Intuitive Eating: The Myths That Are Hurting Instead of Helping
What is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is an approach to health and food that has nothing to do with diets, meal plans, discipline or willpower. It teaches you how to get in touch with your body cues like hunger, fullness and satisfaction while learning to trust your body around food again.
Intuitive Eating is not a diet. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite because there’s no counting calories or macros, and no making certain foods off limits. It’s not about following a meal plan or measuring out your portions, and instead is about re-learning to eat outside of the diet mentality. Intuitive eating is about putting the focus on your internal cues like hunger, fullness and satisfaction, and moving away from external cues like food rules and restrictions.
Intuitive eaters give themselves unconditional responsible permission to eat whatever they want without feeling guilty. They rely on their internal hunger and satiety signals and trust their body to tell them when, what and how much to eat. They know when they want to at eat veggies and also when and why they feel like having dessert, and don’t feel guilty or have any regrets with either choice.
In short, intuitive eating is realigning with human being eating.
Benefits of intuitive eating
Although food freedom and a better relationship with food are one of the benefits of intuitive eating, you will also see tremendous benefits in your physical, mental, emotional health, and spiritual health. The following are just some of the benefits that come with intuitively eating:
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Improved cholesterol levels
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Better body image
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Higher self-esteem
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Improved metabolism
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Decreased rates of disordered and emotional eating
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Diminished stress levels
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Increased satisfaction with life
These mental and physical health benefits are fantastic, but when you’re in the midst of the intuitive eating process, and are working to come to terms with your relationship to food and your body, it can be hard to relate to these science-y benefits. That’s where the principles of intuitive eating come into play.
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Myths about intuitive eating that are hurting instead of helping
When you find yourself questioning what intuitive eating is and isn't, it can help to rely on instinct, emotion, and thought repeatedly. The following are some of the most common misconceptions surrounding intuitive eating that you could currently be following that are hurting you instead of actually helping you.
Intuitive eating can be used to achieve weight loss
Some of the language of intuitive eating has been co-opted by diet culture (taking checking in with your hunger cues to curb mindless overeating). These ideas of intentionality around eating are certainly part of intuitive eating, but some often frame them as ways to help explicitly control one's weight and hunger.
This co-opting is antithetical to the original purpose of intuitive eating. If someone is saying, 'Drop those leftover five pounds through intuitive eating,' that's a huge red flag and they don't understand what intuitive eating is. If you read the research on it, it's very clear that intuitive eating is absolutely anti-intentional weight loss.
If you don’t fully let go of diet culture or the intention to lose weight, you’ll likely struggle to find the true peace that comes with intuitive eating. This doesn't happen overnight, but intuitive eating is a dynamic process that comes with time and practice.
Intuitive eating is only about instinct
You might have heard the over simplification that intuitive eating is just about trusting your gut when it comes to food. But that's simply not true. One misunderstanding is that you're only going on instinct with intuitive eating, and some don't understand that emotion and thought come into play. And this really just goes to show how complex intuitive eating is and how you know people really do need to do the deeper learning and practice of it to really grasp what it is.
For example, if you find that your body wants dessert, but your mind (which has likely been deeply influenced by diet culture) starts shaming you for it, noting that tension is part of the work of intuitive eating. In fact, challenging why you feel certain ways around food is one of the ten pillars of intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating means you eat junk food all the time
Detractors of intuitive eating often get stuck on its principles of eating when you're hungry and eating to feel satisfied. The argument that this will translate into just eating junk is persistent in health spaces. But this is far from the truth.
In fact, some research shows that when you're exposed to a food often enough, you'll actually desire it less because your brain won't consider it to be a novelty. People often find that they feel best eating a wide variety of foods, including the healthy foods and the more refined or processed foods. By removing the arbitrary restrictions and shame out of food prevalent in diet culture, and letting yourself choose to eat what feels right to you in that moment, you’re better able to find a natural equilibrium right for your unique body and needs.
You can’t learn how to eat intuitively, you have to be born with it
Diet culture has a lot to do with our parents, our caregivers, the house that we were raised in, how our food was handled and if it was restricted at all. It also has to do with if we were told we had to clean up plates or that we had to eat our broccoli before we could have dessert. A lot of our relationship with food is impacted by those really formative young years.
Sometimes, it’s things that we don't even remember. Very few people make it into their adulthood unscathed by diet culture. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to learn how to repair that relationship and implying that some people aren't capable of doing so is condescending and inaccurate.
Learning to eat intuitively may look different for everyone, but it will still be learning. Your intuitive eating journey will look different from someone else’s, but that doesn’t mean yours will be more natural than theirs or vice versa.
Hunger and fullness are the guiding factors of intuitive eating
Learning to respect your hunger cues is one pillar of intuitive eating, but it's just one pillar. It doesn't tell the whole story of your instincts, emotions, and thoughts. Some might think that only eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full is intuitive eating. But that’s not the case at all and in fact that's only one small and important part of it. Is there a diet mentality behind what you perceive as fullness? Have you accepted your body shape? Are you running or swimming or dancing for the pure joy of it? Intuitive eating isn't one thing and the more you oversimplify it, the less you'll benefit from it.
10 principles of intuitive eating
Intuitive eating is based on 10 principles, but it’s important to note that these are principles, not rules. There’s no wrong or right, just basic principles you can incorporate into your life at the pace that suits you and your healing.
1.Reject the diet mentality
Decide not to ever diet again, and accept the fact that diets are futile. Choose today not to play the game anymore. Resolve to learn to eat intuitively, to trust your body to tell you when, how much and what to eat.
2.Honor your hunger
Keep your body biologically fed. Eat only when you are physically hungry, but be sure that you are eating.
3.Make peace with food
Start eating what you want and eliminate the concept of good foods and bad foods. Eat what will be satisfying and will make you feel good. The more you restrict the foods you really would prefer to eat the more likely you are to eventually binge on these same foods, and others.
4.Challenge the food police
Stop the voice in your head, otherwise known as ‘the food police’, that tell you that you are ‘good’ for eating a certain way and ‘bad’ for eating another way. The Food Police monitor the collection of rules that you have created as you have gone on and off diets. Accept that there is no morality tied to nourishing your body a certain way or to enjoying the taste of food. You are not good if you stay on a diet or bad if you fall off.
5.Respect your fullness
Listen for the physical signals that tell you that you have had enough. Listen for the signs your body sends you when it’s satisfied, approaching fullness and full, and make your decision about whether to stop eating considering this feedback.
6.Discover the satisfaction factor
When you let yourself eat what you want to eat, the pleasure you derive will help you feel like you’ve had enough sooner than if you eat what you think you should eat or are supposed to eat. Start by asking yourself what you’d really like to eat not what you should eat. Focus on the taste and texture of what you are eating, and enjoy your food and the whole experience of eating.
7.Cope with your emotions with or without food
Although food may comfort you momentarily, distract you temporarily from your pain, help you zone out for a second or even numb you completely, food won’t solve the problems that drive you to eat or abolish any of your negative feelings. If anything, eating for emotional hunger instead of physical hunger will only make you feel worse.
8.Respect your body
Your body is as unique as you are, and nobody on earth is exactly like you and no body on earth is exactly like yours. Respecting your body starts with recognizing all that your body has done for you. Stop abusing your body with diets, tight clothes, militant exercise and other self-punishments. Treat your body with dignity, and feed it when it is hungry and rest it when it is tired.
9.Exercise
You should exercise because it makes you feel good, not to burn calories or shape your body. Forget extreme exercise, grueling routines and wasting hours on treadmills going nowhere. Just get active doing activities you love like walking, biking, gardening, window shopping, playing with pets, etc.
10.Honor your health with gentle nutrition
Make food choices that nourish your body while satisfying your taste buds. Honor the health-sustaining properties of whole foods, without feeling like you need to only eat ‘healthy’ foods. You should include in your diet those that you love and that make you feel good.
Lifestyles that would benefit from intuitive eating
While anyone can benefit from intuitively eating, there are certain lifestyles that would greatly benefit from it. Once you recognize that you fall within one of these lifestyles, you can begin your experience and be one step closer to a healthy lifestyle. However if you don’t relate with one of these lifestyles, you might find that you could still benefit from intuitively eating.
Non-detectable hunger cues
Those who can’t, or have a difficult time detecting their own hunger cues would benefit from intuitively eating. Those who can’t detect their hunger cues, typically tend to over eat because they can’t tell when they’re full. They may also even continuously reach for a snack or a meal because they can’t tell if they’re actually hungry or if they’re reaching for something to eat for a different reason.
HOW INTUITIVE EATING HELPS
You are able to notice when your body feels hunger, and honor that hunger by feeding it. Even if it’s late at night, or it’s only been a certain amount of hours since your last meal. Even if you think you already ate enough today, you will be able to trust your body when it tells you it’s hungry.
Food anxiety
Those who have stress or anxiety, no matter how much or how little it may be, surrounding food would benefit from intuitively eating. Those who have food anxiety may find it difficult to go out to eat with friends and family because they are too stressed and anxious about their diet. They may not even be able to enjoy the food they do eat, because of the amount of stress and anxiety that surrounds it.
HOW INTUITIVE EATING HELPS
By intuitively eating, you will no longer have stress and anxiety surrounding food. This means you will have free up space to just be and enjoy the food, and the people, around you. You can engage in social interactions more often and can put your attention on spending time with friends and family, rather than worrying about your diet.
IBS
Those who suffer from IBS, whether frequently or every now and then, would benefit from intuitively eating. Those who experience IBS tend to eat in a stressed state, which typically results in their digestion completely shutting down. They may also experience frequent constipation and can be the victim of other gastrointestinal related issues.
HOW INTUITIVE EATING HELPS
As your food anxiety and stress decreases, and you get to learn how certain foods affect your body, you may experience less gastrointestinal symptoms. You can also eat the foods on the Low-FODMAP list too while intuitively eating.
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Intuitive eating is a framework that helps you to keep nutrition interventions behavior-focused instead of restrictive or rule-focused. When you first start your intuitive eating journey, it can feel like a slow and scary process, but over time you’ll start noticing a lot of changes happening in varying areas of your life.
Extra tips for intuitive eating
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Stay appropriately hydrated. When you’re working to discern your hunger and fullness cues, you want to maintain appropriate hydration so as to allow for clarity in what your body is asking for.
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Remember that your body is an instrument, not an ornament. Repeat that often. Your body houses your soul and is the vehicle that allows you to move through the world.
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Practice mindfulness. Recognize that you do not need to attach to every thought, and if an unwanted thought arises, try to imagine letting it go.
