How Intuitive Eating Can Help You & Your Family

You and your family are most likely bombarded with diet advice everyday. “You shouldn’t be eating that, it’s fattening”, “did you know X is bad for your health”, “You should try X diet, it really works!”

Everyone seemingly has an idea about what you and your family’s diet should be whether it’s from the media, coworkers, or even other family members. All of this noise can leave you worrying about what you “should” be eating rather than tuning into your natural intuitive eating skills. 

Additionally, in today’s fast-paced society, many families find themselves pressed for time to sit down and enjoy family meals. Food is often consumed quickly when rushing out the door to school/work or in the car on the way to your kids practice or sporting game. 

Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that many of us have lost the ability to eat intuitively due to continual on-the-go eating and the mainstream message that is promoted in our culture in favor of dieting. In today’s blog post, we’ll discuss what intuitive eating is and how it can help you and your family. 

What is Intuitive Eating? 

Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought. It was developed by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, in 1995. It is a weight-neutral model with a validated assessment scale and over 90 studies to date (Tribole 2017). Intuitive eating is something I spent time learning more about in 2020 and actually started practicing some of the principles myself in 2021. It has helped me become more comfortable in my body & my relationship with food has never been better. I let go of certain food rules and think about food and health differently. It has also been a game changer for my clients who are learning about it after years of dieting. They wish they had known about it sooner because it’s helping them find food freedom and rediscover themselves. Intuitive eating is associated with a whole host of benefits, including enhanced satisfaction with life, self-compassion, self-esteem, optimism, and body appreciation. It is also associated with lower markers of distress, such as disordered eating, food preoccupation, food-related anxiety, body dissatisfaction, binge eating, uncontrolled eating, and depression. Improving your relationship with food and your body will help your family as well (1). 

Intuitive eating is a philosophy that encourages individuals to eat and consume food in accordance with their body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. While this approach may sound simple, it’s often much more difficult to apply, especially for those who are or have been chronic dieters. Intuitive eating is something you have to practice over time, it’s not something you learn by just reading about it. You have to do a lot of thought-work and self-reflection before being able to actually start practicing the principles. Like anything, it’s not a quick fix to improving your health. Quick fixes do not exist for long-term behaviour change. 

We are actually all born intuitive eaters. As a child, you likely listened to your hunger cues to tell you when to eat and stopped eating when you were full. However, most of us start to become more disconnected and less trusting of our own internal cues with the influence of family, friends, media and diet culture. Think about it… how many people do you know that rely on some app like MyFitnessPal to tell them how much to eat instead of listening to their body? 

Intuitive eating is based on 10 Principles that go beyond listening to your hunger and fullness cues. These principles also touch on rejecting the dieting mentality, making peace with food, discovering joyful movement, etc. You can learn more about these principles here. 

How You and Your Family Can Benefit From Intuitive Eating. 

1. You’ll have more energy. As you listen to your body more, you’ll be able to recognize what foods make you feel your best. You’ll find that you have more energy throughout the day and you’ll figure out which foods help your energy levels and which ones don’t.
2. You’ll be more flexible. A spontaneous family dinner plan or a change in restaurants won’t throw off your entire day. You will let go of this “all-or-nothing” mentality and focus on balance instead. 
3. You’ll have a better relationship with your family.  When you no longer have so much stress and anxiety around food, you'll be able to actually enjoy the food – and the people – around you. You can give your family more attention, rather than worrying about your diet.
4. You’ll be a good role-model for your children. Think about it… when a child sees mom constantly going on diets, eating a salad while the rest of the family eats pizza, and making negative remarks about her body, how do you think this will affect the child’s relationship with food and their body when they’re older? My guess is that the child will also be a chronic dieter and have a poor body image. 
5. You’ll be more satisfied with life. You’ll feel happier overall and will be able to find pleasure from things other than food. You won’t be constantly worried about what other people are thinking of you and can live your life unapologetically, in a way that supports your wants and needs.

I highly recommend reading the Intuitive Eating Book to understand the 10 Principles in depth and learn how to apply them! I also co-founded East Coast Intuitive Eaters with Maria Moorehouse. We are hosting a live in-person event THIS Thursday Dec. 1st from 7-9pm at the Hammond River Angling Association. Join us for a cocktail, light snacks and hear us chat about Intuitive Eating & how it can help you! Purchase Ticket to Attend!

We are also offering a virtual workshop called "Raising Intuitive Eaters" on Dec. 7th from 8-9pm for only $20!  This is a great event to attend for parents who want to raise a child who has a healthy relationship with food. Click to Purchase Virtual Ticket!

Bottom Line: 

You and your family will be able to improve your relationship with food and body through intuitive eating. Instead of restricting foods or food groups, you’ll focus on listening to your internal hunger cues, eat freely, and choose foods that leave you satisfied. Some people may lose weight, while others may stay the same or gain weight as they learn to listen to their bodies. Intuitive eating is an evidenced-based, non-diet, and weight-neutral approach that has helped many individuals stop dieting and start living.

Reference

1.Tribole, E, Resch, E (2017). The Intuitive Eating Workbook: Ten Principles for Nourishing a Healthy       Relationship with Food. New Harbinger Publications.