For the uninitiated, intuitive eating is a health approach or practice which uses hunger and satiety cues to determine when and how much to eat. This health approach rejects diet culture and recognises that diets do not ultimately help us reach our health goals. Intuitive eaters give themselves permission to eat whatever they want, without any food guilt. They trust their bodies to tell them when, what and how much to eat. They can tell when they feel like eating vegetables and when they want to have dessert, and they don’t judge themselves for either decision.
Intuitive eating is an evidence-based, non-diet approach to eating that encourages a positive relationship with food and physical activity. It focuses on nurturing your body and allowing it to settle at a weight you can manage without food restriction or excessive exercise.
Many dietitians have pointed out how intuitively eating can help create healthier relationships around food that are free of emotions—which tends to be a large contributor to weight gain. Although further study is required, studies have shown there are many benefits of intuitive eating.
- Improves your mental health
Intuitive eating during one’s adolescent years is linked to better mental health and eating behaviour in adulthood. One study in adolescents showed that those who dieted as teens are more likely to struggle with depression or an eating disorder later on. Teens who initially scored higher in intuitive eating and those who became more intuitive eaters were found to experience less depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, unhealthy or extreme weight control behaviors, and binge eating in adulthood.
2. Improvement cholesterol levels
Intuitive eaters have been found to have lower triglyceride levels, higher levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), and lower cardiovascular disease. In fact, anyone can benefit from intuitive eating, including those with health challenges. Moreover, it can also help prevent certain health conditions.
3. Increase in Energy
Intuitive eating boosts your energy by giving you a lot of mental capacity. By worrying less about eating, you have more headspace to focus on other priorities in your life. Research also links intuitive eating with increased motivation to engage in regular physical activity. Women who say that they are internally motivated to eat are more likely to participate in physical activity for pleasure. Therefore, they see themselves as physically active.
4. Improve body awareness
Your body has a way of sending you cues that are intended to help you make decisions that are optimal for your health. Additionally, it alerts you to impending health issues through the symptoms you encounter. In this manner, you may deal with the issue effectively before it develops into a crisis.
Interoception, or the capacity to detect minute bodily feelings like hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues, is the foundation of intuitive eating. People who pay attention to their internal cues during eating are more perceptive of interoceptive signals. This means that by eating intuitively, you become more aware of those bodily cues.
How to practice intuitive eating?
Although intuitive eating seems very straightforward, it requires time and experience. Start by unlearning the diet culture’s suggestions on what to eat and what to avoid.
While acknowledging that hunger can be beneficial, it’s important to realize the difference between physical and emotional hunger. If you are physically hungry, give yourself permission to eat until you are full. Trust your body to let you know when it is full by eating appropriately .
Recognize that it’s acceptable to act in a manner that may not be consistent with the principles of intuitive eating. If you ever miss a meal or overindulge, be kind to yourself.
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