Dieting may be a well-known approach to weight loss, but how many people are ultimately successful in reaching weight loss goals through dieting alone? In recent years, the traditional diet mentality has faced criticism, coinciding with a growing movement towards body positivity, mindfulness, and self-care. As a result, intuitive eating has received more attention as a non-diet approach that still takes healthy eating into account. Intuitive eating (IE) aims to encourage body acceptance while acknowledging the health risks associated with being overweight or eating unhealthily. But can intuitive eating be effective for weight loss? This article explores the principles of intuitive eating, its potential benefits, and its effectiveness in achieving weight loss goals.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is not a diet. It’s a different approach to nutrition and a change to the ways we think about food, health, and wellness. The goals of Intuitive Eating go well beyond weight loss or maintenance.
Intuitive eating (IE) is not so much a diet plan as an approach to eating based on one’s internal needs, whether physical, emotional, or other influencers. When these needs are recognized, they may determine one’s food choices. Because the method is based on an individual’s needs at one moment in time, it does not focus on specific foods, a calorie level to reach, or even eating at certain times. It has been used as an approach to lose weight as well as a treatment strategy for those with disordered eating patterns.
The term “intuitive eating” was introduced in 1995 as the title of a book authored by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. However, the concept of eating from an emotional response was described by researchers prior to that date. IE is the antithesis of restrained eating that demands rigid control. Many commercial diets follow a restrained eating model, with meal plans that include specific foods and/or measured portions.
In contrast, IE focuses on body cues such as hunger and fullness, which may be physical hunger and fullness from an empty or filled stomach, or cues caused by emotional or external triggers. IE is sometimes described as this basic concept: learning to eat when hungry and stopping when full. Yet, in our society physical hunger is not the only reason we eat. Our appetites and cravings are continuously stimulated by visual cues (cooking shows, food advertisements), emotional cues (feeling sad, lonely, stressed, bored), olfactory cues (smelling freshly baked bread), or social cues (Sunday family dinners, sharing a restaurant meal with friends).
Read also: Intuitive Eating: A guide
IE seeks to identify the specific cause of the “hunger,” and to respond with awareness and intention. Eating in response to triggers other than from physiological cues may cause a feeling of lack of self-control, guilt, or self-condemnation. Practicing IE concepts may help to prevent these negative feelings.
Key Principles of Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is based on several core principles that guide individuals towards a healthier relationship with food and their bodies. These principles include:
- Reject the Diet Mentality: One of the first lessons of Intuitive Eating is getting rid of your “diet mentality.” Diets typically have strict rules and restrictions as to what you can and cannot eat. Intuitive eating, on the other hand, follows the natural feelings of your body, and has more of an abstract nature.
- Honor Your Hunger: Acknowledge hunger. Recognize physical hunger cues and respond to them. These cues will not always occur at consistent times, as true hunger can be influenced by changes in physical activity, lack of sleep, etc.
- Make Peace with Food: Grant yourself unconditional permission to eat.
- Challenge the Food Police:
- Discover the Satisfaction Factor:
- Feel Your Fullness: Recognize and respond to fullness. As you identify true hunger, you will also learn to identify a comfortable degree of fullness after eating, and respond by stopping eating.
- Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness: Don’t fear negative feelings. Accept that negative emotions like stress, anger, and boredom will come and go.
- Respect Your Body: Honor and respect your body regardless of size and ability.
- Exercise-Feel the Difference: One of the ten pillars of Intuitive Eating is about movement. This program encourages finding exercises and activities that you enjoy. Whether a 3-mile run, a walk in the park with a friend, or a game of pickle ball, if you’re doing something you enjoy, your body will respond. Allowing yourself to feel your body’s response to those activities can help you recognize the benefits of movement and stop thinking of it as exercise to lose weight.
- Honor Your Health: Gentle Nutrition.
Intuitive Eating vs. Mindful Eating
How is intuitive eating different from mindful eating? Often used interchangeably, many intuitive eating and mindful eating concepts overlap but there are some key differences. Mindful eating stems from the broader practice of mindfulness, a centuries-old philosophy used in many religions. Mindful eating focuses on the present eating experience with heightened awareness beyond the self, and without judgment.
Intuitive eating often integrates concepts of mindful eating but also considers eating specifically in response to hunger and satiety cues, nurturing a positive body image, addressing non-physiological reasons for hunger, and physical activity.
The Effectiveness of Intuitive Eating
There is a growing body of research on IE. Small, short-term controlled trials or cross-sectional studies using IE concepts have consistently shown benefits for psychological wellbeing (e.g., reduced depression and anxiety; increased body satisfaction, self-acceptance, and quality of life). [3,4] IE interventions have also shown a decrease in certain behaviors such as binge eating and restrained eating/dieting. A limited number of studies have shown improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol.
Read also: Is Intuitive Eating Effective for Weight Loss?
Much of this research focuses on the psychological benefits, and intuitive eating has performed well against restrictive dieting. Studies looking at the food choices of intuitive eaters have also found that they are more likely to consume a wider variety of foods.
Weight Loss and Intuitive Eating
Although weight loss is not the focus of intuitive eating, a recent review of about 25 studies also showed that people following this approach generally weigh less than those following restrictive diets.
A meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials looked at conventional weight loss programs (via calorie restriction) versus mindful/intuitive eating strategies for weight loss. It found that mindful/intuitive eating strategies were effective for weight loss compared with no intervention, but there was no difference in weight reduction compared with conventional weight loss programs.
Reductions in weight and BMI occurred in the weight loss group but not the weight neutral group. However, the weight neutral group showed greater reductions in LDL cholesterol.
The IE model is not intended to cause weight loss, but to promote a positive self-image and healthy lifestyle changes. People who are seeking a plan that causes weight loss may not prefer this approach, because there are no specific amounts or types of foods recommended and body weight is not measured. However, a decrease in behaviors like restrained eating and emotional eating may naturally lead to weight loss for some.
Read also: Can Pickles Help You Lose Weight?
If a person has been advised to lose weight by their physician to improve medical conditions (e.g., prediabetes, high blood pressure, fatty liver), an IE approach may be used in conjunction with a weight-reducing eating plan.
Potential Concerns and Considerations
While intuitive eating offers numerous benefits, it's essential to be aware of potential concerns and considerations:
- Fear of Weight Gain: A concern with individuals is letting go of diet rules and “forbidden” foods. They may fear a lack of control around these foods that are now permitted without restrictions. In certain cases, less boundaries may lead some people to overeat or choose low-nutrient-dense foods (e.g., processed high-sugar beverages or foods).
- Impact on Health Outcomes: May not improve health outcomes related to weight gain or chronic disease. IE concepts encourage self-care and a positive response to food, which may or may not cause a change towards healthful eating patterns (consuming more fruits and vegetables, less sweetened beverages and foods, less fried foods, not skipping meals, etc.).
- Food Addiction: Does not address the concept of food addiction from “hyper-palatable” foods, which can lead to food cravings. Cravings for food may stem from a neurobiological source that is neither caused by physical or emotional hunger. The notion of a food addiction is controversial, but research shows that the brain can activate reward regions of the brain in response to flavors like fat, salt, and sugar when they are eaten in excess and on a regular basis. [10-14] Researchers have compared this effect to that of addictive drugs like cocaine and alcohol. These foods tend to be highly processed, calorie-dense, and low in nutrients. People may develop strong cravings for these foods because of the reward-related neural changes that occur after consumption (a calming or pleasurable feeling with the release of dopamine).
- Flexible Structure: There are fewer restrictions than a traditional diet, but intuitive eating requires what experts call “flexible structure.” This flexibility provides more of a guide than restrictions.
- Changing Habits: Intuitive Eating requires you to create new habits and completely change your attitude about food, which can actually be more difficult than sticking to a set of rules. Diet plans require you to follow concrete instructions and stick to a plan that’s been laid out for you.
Getting Started with Intuitive Eating
If you want to try intuitive eating, be aware that it won’t come with recipes, meal plans or strict instructions, so it might seem daunting to begin with, especially if you’re used to following restrictive diets. It’s a process of re-learning your relationship with food, so it will take time. For it to work, it’s important to embrace all 10 principles. Whether you try intuitive eating or not, it’s worth remembering its first principle.
A common adage in Intuitive Eating is to go back to your roots and eat as a child would. The phrase simply means that children ask for food when they’re hungry and stop eating when they’re full. As we become adults, we have control over whether we honor those feelings of hunger and fullness.
It may also be beneficial to use IE strategies to heighten one’s awareness of internal cues of not just feeling “full” versus “hungry” but to also note how the body feels after eating healthful foods of fruits and vegetables versus highly processed high-calorie snack foods, which may lead to eating patterns that promote wellbeing.