Intuitive Eating – Part 1 | Innovative Results

Intuitive Eating – Part 1

Everyone wants to know the secret to being healthy. People spend their lifetime searching for the answer. The diet industry makes billions of dollars every year, each company with their own “revolutionary” idea for a quick fix. The search is now over, the answer is here! Two amazing dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, were able to put into words what so many of us Americans have forgotten. The answer for what is best for your body lies in YOU and it is called Intuitive Eating.

This approach teaches you how to create a healthy relationship with your food, mind and body-where YOU ultimately become the expert of your body. You learn how to distinguish between physical and emotional feelings and gain a sense of body wisdom. It’s also a process of making peace with food and decrease the constant “food guilt.” Your health and your worth are not solely based on what foods you eat. This may sound simplistic on the surface; “Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full” however when you have a long history of chronic dieting and rigid “health” rules it can be quite difficult. Intuitive Eating is the foundation to building a healthy relationship with your body and food. It will be impossible to successfully change your nutrition lifestyle without starting here.

The next 2 articles will focus on the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating directly excerpt from the book Intuitive Eating written by Evelyn Tribole, MS,RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA, 2nd ed, New York, New York: St Martin’s Press; 2003. (intuitive eating.org)

Principle One
REJECT THE DIET MENTALITY
Get rid of the diet books and magazine articles that offer false hope of losing weight quickly, easily and permanently. Get angry at the lies that made you feel you are a failure. Allowing a single hope to linger that a new, better diet is out there will keep you from staying free enough to rediscover “intuitive eating”

Principle Two
HONOR YOUR HUNGER
Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy. Otherwise, you will trigger a primal need to overeat. You may start with the best and “health conscious” intentions but getting overly hungry will cause you to throw those good intentions right out the window. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for rebuilding trust with yourself and food

Principle Three
MAKE PEACE WITH FOOD
Call a truce and stop the food fight. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. Telling yourself you cannot and should not have a particular food will only lead to intense feelings of deprivation and uncontrollable cravings. Then, when you finally “give-in” to the forbidden food it’s eaten with such intensity which leads to overeating and overwhelming guilt.

Principle Four
CHALLENGE THE FOOD POLICE
The food police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created. They tell you if you are “good” or “bad”. They shout negative, hopeless and guilt provoking thoughts. Scream a loud “No” to those thoughts in your head. Chasing away the food police is critical to return to intuitive eating.

Principle Five
RESPECT YOUR FULLNESS
Listen for your body’s signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show you are comfortably full. In the middle of your meal pause and ask yourself how the food tastes and what your current fullness levels are.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Intuitive Eating for the rest of the 10 principles!

“Erin Cattolica is practicing as an intern to become a registered dietitian through California State University, Long Beach. Her rotations include working with patients/clients in clinical, community, school, and food service settings. Erin also works part-time with eating disorder patients. She wrote this article during a rotation working with Innovative Results RD, Amanda Brown.”

**Intuitive Eating cannot replace a medically prescribed diet. Talk with your doctor or dietitian with ideas on how to successfully bring Intuitive Eating into your life