Intuitive Eating and Food Freedom: Explained!

The world we live in is full of diets, food trends, body shape ideals and standards, claims that tomatoes are bad for you and that apple cider vinegar cures all…

Unfortunately, diet culture and “standards” of body size probably aren’t going anywhere.  BUT, good news (!!!), there is also a large group of humans working toward the exact opposite.  

Anti-diet, food freedom, intuitive eating, health at every size, non-diet approaches are actually becoming more and more common - and, as Lizzo says, it’s ABOUT D*MN TIME!

People working against diet culture are starting to normalize all foods fitting into any lifestyles… AKA, food freedom, and intuitive eating.  These are all principles that can help individuals work toward feeling free from the pressures placed on them to eat and look a certain way.  

What IS Intuitive Eating?  

The Intuitive Eating concept was created by two dietitians nearly 30 years ago.  Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch are two brilliant women who created ten principles to help individuals gain confidence and learn to respect and honor their bodies again.

I say again, because when we were infants and small children, we didn’t know any different except to love the skin we were in.  As infants, we ate and pooped what and when we wanted, and no one judged us for any of it.  Growing up is tough, and with the influence of self-destructive societal norms (such as diet culture and body image pressures), it can be even tougher on adolescents and young adults.  As we gain more exposure to the world, we start forming ideals for ourselves based on others’ standards, not our own.  Influence of society can place a barrier between our own bodies and the foods we used to (and still would love to) enjoy.  

“Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought…It is a personal and dynamic process which includes ten principles.” (1).

The ten principles do not happen in any specific order. They are a guide to help individuals practice different self-care behaviors and meet them where they are. The entire process of learning to be an intuitive eater encompasses both physical and mental health and will look very different on every human.  

The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating 

  1. Reject the diet mentality

  2. Honor your hunger

  3. Make peace with food

  4. Challenge the food police

  5. Respect your fullness

  6. Discover the satisfaction factor

  7. Honor your feelings without using food

  8. Respect your body

  9. Exercise - feel the difference

  10. Honor your health with gentle nutrition

It is crucial to note that Intuitive Eating is NOT a weight-loss plan nor is it a diet!  Because Intuitive Eating places the emphasis on physical and mental health, it takes away the intention of weight loss, “…because the pursuit of intentional weight loss is a failed paradigm, which creates health problems: including weight stigma, weight cycling, and eating disorders.” (1).

What is Food Freedom?

Imagine you have had a very busy morning and haven’t had a chance to eat a snack.  It is now lunchtime and you have about 30 minutes to grab some lunch.  You feel very hungry and stop at a pizza place with a coworker.  Allowing yourself food freedom would be to choose to eat the pizza and eat two or three slices, depending on your hunger and fullness cues, and not place judgement on yourself for doing so.  

Food freedom is simply allowing yourself to honor your hunger and fullness cues, totally free of judgement, while allowing yourself to enjoy the foods that sound and taste good in that moment.

Learning how to allow food freedom into your life can take work, just as it does to become an Intuitive Eater.  However, these things tend to go hand-in-hand as we learn to push away diet-culture even further.

How does this all work together?  

Whether we want it or not, we are inundated with diet culture.  It takes constant conscious effort to deflect this influence and even more work to train ourselves to strongly push it away and reach for a higher standard of self-care for ourselves. 

It is up to each individual to choose the lifestyle that makes them the happiest, and I can guarantee you the happiest version of yourself isn’t one that cycles through diets and counts calories!

“All bodies deserve dignity and respect.”

Diet-culture/ body image statements I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks:

Statement: “I’m so glad I got on the bike this morning…” 

Situation: as she samples a piece of chocolate at a candy store

Statement: “I’m doing it because I enjoy eating.”

Situation: after taking a 60 minute strength class at the gym, stepping onto the treadmill to continue exercising.

Statement: “Feeling pretty good for a fat guy!”

Situation: A group of people asking a fellow stranger how he is doing after he walked out of the restaurant.

All of these statements indicate a feeling of compensation for the behavior in that situation.  Every one of these individuals has the capability of enjoying the food/activity in the moment for the simple sake of pleasure.  Their bodies deserve the respect and dignity of appreciation.  If we were to change these statements to acceptance statements, we could simply say: 

  • “I had so much fun in my spin class this morning!”

  • “Gosh, this chocolate tastes amazing…I can taste all of the flavors.”

  • “Walking on the treadmill makes me feel good.”

  • “I allow myself to listen to my hunger and fullness cues and eat when my body tells me it’s ready.”

  • “I feel awesome today!”

Food is more than fuel for our bodies - we use food for NUMEROUS reasons..

  • Fun

  • Connection

  • Creative 

  • Nourishing

  • Fuel

  • Comforting

  • Social 

  • Cultural

  • Pleasurable

  • Emotional

What can we do to help take focus off diet culture and place emphasis on food freedom, intuitive eating, and all-foods-fit?…

First, let’s think about all the ways in which our bodies help us through each and every day.  From the moment we wake up, to the moment we lie down at night to rest, our bodies are incredible machines working to keep us alive and well.  We have organs that function to pump blood (containing nutritious and oxygen all over our bodies), nerves that allow our brains to gather information from our body parts, thus allowing us to react to situations… We have lungs that allow us to breathe fresh air and that fresh air then incorporates into our bodies and it is delivered to body parts to help them function.  

We have LEGS to help us stand up, walk, run, jump.  We have ARMS to give hugs and hold our favorite mug full of coffee or hot chocolate.  We have EYES and EARS to allow us to see our loved ones, to watch the sunrise and sunset, to hear the laughs of our children and our favorite music.  We have a BRAIN that allows us to have thoughts… thoughts that WE are in control of.

Our bodies are the only ones we have.  When we learn to respect them, we can start to appreciate the other wonderful parts of life that may not be getting the attention they deserve when our focus is on our body image and what we eat.

When we start accepting all foods as acceptable foods, all of these food items will start to play a role in your life.  This allows all foods to have a place in your life so that foods cannot rule your brain and body.  If we can take “good” and “bad” off of certain foods, we can learn that it is okay to enjoy a particular food that you once felt guilt or shame for eating.

Social media can be a huge influence for diet culture and body image standards.  Once you’ve decided to take control of your body and ditch diet culture, you can consciously make an effort to change the accounts you follow, the influences you see, and the people with whom you spend time.  

I challenge you to find something about your current, wonderful, beautifully perfect body that you can appreciate, right now.  Do this RIGHT NOW!  Think about all of the things your body does FOR you and try to write down just a few things you are grateful for.  It could be that your heart is beating for you, keeping you alive; or maybe that you have toenails that you enjoy painting.  Maybe you are grateful for your stomach and how it can give you so much information about your hunger levels.  Or maybe you are just so happy you can taste different foods and enjoy a large palette of flavors!  

Whatever you decide to be grateful for in this moment, I hope you find satisfaction in your own body.  Your body deserves SELF-CARE, RESPECT and DIGNITY.  

Sources:

(1) https://www.intuitiveeating.org/definition-of-intuitive-eating/

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What Does A “Weight-Inclusive/Weight-Neutral” Approach Mean?