How to Not Turn Intuitive Eating into the Hunger & Fullness Diet
by: Megan Perez, dietitian at Nourishing Minds Nutrition
Have you been trying to become an intuitive eater but are struggling with turning it into another diet? You are not alone! We have been bombarded with so much diet messaging and talk that something that sounds so simple (and so intuitive) ends up becoming confusing and complicated. What does “listen to my body” even mean? When everything we have ever learned tells us we can’t trust our instincts, we start to believe it. Most of us feel much safer with “rules” around food and our eating patterns. Today, I want to share the most common struggles I see with Intuitive Eating.
Let’s start with the basics. What is Intuitive Eating? Intuitive eating is an approach to improving your relationship with food that was created in 1995 by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. This approach aims to help you break free from chronic dieting and tune in to your body’s signals that guide you in what, when, and why to eat. We were all born intuitive eaters! It almost sounds silly at first – that we would need help re-learning how to eat according to our own wants and needs; however, I talk to people every single day who have been on so many diets, they have no idea how to navigate eating without strict guidelines. The diet industry has brainwashed many of us to believe that our own bodies cannot be trusted to make decisions about food. I believe that intuitive eating can be for everyone, but I recognize that it is not as easy as it sounds!
Intuitive Eating involves tuning out the external noise and rules from diets and instead, turning inward and responding to internal cues and intuition. Again, this is not easy. Most of us have years of diet messaging ingrained in our brains. This takes time, practice, and patience. There are 10 principles of Intuitive Eating. After rejecting the diet mentality (see my blog post on how to do that here), you move into identifying your own hunger cues. If you are already concerned because you don’t know if you have hunger cues, that’s okay! Head over to this blog post I wrote on learning to reconnect to your body and identify your hunger cues. If you do have hunger cues, great! But I do not recommend stopping here. I have had several clients tell me that in the past, they stopped here and this approach became another set of rules for them to follow: “Only eat when you are hungry and always stop when you are full.” This is not intuitive eating. My mission is to make sure you do not turn this into another diet.
Here is where I see most people go wrong with Honoring Your Hunger and Feeling Your Fullness:
Some people get focused on only these two principles, leading to new rules that cannot be broken. There is often guilt or shame involved if you eat when you are not hungry or don’t stop eating at “satisfied.” Broken rules tend to lead to an all- or-nothing mindset. Thoughts often include “I already ruined my diet. I might as well finish all the desserts in the house.”
Some people set a rule that they must eat mindfully at every meal. This could mean absolutely no distractions (tv, phone, conversations with people). Strictly adhering to this can lead to seclusion, missing out on opportunities for connection, and loneliness.
Some people refuse to eat if they aren’t hungry. This may lead to canceling dinner plans with friends or missing out on birthday cake with family.
Some people may skip a meal or snack because they aren’t feeling hungry. But what happens if you don’t have another opportunity to eat for several hours? This could lead to becoming overly hungry, followed by a binge, followed by the shame of failing at Intuitive Eating.
In order to prevent these scenarios from happening, I have compiled a list of tips:
Remember that hunger and fullness cues are only one part of Intuitive Eating. The other principles are important, too! Personally, my favorite ones are rejecting the diet mentality and discovering the satisfaction factor.
Remember that Intuitive Eating is supposed to be FLEXIBLE. You cannot fail at this. Every trial run is an opportunity to learn about your body.
Learn to prepare for hunger. You may need to eat even when you aren’t hungry if you know you won’t have time later.
Practice self-compassion and know your worth outside of your eating patterns.
Eating when you aren’t hungry is okay! It’s going to happen sometimes! In fact, if you only eat ice cream when you are hungry, you will likely eat a lot, which could lead to physical discomfort.
Give yourself permission to eat when you aren’t hungry and to eat past fullness. This will also happen at times.
Remember that your hunger cues can change. There will be days when you don’t have an appetite because you are sick. You still need to eat. If you can’t trust your hunger cues or you have an eating disorder, then you definitely need to eat, even if you aren’t hungry.
Seek out help and support from friends, family, or professionals.
Intuitive Eating is an individualized approach. It may look different to everyone! What’s important is that you trust your body will guide you to eating in a way that brings you both joy and nourishment.
Thank you so much for this blog post Megan! Learn more about Megan and the services she provides at Nourishing Minds Nutrition.
