As the holidays approach us, so do social gatherings centered around food. For some people, the prospect of being surrounded by bountiful buffets full of home-cooked dishes can cause anxiety and stress that dampens the festive spirit of the season. Intuitive eating, an eating style developed in 1995 by two registered dieticians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, can ameliorate one’s relationship with food and potentially make holiday celebrations more pleasant.
The theory encourages people to allow themselves to eat whatever they would like while incorporating foods that contribute to the functioning of bodily processes and foods that contribute to overall satisfaction. Intuitive eating minimizes the moral value attached to foods that cause some foods to be deemed “good” or “healthy” and some “bad” or “unhealthy.” Multiple studies that have been conducted on intuitive eating have shown that it can reduce the internalization of the thinness ideal, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating behaviors. Likewise, it has been shown to improve indicators of psychological well-being such as self-worth, body appreciation, optimism, and life satisfaction.
Dieticians who share their knowledge of intuitive eating on Instagram counteract the copious diet trends and low-calorie meal plans that are touted on social media platforms. Facebook’s internal studies released by whistleblower Frances Haugen earlier this fall suggest that Instagram exacerbates teenage girls’ body image issues. Although more research is needed on the relationship between Instagram use and body image issues, users can take back some control by tailoring their feeds to consist of accounts that promote a positive relationship to food and eating.
Below is a list of dieticians with Instagram pages centered around intuitive eating. Their messages may influence your outlook on eating and even make holiday meals with loved ones more enjoyable.
- @no.food.rules
This account is run by a peppy registered dietician (RD), Colleen Christensen, who runs her own intuitive eating membership community. Her account features colorful and informative infographics, recipes, and tips about implementing principles of intuitive eating such as the hunger and fullness scale and the different types of hunger. She often shares the reasons behind her food choices on her Instagram Stories and answers questions submitted by her followers. Christensen’s transparency about her past struggles with food and articulation of the advantages of giving oneself permission to eat all foods (ie: an increased ability to live in the moment) transform intuitive eating into a feasible lifestyle.
- @foodheaven
Wendy Lopez and Jessica Jones, two RDs, share a wide range of content on this account including recipes, advice on body acceptance, and quotes from their podcast in which they speak with experts about topics ranging from exercise to astrology to the pervasive racism embedded in the health-care sector and wellness industry. They position diet culture as part of the systematic oppression of people of color, as they assert that it fails to consider varying levels of food access and is biased against foods that are cultural staples for some people. Lopez and Jones aim to help members of marginalized communities whose eating struggles have been minimized by the dominant narrative that disordered eating behaviors are solely experienced by thin white women.
- @veggiesandchocolate
This account is managed by Sammi Haber Brondo, a New York City-based RD. Haber Brondo shares a variety of recipes, tweets, and reels that emphasize tenets of intuitive eating, such as the importance of giving yourself permission to eat all foods, the fact that eating something that is not technically nutritious will not impact your overall health long term and the need to appreciate one’s body. She has a trademark on the slogan All Foods Fit, meaning that all foods (veggies and chocolate!) play an equal role in shaping a well-rounded diet and one is not morally superior to the other. Also, she has an adorable baby girl who sometimes makes an appearance on her feed alongside tweets regarding her choice to avoid negative self-talk about her body and food choices in order to set a strong example for her daughter.
Explore these accounts—even if you don’t incorporate all of the principles of intuitive eating these dieticians promote, perhaps you’ll internalize some of the ideas and subconsciously begin to attune to your hunger and fullness levels. After all, the ability to eat intuitively is latent within us all.