Intuitive Eating Guide for Beginners

I first came across the phrase “gut eating” on Instagram, and my first guess was that this is another list of diet guidelines wrapped in a beautiful set of features and self-care. Then I noticed the bagels. And cupcakes. And glasses of wine. Faced with my own sometimes messy relationship with food, I recoiled a bit from what seemed like a free pass to eat whatever you want and declare myself an intuitive eater.

As I continued scrolling, I learned that intuitive eating is not a fancy diet or a license to overeat. But it took a little more digging to find out what it is and why it seems to be all over the place on social media.

What is intuitive eating – and what is not

The term is taken from a book of the same name originally published in 1995 by two registered dietitians named Evelyn Tribol and Elise Resch. After years of working with people with eating disorders, they wanted to convince anyone who felt they were continuing to “fail” in their diets that the problem was not with them, but with the diet . They argued that diets fail because they set unrealistic expectations and ignore how the body actually works.

“Also,” Resch told me, “the strength of the deprivation while dieting and the rebellion arising from being told what to do / eat will cause the diet to fail.”

Such claims are often found with claims that people whose diets “fail” are simply not trying hard enough or choosing the right diet. But the work of Tribol and Resh has been backed up by a significant body of research. Perhaps most important is the work of social and medical psychologist Tracy Mann, whose research has shown that the neurological, hormonal, and biological changes that occur when dieting cause our bodies to do the opposite of what we are trying to achieve – crave more food, feel less full and slow down the metabolism . Intuitive eating involves giving up dieting entirely, allowing yourself to eat without calling some foods “good” and others “bad,” acknowledging your feelings when you are eating, and accepting your body.

Tribol and Resch laid out 10 principles of intuitive eating to make this a little easier. The most important thing is to abandon the dietary mentality, as described above.

One of the most controversial is Principle 3 – putting up with food. “Give yourself unconditional permission to eat,” the principle says, and to someone who is used to controlling their food choices, this may seem like an outrageous offer. I confess I raised my eyebrows on the first reading. But then I thought of Oreos in my pantry, my stock of “bad,” high-calorie treats that I could hardly get rid of a handful. Tribol and Resch call this overeating, which happens when we finally succumb to our desires, the “Last Supper” mentality, and they correctly describe the consequences: “overeating and overwhelming guilt.” They argue that making peace with food does not mean giving in to all passions; it means getting rid of the idea of ​​”succumbing” to “bad food” completely. Principle 3 assumes that you eat Oreo whenever you want, without any negative emotions, and you won’t feel like you need to eat the entire packet as your last hurray before ditching cookies for good.

Principle 5 – Respect Your Fullness – is a key complement to Principle 3. “Listen to your body’s signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry,” he suggests. This can be surprisingly difficult when you are so focused on the moral weight of the food you eat. And it often takes a little time for people learning to eat intuitively to figure out what kind and amount of food is actually right for their body.

Learning to separate food and feelings

Tribol and Resch talk about the importance of respecting your hunger. But what if this hunger seems out of control? This is a common problem for people recovering from eating disorders, and even for those without a diagnosis but obsessed with the moral weight of food.

Aaron Flores , a Los Angeles-based nutritionist who teaches intuitive eating, says sometimes his clients actually overdo previously banned foods when they allow themselves to stop seeing them as evil. His solution is to focus on eliminating judgment, and he said that it always helps to find a middle ground.

“I tell my clients that I never want to argue about the nutritional quality of food,” he said. “Different foods have different nutritional qualities, that’s for granted, but I really want to focus on the emotional value of the food.”

He gave the example of someone who loves fried chicken but feels guilty about eating it. They struggle with periods of avoiding it like the plague, and then overeat and then feel guilty about it. Flores said that he would ask such a client to think about what their emotional connection with this food is, why it is so enjoyable, and then just observe the process of eating it without judging.

“Look what the experience will be like if you remove the rule that you are not allowed to have it,” he said. “Yes, you can eat more if you allow yourself, and you can leave the table full and uncomfortable, and that’s okay. Over time, in this unbiased place, your inner voice becomes more the voice of an ally. “

You can gain or lose weight, but that’s not the point

Flores also emphasizes that he has no idea what will happen to the weight of his patients – some may lose weight, some will gain weight, and some may not see any changes at all. Intuitive dietitians often refer to a “set point” – the range (sometimes up to 10-20 pounds) of weight that your body naturally tends to over time, no matter what you do. You may be dieting and losing weight just to gain it again, or overeating and gaining weight just to get back on the scale. Research into this theory is ongoing, and experts believe that genetics, environmental factors, and brain activity may play a role.

This can be frustrating for people who turn to gut eating to cure an eating disorder.

Maggie Bailey, a graduate student who turned to gut eating in 2016 when she realized her obsession with “clean eating” and Whole 30 was bad for her health, told me that her weight fluctuated back and forth as she learned new things. thinking. Now, she says, her body has dropped to less weight than she started with intuitive eating, even though she allowed herself to eat bagels and donuts again. But that’s not why she keeps doing it.

“I can eat every day without thinking about how what I ate today will affect my ability to eat everything my body needs tomorrow,” she said. “In many ways, food was my worst enemy — the intuitive eating made it so much more joyful.”

Flores pointed out to me that the phrase “gut eating” is not trademarked, which is why it has been used by some self-proclaimed health coaches and nutritionists on social media. Any mention of intuitive eating as a way to manage weight is at issue, he says.

“It’s about learning to challenge your eating habits and allow yourself to eat when you’re hungry,” he said. “Intuitive eating means understanding the difference between what is eaten for emotional and physical needs, as well as a real understanding that foods can be emotionally equal.”

Intuitive social media nutrition versus reality

While there has been a growing general consensus about the usefulness of these ideas in recent years, food culture – our American belief system for weight – is still alive and well, especially on social media. Perhaps this is why young Instagram-savvy dietitians and body-positive advocates began to use the Tribol and Resh gut eating mantle.

When Bailey decided to stop obsessing over food, she tried limiting another kind: She cleared her Instagram followers list for all Whole 30, Paleo, and other diet-related accounts. She only kept food-focused accounts that seemed to portray a more realistic way of eating. A pattern soon emerged: These realistic reports were mostly owned by registered dietitians, and they all used the phrase “gut eating.”

Colleen Christensen is one of those Instagram-savvy nutritionists. After recovering from her own eating disorder a few years ago, she found that she did not understand what a healthy relationship with food really looked like.

“I was no longer ‘sick enough’ and looked healthy, but I still had obsessive thoughts,” she said.

When she read Intuitive Eating , something began to click. She now uses a framework both in her work and in her life, which catalogs in detail on Instagram . Regular fasting uses the construct “dumb” and “smart,” widely used by nutritionists to suggest low-calorie foods, and instead provides examples of how to move from harmful thoughts about food to intuitive ones. In a recent post, Christensen on the left was pictured with a mouthful of cookies and the words “Diet: spoiled” by eating cookies, could just as well have eaten five ”, as well as a smile with a plate of cookies on the right with the text“ Intuitive ” Food: enjoyed the cookies, maybe even more next time. “

This highlights the biggest problem humans face with intuitive eating. If you search for the hashtag on Instagram, it might seem like it’s all about eating as many cookies, cakes and muffins as you want, damn calories, sugar and voids.

“I understand why people think that way, because these are the foods that people find the most difficult to afford, so a lot of people will show it on social media,” Christensen said.

But she’s trying to show her followers that intuitive eating – and what she calls “food freedom” means that you can also opt for a salad or skip a cake left by someone in the break room.

“It’s about figuring out which foods are best to eat and how to choose your own food based on your hunger and satiety,” Christensen said.