What Is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is an adaptive eating style that invites making peace with food, attunement with the internal hunger and fullness cues of our body, and attention to psychological and physical well-being. It is an anti-diet and body positive approach with reliable evidence-based studies demonstrating its value. Based on the work of Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch and originally published in 1995, this approach has been the subject of more than 125 scientific and peer-reviewed studies demonstrating its effectiveness.
At the core, there are two guiding elements or keys to Intuitive Eating: Rejecting Diet Culture and Embracing Attunement. These are articulated more fully in 10 core principles. While these principles are typically presented numerically, Intuitive Eating is not a step-by-step “program.”
Rejecting Diet Culture and the diet mentality is foundational for your transition towards a paradigm that centers respect for your body and honoring your health. We have all been steeped in a culture focused on weight, body image and dieting (in all its forms). Intuitive Eating is an approach that invites you to instead seek acceptance and respect for your body and spirit.
Attunement is the mechanism that allows you to walk through that transition and is the foundation of both my practice and my own life and really the core of any Coaching work I do with clients, whether it is in the context of Intuitive Eating or not:
Am I listening to the needs of my body (hunger, need for movement, sleep, self-care)?
Am I attentive to my mental health (stress management, cultivating connection, self-care)?
Am I intentional about my priorities in life?
Am I satisfied?
What Intuitive Eating is NOT is a free pass to just do and/or eat whatever and whenever. Transitioning to a more peaceful relationship with food and your body requires BOTH rejecting the diet mentality AND building your attunement skills and muscles to eat and exercise in alignment with your natural and normal internal cues (AKA your intuition).
In February of 2023, I completed the Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor Training. This is a 58-hour training that included 12 hours of training with Intuitive Eating author Evelyn Tribole.