Intuitive Eating: A Loving Relationship Between Your Mind and Body (TW: ED discussed)

***Trigger Warning: Eating Disorders***

Are you sick of diet culture telling you the way that your body should look? Is it exhausting to keep up with society’s “perfect body” image? Have you had enough? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, it’s safe to say that you’ve either had bad experiences with diet culture, have struggled with your own body image, or know someone who has. Eating disorders affect 9% of the population worldwide. Even more horrifying is that the social consequences for BIPOC, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and disabled people are more severe than those for other people, and often those communities are less likely to reach out for help. If they do reach out, they are often brushed away, or not given the care they deserve. 

So what’s the answer, if any? Of course, the most important aspect of this battle with societal body “norms” begins with the individual. But it’s often not that easy. It’s hard to block out the incessant exterior noise and focus on yourself when that’s all you hear, and that’s okay! So, enter intuitive eating: A marvelous way to incorporate self-love and promote physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Intuitive eating is a non-diet regime that’s main focus is repairing trust with food, the enjoyment that comes along with loving food, and most of all, rejecting diet culture. 

There are 10 principles to 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), and finally, honor your health through gentle nutrition. Unlike your typical diet, there are no rules to intuitive eating, only these core principles that you can incorporate into your life however you see fit. Sounds pretty good to me!

In sum, intuitive eating is a way of listening very closely to the wants and needs of your body, rather than suppressing those very literal methods of communication. Some benefits of intuitive eating as seen in over 100 studies are lowered rates of disordered eating, higher HDL cholesterol, more satisfaction with life, proactive coping skills, and lowered triglyceride levels. 

Take time before meals to really ask yourself “What am I in the mood for?”, “What will satisfy me?”, and often basic questions you might not even consider such as, “Do I want hot or cold food? What about crunchy or soft?”, and so on. By asking yourself these important questions, listening to your body, and honoring your hunger, food is more enjoyable, it serves its purpose, and there is a greater appreciation for “health”, whatever that means to you as an individual (because, yes, it varies person to person). You might not want to eat fruits and vegetables every day, and that’s not what intuitive eating is about! One day all you might need for breakfast is Nutella toast and orange juice, but the next day, who’s to say you won’t enjoy a crispy apple or two you got from apple picking this fall season? The choice is yours! Now go out and smash diet culture and live your life. 

Sources: 1, 2, 3

• diet culture
• intuitive eating
• self-love
• society