Intuitive Eating:Shifting Focus from Weight to Well-Being
Never heard of intuitive eating? That's okay! Most people haven’t. People mostly hear about detox teas, keto, south beach diet, and juice cleanses.
Fitness influencers are constantly promoting miracle, one size fits all diet which usually are restrictive and narrow focused. According to the Lindner Center of Hope “an estimated 45 million Americans diet each year and spend $33 billion annually on weight loss products.”[4] Most of us have tried a diet before. We lost weight and it felt good at the time. But as soon as we stopped dieting we gained weight back and sometimes doubled the weight. This made us feel sad and defeated and so we repeated the toxic cycle of loss and gain.
My experience:
When I was younger, I struggled with body image and participated in restrictive dieting. I would keep track of every little crumb that entered my mouth. Looking back, that messed with my physical and mental well being. Physically, I was losing too much weight, I had no energy and felt weak. Mentally, I felt angry, sad, anxious, and guilty when I consumed over the set amount of calories. I hardly ever went out to eat unless I knew exactly where I was going the day before so that I could plan and fit the calories into my daily allowance. It was absolutely draining. My dieting had unforeseen social consequences. So many of the customs that define our culture are centered around a group meal. When we celebrate a birthday it's common to do it over a beautiful dinner, when we see family or friends there is usually food involved, when we celebrate holidays there is a festive meal involved, etc. At the time, social gatherings scared me. I was constantly thinking about what I was eating, and I wasn’t able to focus on who I was eating with or what we were celebrating.
We connect with family and friends over food. Food is everything and instead of being fearful of it, we should be allowed to enjoy every bite!
I’m proud to say I have come a long way since those crazy calorie tracking days. Intuitive eating helped me establish better eating habits and improved my mental and physical well-being.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive eating (IE) involves rejecting diet culture and trusting your OWN decisions around food. Choosing foods that feel good without any judgement. This eating framework involves getting back in tune with your body by listening to hunger and fullness cues. IE was created by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resh in 1995, intuitive eating is a self care eating framework “which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought.”[3] IE improves your relationship with food and body image as well as mental and physical health. Basically, IE wants you to trust yourself. YOU are in charge and YOU know what is best for your body. You do not need some so-called nutrition guru telling you what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat. In other words, you do you!
Below are the 10 principles of intuitive eating.
What the science says about intuitive eating
So you might be asking yourself “won’t I gain weight if I eat whatever I want to?” The answer depends. If you are a chronic dieter like I was then YES, you will gain weight at first. When we diet we often restrict calories and we ban different types of food from our diet. Significant calorie deficits negatively impact our bodies. From struggling to maintain muscle mass to a sluggish metabolism. If you have been chronic dieting to lose weight or maintain an unnatural weight for your body type then yes, intuitive eating will allow your body to reach its normal weight range. I know it sounds scary to gain weight but the long term benefits of IE outweigh the short term benefits of weight loss.
Remember: weight loss ≠ healthy
IE is a widely researched topic and often compared with the effects of restrictive dieting. Researchers have found that IE improves mental and physical health. A pilot study targeting female college students analyzed the relationship between IE and health indicators. The study found “that intuitive eating was significantly correlated with lower body mass index (r=-.576), lower triglyceride levels (r=-.408), higher levels of high density lipoproteins (.437), and improved cardiovascular risk (r=.425).”[5]
A systematic review of 24 cross-sectional studies examined IE and compared it to restrictive eating/dieting. The studies showed that IE was inversely associated with disordered eating and negatively correlated with “bulimia and food preoccupation, binge eating behaviors, and dieting.”[2] The study also found that IE is positively correlated with positive body image and “positive emotional functioning in women.”[2]
A clinical trial done by Linda Bacon and her team compared health indicators of white, obese, female chronic dieters, aged 30 to 45 years. The study consisted of two groups, one group followed the health at every size model (HAES) which uses intuitive eating practices. The second group followed a restrictive diet. The two-year follow up revealed that the HAES group improved their total cholesterol, blood pressure, LDL and maintained their weight. The diet group lost weight and showed improvement in health indicators at 1 year; however, at the 2 year follow up, weight was regained and no further improvement was made.[1]
Damaging Path of Restrictive Dieting
In my experience, it is difficult to maintain a restrictive diet because LIFE happens. When you stop dieting and gain weight then start dieting again to lose weight it is called weight cycling or “yo-yo effect”. Weight cycling harms our mental and physical well being. Mentally, we feel defeated and guilty if we put a forbidden food in our mouth or gain a few pounds. Physically, there are changes in our blood vessels, skin, and muscles. In fact, a study done in 2019 by Wolpert found evidence that weight cycling increases risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.[6]
Restrictive dieting can lead to intense food cravings, overeating and binge eating. According to Lindner Center of HOPE “dieting can lead to unhealthy changes in body composition, hormonal changes, reduced bone density, menstrual disturbances, and lower resting energy expenditure.”[4] Labeling foods as “good” or “bad” increases obsessive thoughts towards food and increases occurrences of binge eating. Dieting takes the focus off nutritional value and points it towards controlled eating behavior which leaves us feeling unsatisfied. The feeling of dissatisfaction can cause mood swings and overeating which result in feelings of defeat.
We live in a fat phobic world and that sucks. The way a person looks on the outside should not define their worth and better yet their health. Instead of using that number we see on a scale, we should turn to health indicators such as: total cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and bone density. These health indicators give a much better picture of our health status compared to a little meaningless number on a scale.
We need to STOP idolizing thin bodies because thin does not equal healthy. Being thin will not make us happier and not being thin does not mean we are a failure. This destructive thinking comes with mental and physical consequences.
We need to shift the focus of losing weight to developing healthy relationships with food without any restrictions for long-term health and intuitive eating is a way to achieve that.
Summing It Up
Intuitive Eating uses your OWN judgement on foods to eat & encourages you to listen to hunger and fullness cues
Intuitive Eating has 10 principles (on page 2)
Intuitive eating has positive long term outcomes such as: lower BMI, improved cholesterol and triglycerides, and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease
Intuitive eating improves self confidence
Dieting for weight loss is short term
Weight cycling increases risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure
Your worth is not measured in weight
Thin ≠ Healthy
Want to learn more about incorporating intuitive eating principles and ditching diet habits? Follow this link to book a session with me!
References
1. Bacon, L., Stern, J. S., Van Loan, M. D., & Keim, N. L. (2005). Size acceptance and intuitive eating improve health for obese, female chronic dieters. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 105(6), 929–936. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.03.011
2. Bruce, L. J., & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2016). A systematic review of the psychosocial correlates of intuitive eating among adult women. Appetite, 96, 454–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.10.012
3.Tribole, Evelyn. (2019). Definition of intuitive eating. The Original Intuitive Eating Pros. Retrieved from https://www.intuitiveeating.org/definition-of-intuitive-eating/
4. Guerdjikova, A. (2016). Why dieting can be harmful. Lindner Center of HOPE. Retrieved from https://lindnercenterofhope.org/blog/why-dieting-can-be-harmful/
5. Hawks, S., Madanat, H., Hawks, J., & Harris, A. (2005). The relationship between intuitive eating and health indicators among college women. American Journal of Health Education, 36(6), 331-336. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/212709461?accountid=14696
6.Wolpert, S. (2019). Dieting does not work, UCLA researchers report. UCLA. Retrieved from https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/Dieting-Does-Not-Work-UCLA-Researchers-7832