Intuitive Eating
The term intuitive eating was established in 1995 as the title of a book by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The program was built on the principle that diets don’t work and that lifestyle changes and personal care are more important for long-term health.
Intuitive eating is a philosophy of eating that makes you the expert of your body and its hunger signals. This approach teaches that you are the best person — the only person — to make those choices
The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating
Reject the Diet Mentality
Honor Your Hunger
Make Peace with Food
Challenge the Food Police
Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Feel Your Fullness
Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness
Respect your body
Movement- Feel the Difference
Honor Your Health- Gentle Nutrition
Research-based Benefits
Research on the topic is still growing and has largely focused on women. Thus far, studies have linked intuitive eating to healthier psychological attitudes, lower body mass index (BMI), and weight maintenance — though not weight loss entirely (1).
One of the major benefits of intuitive eating is better psychological health. Participants in intuitive eating studies improved their self-esteem, body image and overall quality of life while experiencing less depression and anxiety (2).
Intuitive eating interventions also have good retention rates, meaning people are more likely to stick with the program and keep practicing the behavioral changes than they would be on a diet (2).
Other studies have looked at women’s eating behaviors and attitudes and found that those who show more signs of intuitive eating are less likely to display disordered eating behaviors (3).
Take-Away
Think of intuitive eating as a way to not only heal your relationship with food, but a solution to enhancing your life while reaching your health goals. In some shape or form, there is a high probability that you either witnessed or have taken part in some form of diet culture. This can be years of Yo-Yo dieting, focusing on restricting major food groups, creating an unrealistic lifestyle and more importantly, an unhealthy relationship with food.
As I always say, your relationship with food is the longest relationship that you will ever have in your entire life, and it must be the most important relationship to have in order to enjoy life to its fullest in great health.
To your food freedom,
Julianna Szatmari MS, RDN
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Medical Nutrition Therapy and Intuitive Eating Expert
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