Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach

by Evelyn Tribole

Intuitive Eating is truly about trusting that you will be able to access all of the information you need, by using all aspects of your brain—your reptilian instincts, your limbic connection with your emotions, and your rational thoughts.

The problem is that any focus on weight loss will sabotage your ability to reconnect with your body’s Intuitive Eating signals. When you focus on weight, it places your attention on external measures for eating—such as the portions of foods, the macros of food—rather than connecting you with your internal cues. (That’s why we like to say that Intuitive Eating is an inside job.)

Instead, focusing on your day-to-day progress—such as getting more satisfaction from your meals and staying more present in eating and life—will give you a sense of connection, which can lead to feelings of joy and well-being.

The harder you try restricting the foods you eat, the more your body and mind adapt to surviving the self-imposed famine. As far as your cells are concerned, you are trying to kill them. Your brain finally sends out chemicals that send you to seek large amounts of food for survival. Cravings escalate, until you can’t resist them, and for many people, the pressure to eat escalates to the point of loss-of-control eating. It’s like holding your breath. You have the illusion of willpower to limit your breathing. But at some point, your body can’t take it, because it needs air to survive. When you finally breathe, it’s a profound gasp for dear life, rather than a polite inhalation.

Weight is not a practice or a behavior. Health is not a moral imperative or a requirement for being treated with dignity and respect.

“If you don’t love it, don’t eat it, and if you love it, savor it.”

When dieting, you will likely rebel by eating more—to restore your autonomy and protect your boundaries. But the act of rebelling can make you feel as out of control as a city riot. Instead, you have an inner food fight on your hands. But once the food rebellion is unleashed, its intensity reinforces feelings of lack of control and the belief that you don’t possess willpower.

Instead, the protein is used as an expensive source of fuel, rather than for its intended use in the body. It’s like having a building supplier provide lots of wood to rebuild your house. If you are constantly using that wood pile to make bonfires, instead of repairing your home, you are still left with a weak structure.

First, it usually crescendos into a period of overeating. Second, when the mind gets so used to ignoring hunger signals, they begin to fade and you don’t hear them anymore.

Each time you eat, ask yourself: Am I hungry? What’s my hunger level?

What’s my hunger level? It’s helpful to do this every time you eat, and between eating occurrences. Remember, although this may seem hyperconscious, it’s a focused step of awareness to get you reacquainted with your body and its biology.

when you give yourself permission to not be deprived, you simultaneously let go of the guilt! By giving yourself permission to eat, you stop playing the futile seesaw game.

The question we often ask our patients who are in this time-crunch dilemma is: How can you make movement a non-negotiable priority?

one of the most important aspects of maintaining good health is to move your body! It’s not about going to the gym to exercise; it’s about finding a realistic way to provide regular, joyful movement in your life.

All you need to do is accumulate thirty minutes of activity a day, most of the week. The thirty minutes of activity do not need to be all at once. (This particular conclusion surprises many people.)

Rather than focusing on fitness targets (like frequency and duration), a growing body of research shows that focusing on pleasure from exercise may be one of the most important factors in sustaining consistent activity.

the effect of positive emotional experiences can have a greater impact on health than which foods people actually eat.

“In matters of taste, consider nutrition, and in matters of nutrition, consider taste.”

Also, worry about future health issues does not have the power to motivate behavior change and gives a fear-mongering message. Feeling physically better in the moment, however, can provide a strong impact.