What Intuitive Eating Is Not

Goodbye dieting; hello freedom with intuitive eating. 

For anyone who has been a victim of diet culture for longer than 5 minutes, grasping the concept of Intuitive Eating can seem a bit daunting. So let’s start off by establishing what Intuitive Eating is not.

Your new weight loss plan. I have built literally thousands of weight loss plans over the years – you read that right. And yet it did not result in thousands of happy, fulfilled people. Instead it resulted in people either giving up on the plan within a couple weeks because they felt it was impossible to stick to or, even more disheartening, they would lose a significant amount of weight only to regain the weight within a year. These would be my repeat clients year after year- determined this time they would get the weight off and keep it off. It was a vicious and costly cycle. Repeat after me: dieting is not the answer.

The newest fad. You’ll see trend after trend in the fitness industry, but intuitive eating is not one of them. Actually it’s a process of un-learning the unhelpful things we have learned from all those trends. It’s been around since the beginning of time. We are all born Intuitive Eaters; it’s a matter of reconnecting with the Intuitive Eater who is already within you.

More pressure to be skinny. You don’t need another page on the Internet telling you there is something wrong with your body. Guess what- there’s not. 

Anti-health. People’s responses when they first hear about intuitive eating can be quite emotionally charged. That’s because it challenges everything you’ve been taught (i.e. food is something to be feared, thinness is proof of health, eating should involve willpower and control.) This results in people jumping to incorrect conclusions like “intuitive eaters know nothing about nutrition.” When actually more and more dietitians are making the switch over from weight-centric recommendations to intuitive eating based on all the research that says diets fail. The data is in, and it don’t lie. 

Another impossible standard. Nope. You should walk away from a discussion about intuitive eating feeling like you’ve been told good news and to go live your life in freedom. That’s what you were made for. 

It’s time we unshackle ourselves.