Intuitive eating involves coming to peace with your body’s needs, letting go of the guilt associated with eating and ending the struggle of following diet rules.The end result of intuitive eating has nothing to do with your weight.

Intuitive eating

With mindful eating, there is no explicit rejection of dieting. Intuitive eating rejects the diet mentality altogether—that’s the biggest difference.

Intuitive eating and mindful eating

<ul><li>Honor your hunger. Reject the diet mentality, make peace with food and challenge the food police.</li><li>The act of eating. Respect your fullness, and discover the food delight factor.</li><li>The emotion of eating. Honor your feelings without using food, and respect your body.</li><li>Exercise—feel the difference.</li><li>Honor your health. </li></ul>

Principles of intuitive eating

When you are in touch with your body’s needs and desires, you honor those without judgment and start to see the ridiculousness of trying to get smaller at all costs.

Break out of the diet cycle

Eating or not eating certain foods doesn’t make us good or bad people, according to the philosophy of intuitive eating. The number on the scale doesn’t make us good or bad people—it’s just a number. It’s so much easier to come to these realizations when you aren’t worrying about every bite you put in your mouth.

A healthy relationship with food 

<div>
Intuitive eating sounds too good to be true. A diet that lets you eat what you want, when you want, with no strict limitations on how much? Count me in. 
But intuitive eating's a lot more nuanced than that. It's not about noshing on pizza and ice cream every day-intuitive eating helps you tap into your body's instinctive knowledge to feed yourself exactly what you need to feel your best. Sometimes that's a soft serve with rainbow sprinkles (no shame!), but more often it's nutrient-dense food in modest proportions. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fjonisweet%2F2019%2F05%2F31%2Fwhat-is-intuitive-eating-ditch-your-diet-and-eat-for-wellness-instead%2F&amp;text=Intuitive%20eating%20says%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20need%20a%20restrictive%20diet%20to%20be%20healthy%E2%80%94you%20just%20need%20trust%20your%20internal%20cues.">Intuitive eating is built on the idea that you don't need a restrictive diet to be healthy-you just need trust your internal cues.</a> 
So what is intuitive eating and how does it work? In this Q&amp;A, <a href="http://www.sarahskovrannutrition.com">Sarah Skovran </a>, a registered dietitian who specializes in intuitive eating, shares the freedom that can come from this eating philosophy, how to manage emotional eating and the 10 principles of intuitive eating to incorporate into your wellness routine. 
What is intuitive eating and where did it come from? The term intuitive eating was specifically defined by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, authors of " <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Intuitive-Eating-Revolutionary-Program-Works/dp/0312321236">Intuitive Eating </a>." In a nutshell, it's a method by which people learn to trust their bodies and enjoy eating. Intuitive eating involves coming to peace with your body's needs, letting go of the guilt associated with eating and ending the struggle of following diet rules. 
The end result of intuitive eating has nothing to do with your weight. I've met several people who claim that eating intuitively always leads to weight loss. This is absolutely not true. I also like to point out that some people believe that intuitive eating means you sit on the couch all day eating cookies-this is also a myth. While intuitive eating teaches that you aren't a bad person for doing this, it also acknowledges that this probably isn't the best long-term strategy for feeling your best. 
So how does intuitive eating differ from mindful eating? Both eating philosophies theoretically involve being more thoughtful and intentional about what you eat and honoring your body's needs. I've definitely seen some people use the terms interchangeably. But with mindful eating, there is no explicit rejection of dieting. In fact, I've seen the term mindful eating used in weight-loss programs. Intuitive eating rejects the diet mentality altogether-that's the biggest difference. 
Interesting! So what are the 10 principles of intuitive eating? The thing to keep in mind with the 10 principles of intuitive eating is the order. You don't want to jump ahead. 
Start with the first four: Reject the diet mentality, honor your hunger, make peace with food and challenge the food police. These will open your eyes to how diet culture affects people's lives and how someone's negative self-talk can force them to ignore their bodies' cues and needs. 
While the first four principles teach you to honor your hunger, the next two (respect your fullness, and discover the satisfaction factor) have to do with the act of eating. They help you really enjoy your food and learn when to stop eating. 
I find that the seventh and eighth principles of intuitive eating are the trickiest for people. They are more emotional: Honor your feelings without using food, and respect your body. 
Most of my clients aren't ready for the last two (Exercise-feel the difference, and honor your heath) until after they've worked on the others for quite awhile. It's easy to think you're practicing gentle nutrition and movement, but in reality you're still following diet and exercise rules. Make sure you're comfortable with the other principles before moving onto the final two. 
How can intuitive eating help you break out of the diet cycle? When you are in touch with your body's needs and desires, you honor those without judgment and start to see the ridiculousness of trying to get smaller at all costs. Diet culture is deeply entrenched in our culture, so this is definitely a process. Be gentle with yourself when you notice those thoughts slipping in. 
How does intuitive eating help you build a healthy relationship with food and your body? If you look at the 10 principles of intuitive eating, you'll see that they lead to a place of appreciating food and accepting your body. You become confident that your body knows what it needs. If you eat cake, that's simply a fact, and not a reason to be hard on yourself. There are no good or bad foods. 
Eating or not eating certain foods doesn't make us good or bad people, according to the philosophy of intuitive eating. Likewise, the number on the scale doesn't make us good or bad people-it's just a number. It's so much easier to come to these realizations when you aren't worrying about every bite you put in your mouth. 
This sounds great. What are some easy ways to start practicing intuitive eating? Honestly, I usually recommend that people buy the intuitive eating book, then start focusing on the first four of the 10 principles. A lot of this is mental-reframing your thoughts takes time, and practice makes it easier. So, start noticing when you judge yourself for something you ate, or stopped yourself from eating something you wanted. And try to change those thoughts and actions. It will take time, but that's the best way to get started with intuitive eating. 
</div>

Intuitive eating sounds too good to be true. A diet that lets you eat what you want, when you want, with no strict limitations on how much? Count me in. But intuitive eating's a lot more nuanced than that.

What Is Intuitive Eating? Ditch Your Diet And Eat For Wellness, Instead

Intuitive eating

Intuitive eating and mindful eating

Principles of intuitive eating

Break out of the diet cycle

A healthy relationship with food

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this