone ever told you to just “love your body”? I’m sure it’s frustrating to hear, especially if we hate our bodies. What if I told you that you don’t have to like your body in order to respect, accept, and appreciate it? It might seem a little more doable to think about it this way. Diet culture tells us that we are a “one size fits all” world, and it’s apparent that a thinner body is more “valued” in our world. However, we all come in various shapes and sizes, and it’s important to respect, accept, and appreciate the beauty and diversity of our bodies.
Respecting, accepting, and appreciating your body can involve the following:
Giving your body the nourishment it needs when it asks for it.
Practicing kindness and compassion towards your body.
Challenging negative self-talk (what would you say to a friend who said the same thing?).
Appreciating what your body can DO rather than what it LOOKS like (“my arms allow me to hug the people I love,” “my legs allow me to walk up and down the stairs,” or “my back helps me carry my backpack”).
Moving your body.
Washing your face and doing your skincare.
Wearing comfortable clothing.
Going to the doctor regularly.
Taking a shower.
Sleeping 7-9 hours per night.
Saying “thank you” to different parts of your body that allow you to write, walk, talk, lift, run, hug, or smile.
Try some of these this week and observe how the respect towards your body can change.
9. Exercise
Explore reasons to move your body that is not tied to body size, shape, or weight. What did you come up with? Was it hard to come up with something? There’s a lot of stigma in the fitness industry around what kind of exercises “should” be done. For example, if we aren’t sweating profusely or have the mindset of “no pain, no gain,” we may feel like we haven’t done enough.
However, ask yourself the following questions about the exercises you do: Do I like this? How does this make me feel? Let’s try to reframe “exercise” and shift it from changing our body size, shape, or weight, to joyful movements or just movement for the sake of moving. Move in ways that bring you joy, comfort, and peace.
Exercise can be enjoyable and something to look forward to if you find what makes you happy. Whether it’s hiking, swimming, biking, yoga, being in nature, playing pickleball, walking, running, or playing sports, do what YOU enjoy, not what everyone else says you SHOULD do.
10. Honor Your Health
The “Food for Thought” pyramid above gives a picture of a holistic description of health and is based on what factors affect health from “most” (bottom) to “least” (top) impactful.
There is no perfect or “absolute” way to eat or nourish our bodies. It’s important to take a holistic standpoint and allow ourselves to be flexible with our eating, food choices, thoughts, and feelings regarding food and our bodies. Food is not the enemy. Let’s work to be in tune with our bodies, move in ways that bring us joy, and eat foods we want and enjoy.
To Note
What if your body cues are off and it’s hard to understand them? How do you know when you are actually hungry or full? What if you don’t even know what that feels like? What if it feels “unsafe” in your body? So many things can affect our ability to pay attention to our body cues, such as stress, trauma, lack of practice, or even uncomfortable feelings.
Check out one of our blog posts called Somatic-based mindfulness approach to improve mind-body connection and harmony for tips on how you can start to listen and be in tune with your body cues. For more questions, resources, or tips, try reaching out to your therapist, doctor, or nutritionist.
Sources
Flores, A. (n.d.). Aaron Flores. Aaron Flores, RDN. https://www.aaronfloresrdn.com/
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Loos, R. J., & Yeo, G. S. (2021). The genetics of obesity: From discovery to biology. Nature Reviews Genetics, 23(2), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-021-00414-z
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2012). Intuitive eating. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Robison, J. (2020, October 19). Health-a holistic, species-specific definition. ASDAH. https://asdah.org/health-a-holistic-species-specific-definition/
Tegelberg, A. (2024, August 19). Self-compassion is good for you and everyone around you. The Whole U. https://thewholeu.uw.edu/2024/08/19/practice-self-compassion/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CInstead%20of%20mercilessly%20judging%20and,were%20supposed%20to%20be%20perfect%3F%E2%80%9D
Zelman, K. M. (n.d.). Slow down, you eat too fast. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/obesity/features/slow-down-you-eat-too-fast