Dispelling Common Misconceptions About Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating has become increasingly popular in recent years, yet despite abundant media coverage, misconceptions persist. If you’re looking for a quick refresher, intuitive eating is a simple yet powerful concept centered on listening to your body’s cues—acknowledging hunger, fullness, and satisfaction—to shape your eating habits. The focus isn’t on weight; it’s about fostering holistic health, encompassing both physical and emotional well-being.
If you want more information about this, we’d recommend reading this blog: Break Free from Diet Culture: Let’s Dive into Intuitive Eating.
Now, let’s debunk some common myths and get to the heart of what intuitive eating truly entails.
Myth #1: Intuitive Eating is simply another form of dieting
This is incorrect due to a variety of reasons. In fact, the first step to embracing Intuitive Eating is letting go of the diet mindset altogether! Intuitive Eating offers a whole new approach to nourishing yourself with kindness. Unlike diets, its focus isn’t on weight loss, counting calories, or cutting out certain foods. It’s all about building a positive and caring connection with food. Instead of chasing weight-related goals, you can focus on nourishing your body and tuning into its signals, like recognizing when you’re full or hungry
Myth #2: It means you can eat whatever and whenever you want
While intuitive eating emphasizes unconditional permission to enjoy all foods, it’s not just about responding to hunger and fullness cues. It’s also about considering how each food choice will make you feel. If you’re craving ice cream and your body truly desires it, it’s fine to have that and stop when satisfied. Yet, if you find yourself having ice cream multiple times a day, every day, without room for a variety of other foods, it might not leave you feeling your best. This is true with any food, you find occurs often and takes the place of other foods, not allowing you to have variety. With no food restrictions or labels of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, you have the freedom to choose anything, while staying aware of your body’s signals. Over time, as you make peace with all foods, the appeal of previously forbidden foods diminishes. Also, intuitive eating encourages gentle nutrition, urging us to a variety of foods that nourish and energize our bodies, like grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, and dairy.
Myth #3: Embracing Intuitive Eating is simpler compared to following a strict diet
When you’re on a diet, you’re essentially following a set of predetermined rules or meal plans for a limited period, so aside from resisting urges or cravings, it might not seem overly challenging. However, Intuitive Eating is all about forming lifelong habits. It’s a commitment you make for the long haul. As you prioritize nourishing your body, you’ll need to reshape your eating habits and truly tune in to your body’s signals, making sure you’re providing nourishment when it’s genuinely needed. Shifting this mindset and staying attuned to your body’s cues can pose a challenge, but the rewards are absolutely worth it.
Myth #4: There’s no structure to it
Intuitive eating doesn’t box you into set rules about what or when to eat—it’s all about flexibility and empowerment. By tuning into your body’s signals and feelings, it sets you free from needless worries about food, making room for you to focus on meaningful aspects of life. There’s no need to fear or miss out on any opportunities to connect with others due to food because you’re the one making the choices.
Myth #5: Intuitive eating is not helpful for those struggling with eating disorders
While it’s true that individuals struggling with an eating disorder may find it challenging to tune into hunger and fullness cues, this difficulty isn’t solely due to mental health issues. Digestive disturbances and physiological changes, such as delayed stomach emptying, constipation, nausea, and bloating, also play a role. Solely focusing on these unreliable cues might even worsen the condition. Instead, our approach begins with rejecting the diet mentality, challenging the food police, and cultivating a compassionate and enjoyable relationship with food. Intuitive eating can be a valuable tool in eating disorder recovery, but it’s important to address various aspects before fully embracing this approach. Ask your eating disorder dietitian if intuitive eating is a helpful approach in your individualized care and where you are in recovery right now. If you don’t currently have a dietitian, feel free to contact the dietitians at Nutrition Braved for support here.
