Today’s blog post will look at the factors of intuitive eating, and help you determine based on a list of questions, if it’s something you should be working on or if you’re already on the path of eating intuitively.
First, let’s take a look again at what intuitive eating is as a refresher. Intuitive eating is a framework of eating and movement that takes the entire body into consideration. This framework is backed by science, with over 100 studies showing its effectiveness. There are 10 principles to intuitive eating:
- Reject the Diet Mentality
- Honor Your Hunger
- Make Peace with Food
- Challenge the Food Police
- Respect Your Fullness
- Discover the Satisfaction Factor
- Honor Your Feelings
- Respect Your Body
- Movement – Feel the Difference
- Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition
For a recap in more details of these principles, you can read our previous post all about them.
Some people decide to tackle these principles in order, and others pick another place to start. Working with a certified intuitive eating counselor, you can decide which is best for you. Luckily, One Bite has one of these counselors on staff!
Is Intuitive Eating Right For Me?
Let’s look at some reasons intuitive eating might be the right fit for someone like yourself.
- You struggle with knowing when you’re hungry or full. Often, chronic dieting can lead to a disruption of hunger and fullness cues. Since intuitive eating has principles around these cues, you will not only learn how to identify these cues but also how to get them back if they are gone and how to honor them when they do come.
- You feel stressed around food and the decisions around food. If you often find yourself stressed about what to eat, how much to eat, or when to eat, then intuitive eating could be right for you. Eating is something we must do to live, and we shouldn’t be stressed multiple times a day with something vital to our survival.
- You don’t know when to eat. If you’ve been dieting for any amount of time, then one thing is likely clear to you: each fad diet has a different idea of the “perfect” timing to eat. Intuitive eating takes both your physical and mental health into consideration when looking at how to answer this question, and it’s slightly different for everyone. As mentioned before, intuitive eating investigates hunger and fullness cues among other factors.
- You have weight cycled (lost weight, gained it back, lost it again, and on and on) for most of your life. Weight cycling is a classic effect of fad diets. Have you ever noticed that most of the “popular” diets endorsed by celebrities are hard to follow, especially long term? This is usually what causes rapid weight loss, followed by weight gain. Studies have shown that this weight cycling is harder on our bodies than simply being at a higher weight. Rejecting the Diet Mentality is the first principle of intuitive eating and is a good principle to start with if this reason fits for you!
- You struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, ARFID, orthorexia, binge eating disorder, and OSFED, or show signs of any eating disorder but are not diagnosed). Intuitive eating is often used in recovery from an eating disorder, as it combines health and self-care. It is especially important to work with a certified intuitive eating counselor for this reason. When you have an eating disorder, it is easy to turn intuitive eating into another method of disordered eating.
- You want your kids to grow up not worried about their weight or food. Intuitive eating isn’t just for adults, it’s for kids too! Raising an intuitive eater is a topic discussed often in appointments, as parents usually do not want their children to suffer mentally or physically around food like they may have. Most times, parents turn to intuitive eating when they realize they were influenced into dieting growing up and do not want their children to feel the same way.
- You don’t allow yourself to eat certain foods because they are too “unhealthy”. Having strict rules about what foods you will and won’t eat is a good reason why you may be struggling with your relationship with food more than you think. When we label foods as “good” and “bad” or “healthy” and “unhealthy”, we’re putting a lot of weight on food decisions. The more rules you have around what and when to eat, the more disordered your eating likely is.
- You use food to cope with emotions and/or boredom. As we discussed earlier, intuitive eating takes hunger and fullness cues into consideration as well as mental health. This process can help you separate physical and emotional hunger and teach you how to think of food to help combat emotional hunger.
- You do not currently struggle with an eating disorder, but have in the past or feel as if you could develop one in the future. Sometimes the reason for starting intuitive eating is preventative. If you’d like to change your relationship with food before it gets worse, intuitive eating can still be for you! You don’t have to be at “rock bottom” to start eating intuitively.
As you can see, there are many reasons a person might turn to intuitive eating. This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but it does look at common reasons why clients seek a certified intuitive eating counselor.
Still not sure? Below is an unformatted version of the intuitive eating assessment scale worksheet. Answer these questions for yourself and see where your food relationship could use some work!
All are ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions:
- I try to avoid certain foods that are high in fat, carbs, or calories.
- If I am craving a certain food, I don’t allow myself to have it.
- I get mad at myself for eating something unhealthy.
- I have forbidden foods that I don’t allow myself to eat.
- I don’t allow myself to eat what food I desire at the moment.
- I follow eating rules or diet plans that dictate what, when, and/or how to eat.
- I find myself eating when I’m feeling emotional (anxious, sad, depressed), even when I am not physically hungry.
- I find myself eating when I am lonely, even when I’m not physically hungry.
- I use food to help me soothe my negative emotions.
- I find myself eating when I am stressed out, even when I’m not physically hungry.
- I am not able to cope with my negative emotions (anxiety, sadness, etc) without turning to food for comfort.
- When I am bored, I eat just for something to do.
- When I am lonely, I turn to food for comfort.
- I have difficulty finding ways to cope with stress and anxiety, other than by eating.
- I trust my body to tell me when to eat.
- I trust my body to tell me what to eat.
- I trust my body to tell me how much to eat.
- I rely on my hunger signals to tell me when to eat.
- I rely on my fullness (satiety) signals to tell me when to stop eating.
- I trust my body when to stop eating.
- Most of the time, I desire to eat nutritious foods.
- I mostly eat foods that make my body perform efficiently (well).
- I mostly eat foods that give my body energy and stamina.
For questions 1-14, a “yes” answer indicates an area of improvement.
For questions, 15-23, a “no” answer indicates an area of improvement.
Did some of your answers surprise you? Did you have more areas of improvement than you originally thought? Our dietitians are here to help!
Getting Support from a Dietitian
Have more questions about intuitive eating? Whether you’re looking to improve your intuitive eating habits, or start your intuitive eating journey, we’ve got you covered. Reach out to set up your initial appointment. Intuitive eating can be a difficult to understand process and an even more difficult to practice process. A dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor can help you through this process and support you in maintaining your intuitive eating long term.
Would you like to see more blog content on intuitive eating or have another topic you’d like to see discussed? Let us know! We always strive to give our clients and readers the content they want to see.
Resources:
https://www.evelyntribole.com/wp-content/uploads/worksheets-preview.pdf
