Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach

by Evelyn Tribole

Can patients with eating disorders learn to eat intuitively? (Richards et al. 2017). The study’s finding was a resounding yes.

It should be noted, however, that undernourished brains may have difficulty in sensing hunger signals, and slowed stomach emptying, which can lead to continual fullness, will not give an accurate end point to eating.

When silencing their voices, young women may begin to ignore or suppress physiological or hunger cues that are inconsistent with societal ideas of thinness.

the relationship between disordered eating, Intuitive Eating, and self-silencing and found that Intuitive Eating is maximized when a woman has high levels of emotional awareness, combined with low levels of self-silencing.

The most intuitive and least disordered eaters in the study displayed high emotional awareness and low self-silencing.

This study found that the more the teens experienced online objectification, the less they engaged in Intuitive Eating behaviors. Fortunately, the researchers found two key protective factors: (1) body appreciation and (2) broader conceptualization of beauty, which includes inner characteristics and a wider range of diverse sizes and appearances.

Intuitive Eating is more than the absence of eating disorder symptoms.

Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT),

The harder you try restricting the foods you eat, the more your body and mind adapt to surviving the self-imposed famine.

Avoiding carbohydrates, a trend that has circled back into fashion like a revolving door, at all costs, and subsisting on almost exclusively low-carbohydrate foods is essentially dieting, and often results in being underfed.

The more you go to external sources to “judge” if your eating is in check, the further removed you become. Intuitive Eating relies on your internal cues and signals.

In the beginning we ignore nutrition, because it interferes with the process of relearning how to become an Intuitive Eater. Nutrition heresy? No. It’s possible to respect and honor nutrition.

“If you don’t love it, don’t eat it, and if you love it, savor it.” PRINCIPLE 6: FEEL YOUR FULLNESS In order to honor your fullness, you need to trust that you will give yourself the foods that you desire. Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry and observe the signs that show that you’re comfortably full. Pause in the middle of eating and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what your current hunger level is.

Increased gratifying eating experiences allowed each to let go of using food as a coping mechanism.

It equally depends on how willing you are to make learning to become an Intuitive Eater the primary goal, while accepting that a focus on weight loss will sabotage your Intuitive Eating process.

Sometimes you’ll move back and forth among the stages. If you accept that this is a normal part of the process, it will help you to keep going without feeling that you are backsliding or not making progress.

you will take many turns and experiment with new thoughts and behaviors. You may even find that after making noticeable progress, you go back to old ways that are uncomfortable and unfulfilling.

Once you truly become an Intuitive Eater, you will consistently tune in to your inner wisdom, and you will feel better in mind, body, and spirit.

You have learned from your own experience that dieting does not work—you have hit diet bottom and feel stuck, frustrated, and discouraged.

LEARNING AND PURSUIT OF PLEASURE

You will go through a phase of hyperconsciousness to help reacquaint yourself with your intuitive signals: hunger, taste preferences, satisfaction, and satiety.

However, hyperconsciousness is different than obsessive thinking. Obsessive thinking is pervasive and is characterized by worry.

Hyperconsciousness is more specific. It zooms in when you’re ready to eat but goes away when the eating experience is over.

You will learn to honor your hunger and recognize your body signals that indicate the many degrees of hunger.

It will be difficult to respect your fullness at this stage, because you need time to experiment with the quantity it takes to satisfy a deprived palate.

You will be able to take note of your fullness and respect the presence of that signal, although you may find that you often eat beyond the fullness mark.

What is most important at this stage is the sense of well-being and empowerment that begins to take place.

THE INTUITIVE EATER AWAKENS

Your food talk and self-talk will be positive and noncritical.

STAGE FIVE: THE FINAL STAGE—TREASURE THE PLEASURE

Exercise will no longer be used as a driving force to burn more calories; rather, you become committed to movement as a way to feel better, physically and mentally.