Intuitive eating is relatively new in the mainstream and is being used as a buzzword on social media. Influencers and health gurus are promoting the idea of intuitive eating for weight loss, but dieticians say there is more to it than weight and portion control. Intuitive eating is a way to change your relationship with food and your body by learning to listen to its cues.
People have used intuitive eating to heal ailments, control appetites and more. But, the original ideology behind intuitive eating has been around for decades as a way of honouring what your body and intuition tells you to feed yourself – and when you need to do it.
Food is nourishment
Everyone is born an intuitive eater. As babies, we know when to signal that we need something to eat. That’s intuition about food. As an example, children just know how to balance out their food intake. They eat when they’re hungry and stop once they feel full. We sort of start to taint their intuition when we force them to clear their plates. Essentially, that is where the disassociation between food and hunger starts.
Each day, their body will want a different amount of food. Some days kids may eat a ton of food, and other days they may not be interested in their favourite mac and cheese. As we age and rules and restrictions are set around food, we lose our intuitive inner eater, Says Alyssa Nutrition.
The point of intuitive eating practice is to get back to that natural setting.
Intuitive eating is a scientifically studied paradigm intended to help you heal your relationship with food, says nutritionist Kara Lydon. Intuitive eaters are way less likely to have negative feelings towards food or even over or under-eat. Research shows they also have lower rates of disordered and emotional eating, most likely due to the ‘diets’ main rule; Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full.
Simple.
Apparently, research further indicates that intuitive eaters have reduced stress levels. The diet aims to promote better body image and put people in tune with their body’s wants and needs and what it doesn’t want.
The mental healing
Food consumes a large part of our mental space. Women, in particular, are prone to try loads of diets, slimming aids and lifestyle pans to get fit or lose weight. Because of mainstream beauty standards, the pressure to look good and eat as little as possible is high. People suffer from intense stress and anxiety, and even depression around food.
But, intuitive eating wants to combat the negative feelings around food and body image.
Intuitive eating is a straightforward concept. It is about making peace with all food types. It can definitely assist with losing weight as it fights against overeating, but it isn’t a diet that restricts intake. Instead, you get to listen to your body and eat what and how much of it feels right for you.
So intuitive eating doesn’t just help you heal your relationship with food, but it also can help improve mental and physical health.
The diet also tries to make all foods equal. There are no bad foods or even good foods. Everything has its place on your plate.
Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch coined the name in 1995 as the title of their book. But early pioneers include Susie Orbach, who published “Fat is a Feminist Issue” in 1978.
Before that, Thelma Wayler founded a weight management program in 1973 called Green Mountain at Fox Run, based in Vermont.
The program emphasised that diets don’t work and that lifestyle changes and personal care are more important for long-term health, Healthline reports.
Intuitive eating consists of the ten core principles:
1. Reject the Diet Mentality: Get rid of any material that promotes toxic diets culture and easy or quick weight loss. This includes social media influencers that make you feel guilty about what you eat and bad about your weight and look.
2. Honor Your Hunger. Hunger is a normal, biological process. Your body is telling you that you need food.
3. Make Peace with Food. This principle is about allowing all foods into your diet and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat whatever you want.
4. Challenge the Food Police. These are the that make you feel “bad” because you ate dessert/carbs/sugar/etc. All food is equal.
5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor. Learn the difference between fullness and satisfaction. You can feel physically full but not satisfied.
6. Feel Your Fullness. That’s it. You’ll know when yoi dont need more.
7. Cope With Your Emotions with Kindness. Everyone has been there. We eat to soothe a bad emotion. And that is ok. Allow yourself to feel and learn the difference between hunger and the need to suppress. Be honest with yoruself and act accordingly. It’s a process.
8. Respect Your Body. Again, listen to your body. Care for it physically and mentally, and be kind and compassionate to yourself.
9. Movement . Many people approach exercise as something they “should do” or something to check off our to-do list. Forget about the calorie-burning effect of exercise and think about how you feel after working out.
10. Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition. Note how certain foods make you feel, in addition to how tasty and satisfying they are to you – and then eat what your body desires. It’s that simple.
Please consult a medical professional before starting any new eating plan or any new diet.
The Medical Society is passionate about ensuring that the community has all the information and care to meet their nutritional needs.
