Is Intuitive Eating Right for You? Adapting IE to Fit Your Life

Have you noticed the buzz around body positivity and anti-diet culture on social media lately? Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are blowing up with hashtags like #antidiet, #intuitiveeating, #ditchthediet, and #nobadfoods. Influencers, including dietitians, are all about ditching restrictive eating habits and tuning into our own hunger cues to find joy in eating.

Introduction

 

While this movement is grounded in evidence-based approaches like Intuitive Eating (IE), there’s concern that these messages can be co-opted by food industries seeking to capitalize on the trend. A recent analysis reveals that many influencers using anti-diet rhetoric are sponsored by food and beverage companies, potentially diluting the movement’s original intent (1). As interest in IE grows, it’s important to navigate this trend thoughtfully to maintain a balanced approach to eating and avoid potential health pitfalls from commercial influences.

What is IE?

 

If you’re new to IE, you can check out our previous blog posts here. In a nutshell, IE is a self-care approach based on 10 principles that help you tune into your body’s hunger and fullness signals (2). Research shows that following IE can boost both your physical health and mental well-being (3-6).

How Can You Apply IE to Your Life?

 

IE can be a positive approach to transform your relationship with food, but it’s essential to consider your unique circumstances, preferences, and health needs.

Firstly, it is important to be mindful of extremes. IE has become super popular, and with food companies now jumping in, it’s crucial to remember that IE isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Use IE principles as a guide and tailor them to your own body’s needs. Reflect on why you’re drawn to IE and what you hope to achieve.

Secondly, research highlights many benefits of IE, like better well-being, more enjoyment from food, and greater body satisfaction (7). However, some worry that unrestricted eating could lead to choosing more high-calorie, high-fat foods (8,9). Be mindful of these potential pitfalls, especially if you’ve followed restrictive diets before. With IE, weight changes can happen (although not the main goal of IE) depending on your past dieting and how your body responds (7).

While IE promotes a healthy relationship with food, it’s not equally accessible to everyone. People with limited financial resources might struggle to choose foods based on hunger and satiety cues. A recent study showed that on the short and long term, food insecurity can lower IE scores (10). Plus, a basic understanding of nutrition helps with IE, but not everyone has that knowledge (11). Factors like socioeconomic status, culture, lifestyle, and education all affect how well you can adopt IE. Addressing these disparities is key to making IE more inclusive and accessible.

Ready to Start Intuitive Eating? Ask Yourself These Questions:

 

  1. Physical and Mental Health: How are you feeling physically and mentally? If past diets have been tough, are you in a good place to try something new, or might you need some professional support first?
  2. Personal Preferences: Do you like having guidance, or do you prefer to figure things out on your own? How do you handle uncertainty? IE allows you to eat whatever you want, which can be overwhelming.
  3. Medical Conditions: Do you have any health issues that might complicate things if you start IE? Think about how IE might impact your existing conditions.
  4. Cultural and Social Factors: How do your cultural and social influences shape your approach to food? IE can be adapted to different cultural contexts, but it’s important to consider your background. 
  5. Learning and Practice: IE involves learning to trust your body’s signals, which takes time and practice. How do you feel about listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues? Are you ready to explore and understand your internal needs?

You can also use the Intuitive Eating Assessment Scale-2 (IES-2) to measure how well you’re practicing IE. It’s a validated tool that assesses key components like permission to eat, reliance on hunger and satiety cues, eating for physical reasons, and body-food choice congruence. It provides valuable insights into your eating behaviors and alignment with IE principles (12).

Conclusion

 

IE isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Some people might benefit from combining IE with basic nutrition education, especially if the goal is better health and wellness. Working with a dietitian can help you get the most out of IE. If you’re interested in incorporating IE into your life and don’t know where to start, contact us so that we can help! You can reach us at info@sooma.ca or at 514-437-4260.

You can also book an appointment with one of our professionals directly by clicking this link.

Written by

Tatiana Tibuleac

Dietetics Student

References

  1. Chavkin, S., Gilbert, C., Tsui A., & O’Connor, A. (2024, April 3). As obesity rises, Big Food and dietitians push ‘anti-diet’ advice: General Mills warns of ‘food shaming’; dietitian influencers  promote junk foods and discourage weight loss efforts. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/04/03/diet-culture-nutrition-influencers-general-mills-processed-food/ 
  2. Hartley, R. (2021). Gentle Nutrition: (A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating). Victory Belt Publishing, p30-35, 39. 
  3. Van Dyke, N., & Drinkwater, E. J. (2014). Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: literature review. Public health nutrition, 17(8), 1757–1766. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980013002139
  4. Warren, J. M., Smith, N., & Ashwell, M. (2017). A structured literature review on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating and intuitive eating in changing eating behaviours: effectiveness and associated potential mechanisms. Nutrition research reviews, 30(2), 272–283. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954422417000154
  5. Hazzard, V. M., Telke, S. E., Simone, M., Anderson, L. M., Larson, N. I., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2020). Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors: findings from EAT 2010–2018. Eating and Weight Disorders, 26(1), 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4 
  6. Linardon, J., Tylka, T. L., & Fuller‐Tyszkiewicz, M. (2021). Intuitive eating and its psychological correlates: A meta‐analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 54(7), 1073-1098. 
  7. Harvard School of Public Health. (2023, November 9). Intuitive Eating. The Nutrition Source. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/intuitive-eating/#:~:text=Intuitive%20eating%20encourages%20self%2Dcare,weight%20loss%20may%20follow%20naturally 
  8. Horwath, C., Hagmann, D., & Hartmann, C. (2019). Intuitive eating and food intake in men and women: Results from the Swiss food panel study. Appetite, 135, 61-71.
  9. Camilleri, G.M., Méjean, C., Bellisle, F., Andreeva, V.A., Kesse-Guyot, E., Hercberg, S., & Péneau, S. (2017). Intuitive eating dimensions were differently associated with food intake in the general population–based NutriNet-Santé study. The Journal of nutrition, 147(1), 61-9.
  10. Burnette, C. B., Hazzard, V. M., Larson, N., Hahn, S. L., Eisenberg, M. E., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2023). Is intuitive eating a privileged approach? Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between food insecurity and intuitive eating. Public health nutrition, 26(7), 1358-1367. 
  11. Loor, J. M., Mullins, C. R., Pacheco, C., VanderJagt, H., & Smith, J. E. (2023). A qualitative exploration of perceived barriers and facilitators to following an intuitive eating style. Eating Behaviors, 49, 101744.
  12. Tylka, T. L., & Kroon Van Diest, A. M. (2013). The Intuitive Eating Scale–2: Item refinement and psychometric evaluation with college women and men. Journal of counseling psychology, 60(1), 137.

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