What is intuitive eating?

When I heard this term around 5 years ago I had no clue what it was, or that it was even a thing. Can people even do this? I was so consumed in diet culture that I’d try anything to get out of it. So now skip 5 years and I’m a Registered Associate Nutritionist, so I thought I’d explain it in the best way I can.

Can you really stop dieting, heal your relationship with food and become an intuitive eater? Let’s delve in!

First, we must understand and have come to the conclusion that dieting hasn’t worked. Ask yourself, has it reduced your food noise? Have you lost the weight you wanted to lose without regaining? Are you labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad?’ Are you coming out of the other side and realising that dieting isn’t right for you and that you’d like to see what intuitive eating is all about?

When we have arrived at this conclusion, we need to say no to more dieting. It’s hard at first, I know, but this step is important. Next steps are to think about when you feel hungry, do you ever feel hungry at all? How hungry do you feel? Really start to listen to when your body is feeling hungry, do you usually honour this feeling, or do you just eat when you’re not hungry? Start to see if you can listen to this.

This is one of the hardest steps but give yourself permission to eat all foods. Especially the ones you consider to be ‘bad.’ Have you ever restricted so much that you end up bingeing on those very foods that you once restricted? I did too. Allowing yourself permission can take away the food noise because it’s no longer a restricted item. Remember when you were a teenager and your parents told you that you couldn’t do something? Did it make you want to do it more? It’s the same concept. The more we restrict, the more we binge.

Stop labelling food as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Food does not have a moral value. If you were to eat 10 bananas a day, this would not be good. All foods are equal. Say this out loud ‘all foods are equal.’ There are no ‘treats,’ there are no foods that are better than others. Label them as what they are. A biscuit, a banana, a slice of cake.

Did you ever sit at the table when you were a child and were made to finish what was on your plate, even if you were no longer hungry? Me too. It was the norm and I do get why, food was scarce in the days of their parents, so that’s what they learnt. But what we learnt from that was that we don’t need to listen to our body’s telling us that we’re full. Instead, we learnt to ignore all signals of fullness and carry on eating anyway. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get dessert! Well, we don’t need to do this now. See what it feels like to listen to your body when it becomes full. How does it feel? Do you feel just satisfied or are you eating past that point?

Food can get us through so many emotions such as, sadness, happiness, heartbreak, depression. And sometimes this is ok. Food can also be there for celebration, and so it should be. It’s a part of bringing people together for fun and fulfilment. Being able to recognise how we are managing our emotions with food is a great starting point.

Being comfortable in your own body is a hard one. From growing up in the 90’s there were headlines and images everywhere comparing different body sizes. The weird thing was it wasn’t even questioned. It was just the norm. It can take years to recover from this and being able to love (or even like) your own body is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself. Think about how strong you are, what your body can do, how it helps you to move. Loving yourself and your body can be difficult, and it does take time. But if we gave ourselves as much kindness as we give our loved ones, just think what that shift in mindset could achieve.

Moving your body is a great way to stay healthy, active and mobile. Movement should not be a punishment. It should be enjoyable and something you get excited for. Walking the dog, doing gardening, going line dancing, anything that increases your heart rate and helps to build muscle and strength. It doesn’t have to be a 10 mile run or a HIIT class that makes you weep. Do something you enjoy, this will help you to do it more often.

Once you have stopped restricting, and given yourself permission, it’s very likely that you’ll eat more nutrient dense foods. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Nourish your body with a variety of foods that are full of colour and flavour. Of course that means still having that slice of cake every now and then. All foods are a part of a healthy, balanced diet. Being an intuitive eater means that we now have the power to fuel our bodies the right way.

I hope this has given a small insight into what intuitive eating is and can be. This is of course not black and white, and there is much more context around this topic. This may also not be for everyone, and that's ok. We're all different and on our own journeys.

Give me a follow on Instagram if you want to learn more @the_nutrition_intuition

Lorna xx

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