Have you ever struggled with an eating disorder, disordered eating, or repetitive dieting habits? Intuitive Eating can help! Intuitive Eating is an eating philosophy designed to free you chronic dieting and help you develop a healthy relationship with food.  Intuitive Eating was developed by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD and Eylse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD, FADA, originating in 1995.

Intuitive Eating is a dynamic process, integrating the attunement of mind, body, and food. – Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating is an approach that teaches you how to create a healthy relationship with your food, mind, and body–where you ultimately become the expert of your own body – intuitiveeating.org

Intuitive Eating is based on the following 10 principles:

1. Reject the Diet Mentality

To become an Intuitive Eater, the first step is to throw out the dieting mentality and make a commitment to become an Intuitive Eater.

2. Honor your hunger

Keeping your body fueled with adequate energy and carbohydrates can reduces the urge to overeat.

3. Make Peace with Food

Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. This can reduce the amount of feelings of deprivation that turn into uncontrollable cravings or binges.

4. Challenge the Food Police

No longer tell yourself that you are either “good” or “bad” for eating a certain amount of calories or because you broke a rule of a certain diet.

5. Respect your Fullness

Listen to your body when it is telling you that you are full. Check in with your body in the middle of a meal or snack to assess how the food tastes and how full you are.

6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor

When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting, the pleasure associated with this, will help you feel satisfied and content. This will result in a smaller amount of food providing you the feeling of “having enough”.

7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using food

Emotions such as anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and anger can’t be fixed with food. Finding other ways to solve these problems will free you from having to deal with the source of the emotion as well as the discomfort of overeating.

8. Respect Your Body

Accept your genetics and have a realistic and positive view of your body shape. This is important in rejecting the diet mentality.

9. Exercise- Feel the Difference

Shift your focus from burning calories to how it feels to move your body. Focusing on the positive feelings associated with exercising can be more motivating than dwelling on losing weight.

10. Honor Your Health- Gentle Nutrition

You don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. Eat foods that honor your healthy, taste good, and make you feel the best.

Additional information about how to become an Intuitive Eater and implement each of the 10 principles into your own life can be found the book, Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA, CEDRD. I encourage you to read this book and to visit the websites listed below for more information about this topic. Intuitive Eating is a philosophy that can beneficial to many different individuals. However, it is a process that takes time, can be challenging, and filled with mixed emotions. Keep this in mind during your journey to become an Intuitive Eater.

An intuitive eater uses body signals to know when to eat and when to stop. They use cravings to guide their food choices. Also, an intuitive eater recognizes that perfect is not possible. Mistake in eating happen and are looked at as learning experiences.- Intuitive Eating

Sources for this blog post and additional information can be found at:
www.intuitiveeating.org
www.evelyntribole.com
www.elyseresch.com