I first heard about the concept of “intuitive eating” at the FitBloggin 11 Conference back in May, where I attended a workshop led by several bloggers (Karen Anderson at Before & After, Katie at Healthy Heddleston, Christie at Christie Inge, and Shauna at The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl) who have all implemented the philosophy to one degree or another. I left the session with more questions than answers, but definitely intrigued by the whole idea.

What exactly is the whole idea behind intuitive eating? In a nutshell, it could be summed up as “a healthy relationship with food”. We often think of relationships with other people as “healthy” or not: a healthy relationship being one where there is mutual love and/or affection exchanged without abuse, verbal, physical or otherwise. The idea behind intuitive eating is to help you develop a healthy relationship with food, in the sense that you recognize and enjoy its benefits and advantages for you, without abusing or fighting against it, or allowing it to have a hold over you.

There are 10 principles or steps that define intuitive eating, and they are laid out logically in such a way that it is best to start with the first principle, master it and go from there. I don’t have the time or space to discuss each one in detail, so I highly recommend that you read the book “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It’s currently only $9.21 at Amazon.com, or you can find it through your local library, which is what I did (cheap, you know!). You can also check out the authors’ website, Creating a Healthy Relationship with Food, Mind and Body, which offers more information about this and their other books.

At the workshop, I was overwhelmed by a lot of psychology, something that I, like Dr. Brennan of Bones fame, have difficulty understanding and accepting to a certain extent. But I could tell that lurking somewhere underneath all the psychological fluff about loving yourself (pfftt, I do a very good job of that already, thank you!) there was some deep truth that I wanted to discover more fully. I was pleasantly surprised that the authors of the concept and the book go a lot further than psychology, basing their philosophy more on scientific research and their own vast experience with clients than on any psychological premise. Besides which, most of their positions and statements rang true to me, and resonated with what I already know to be true. It’s like the missing piece of the puzzle that is my personal approach to food and nutrition.

Of course, I don’t agree with everything in the book. I don’t agree with everything in any book except the Bible. Although in the nutrition section, they cited research and studies that confirmed the importance of fat in a diet, and affirmed the folly of “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods, they still encouraged readers to consider places in their diet where they could cut back on fat without affecting taste or texture. Also, I skimmed through some of the chapters because I just didn’t find them applicable or interesting to me.

Much of the book, though, was spot on ( or at least I thought it was!), and pointed out to me areas in my own thinking that needed a little adjustment. Some of the thoughts from the book that stood out to me:

1. Step #1 is “Reject the Diet Mentality” This is not only important for those who yo-yo from one fad diet to the next, or for those who lose weight on one diet, only to lose it months or even years later. This is also for people like me, who never go on “diets” per se, but periodically attempt to lose weight by counting calories and forbidding certain foods (like sugar) for periods of time. All the research - ALL the research, and they cite quite a bit of it - proves that forbidding foods (either specific foods or limiting amounts of it) always results in an almost “hoarding” mentality, wherein you binge either before or after dieting because you feel deprived. It’s ingrained in us as part of our survival to make sure we always have food available - we need it to live! So when we anticipate (or experience) a deprivation of food, our bodies naturally kick into preservation mode and begin hoarding food, fat and calories to keep us alive. This is partly a psychological function, but it has its roots in biology, which made the biggest impression on me. I won’t go into the science of it here (because I know I’ll mess it up, science not being my strong point), but the bottom line is that there is a biological reaction that occurs in your body whenever you expect to be deprived of food, or indeed are deprived of food. And that biological reaction goes against the whole idea of dieting, because it causes your body to lose muscle mass, store fat, and eat more food. So from a biological standpoint, there is no point in dieting; it is, in fact, counter-productive. That means no more fad diets, but it also means no more counting calories, and no more eliminating entire food groups from your diet.
2. That brings me to the second thing I really found interesting in this book: that carbohydrates are essential to the health of your body. I have always believed this to be true, based on my own (admittedly limited) understanding of nutrition and the inner workings of the body, but also based on historical and scientific evidence. I have been disturbed by the growing trend of eliminating grains entirely from one’s diet, and reducing carbs over-all, even by people and groups that I otherwise highly respect for their healthy approach to food and nutrition. It was nice to read some scientific confirmation that carbohydrates - grains included - are indeed essential to your health, and that reducing them has harmful effects on your physical and mental well-being. I know that, in part, the current backlash against grains has much to do with the wide occurrence of celiac disease and the necessity of many people being gluten-free. I don’t think, though, that grains are the root cause of the high prevalence of celiac disease; they are merely a symptom of a much deeper issue. Removing grains altogether is putting a not-very-effective band-aid on a booboo that will only continue to get much worse.
3. Principles #3 and #4 are “Make Peace with Food” and “Challenge the Food Police”. These are thought-provoking concepts that I agree with to a certain extent. The idea is that you alter your view of certain foods as being “bad”. Here is where a certain amount of psychology comes into play: the more you view a food as “bad”, the more you will desire it. You will try to hold off for as long as possible, but eventually, you will cave. And when you cave, you will end up eating much more than you would have if you had just had a bit of it in the first place. I think there is much truth to that. I am reminded of the Biblical concept: ”everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. And that everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything”. However, it is also true that there really are foods that are “good” for you and “bad” for you. How you view them doesn’t change their reality, and the reality of how they will affect your body when you eat them. I agree, though, that it is healthier to view food through a positive lens overall, rather than constantly struggling and fighting against it. As the authors insist, in the end, it leads to a much better relationship with food over all.
4. The most useful principles are, perhaps, #2 and #5: Honor Your Hunger and Feel Your Fullness. Barring certain medical conditions, most of us are born with hunger and satiety cues. If heeded from birth, these cues will keep us from abusing food and developing eating disorders of any kind. The problem is, many of us have silenced these cues by constantly ignoring them, or by our well-meaning parents insisting we “clean our plate”. I have observed that my toddler goes through phases (and hearing from other toddler moms, it seems that most are like him) where he will eat very litte, and then a lot. Over time, his body works it all out. Current research suggests that adults who follow their body’s cues like a toddler does, and eat when they’re hungry (and stop when they’re full) will follow the same pattern. The body works out its nutritional needs over a period of several days or even a week or more. We can’t force it to follow a specific pattern of eating a certain amount of food at certain times (400 calories for breakfast at 8, a 100-calorie snack at 10, 300 calorie lunch at noon, etc.). Once again, our bodies will kick into deprivation mode if we ignore our hunger signals. And if we ignore our fullness signals, well. I think we all know what happens then! The authors suggest several techniques to help you get in tune with your body’s hunger and satiety cues, one of which is not to let 3 hours go by without checking into see if you need to eat something. Most people need to eat every 3-4 hours. Other tips include asking yourself questions as you eat, rating your hunger and fullness as you go, and eating slowly.

All in all, I highly recommend this book and the philosophy behind it. I feel we are a nation very out of touch with our bodies’ needs regarding food and nutrition. I believe we are also born with an innate knowledge (intuition?) about our bodies’ needs, and if we listened to our bodies instead of abusing them with either too much, too little, or all the wrong kinds, of foods, we would be a lot healthier!

I really am interested in your feedback. What do you think about the concept of “intuitive eating”? Does it ring true for you? Would you be willing to ditch the diet mentality? Or do you already eat intuitively - no dieting for you?