You’ve probably heard about the many benefits of intuitive eating, but there’s also a chance you’ve heard things about it that just aren’t quite true.
There is a lot of misinformation that discredits intuitive eating, so I’m here to separate fact from fiction. While my previous blog post talks about what intuitive eating is, let’s take a look at the lies:
Lie 1: Intuitive eating is anti-health
If you’ve tried dieting in the past, you know how restrictive it can be.
What sets intuitive eating apart from dieting is that diets are built around rules, while intuitive eating is built around you. Intuitive eating removes the focus on weight and instead focuses on satiety, nutrition, honoring your cravings, and actually enjoying food!
With regular diets, with all those rules and restrictions, your mental health isn’t taken into consideration (and diets can lead to disordered eating.) Intuitive eating focuses on your mental and physical well-being so you feel empowered in your body. With intuitive eating, you learn how to nourish your body and soul while not over-controlling your food and eating habits.
Lie 2: Intuitive eating is a diet, weight loss tool, or meal plan
Diets often focus on weight, leading many people to assume that health is related to body shape or size. You can be healthy at any size, which is why intuitive eating is a weight-neutral approach to health.
Intuitive eating is a self-care eating framework that brings the focus to your health, quality of life, and eating behaviors white using several health indicators to determine progress instead of relying on numbers on a scale. It promotes overall physical and mental health for bodies of every shape and size.
Diets can lead to disordered eating and the loss of connection with your body. Intuitive eating helps you feel in tune with your body so that your metabolism, hormones, and digestion can align without yo-yoing.
Lie 3: Intuitive eating is a hunger/fullness diet
Intuitive eating is often thought of as the same thing as a hunger/fullness diet. Thinking of intuitive eating in this way is actually false and limiting. Mindfulness is a huge pillar of intuitive eating practices, but intuitive eating is more than just “eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full.”
Intuitive eating encompasses both physical and emotional hunger. Not only does it allow you to meet your physical body needs, but it also gives you the tools to feel in control of your emotional eating and satisfied with your choices.
Intuitive eating allows you to be flexible in what and when you want to eat. It helps you recognize and stabilize hunger and satiety cues, especially after years of dieting. And, it teaches you how to honor your cravings without losing control over food.
Lie 4: Intuitive eating means eating everything all the time
Another widespread misconception about intuitive eating is that having food freedom means you’re allowed to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, and however much you want. That isn’t what intuitive eating is about. In fact, it’s quite contradictory.
Of course, there are no rules, and no “good” or “bad” foods, but this doesn’t mean it encourages you to eat ice cream and chocolate for every meal of the day. Instead, intuitive eating removes moral value from food. Intuitive eating promotes nourishing your body in ways that feel good while still honoring your physical and mental health.
Intuitive eating teaches you how to differentiate your physical hunger from your emotional hunger. It also helps you develop strategies to feel satisfied with your choices without needing to compensate by overeating or restricting.
Lie 5: Intuitive eating is only for people without health conditions
Diets are a one-size-fits-all approach to eating, but not all bodies are exactly alike. And while there are fad diets for almost every health condition out there (new toxic trend alert: anti-inflammatory diet), most of them are not backed by science and are unfortunately useless.
Unlike diets, intuitive eating puts you in the driver’s seat so that you know what and how to eat in a way that nourishes your body properly. Of course, some health conditions or chronic diseases can lead to adjustments in your food choices, the timing of your meals, or even the combination of foods.
Intuitive eating doesn’t oppose itself to changes that are beneficial to your health. On the contrary, it is an approach that embraces your needs and limitations but also allows you to be connected to your body.
Intuitive eating allows you to build a structure and routine that aligns best with your physical and mental needs without fearing food. You learn how to understand how your body reacts to food so that you can mindfully choose food instead of following a set of rules.
The truth: Intuitive eating is food freedom & empowerment
Intuitive eating is the only approach that will help you feel in control of your health without actually controlling your eating habits and lifestyle. It is the only framework that will give you the tools to be fully independent in your eating.
If you’ve ever thought about trying intuitive eating, if you are done with the constant yo-yo-ing and dieting, or you’re tired of hating who you see in the mirror, it may be time to try something different. Intuitive eating may be a great fit.
If you’re ready to understand your body’s physical and emotional needs and ties to food, and if you’re ready to feel in control so that you never have to restrict food again, I’m here to start that journey with you! Shoot me an email or sign up for a free discovery call!