The Intuitive Eating Approach, A Critique
The Intuitive Eating approach has become popular in the past couple of years. This framework, which some call the “anti-diet” has been around for 25 years. I went through the training to become a certified Intuitive Eating counselor from 2016-2019. I was looking for a process to help people move away from dieting and recover from eating disorders.
Here’s what drew me to the Intuitive Eating approach:
According to the official website, Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework, which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought and was created by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. Intuitive Eating is a weight-inclusive, evidence-based model with a validated assessment scale and over 100 studies to date.
The book (now in its fourth edition) lays out the ten principles of a mind-body approach to finding peace and freedom with food and body—a personal process that empowers people to reconnect with their own internal wisdom about eating.
According to the authors, “Intuitive Eating is not a diet or meal plan.There is no pass or fail, therefore there is no “blowing it”, rather it’s a journey of self-discovery and connection to the needs of your mind and body. There is nothing to count: this includes no counting of calories, carbs, points, or macros.” Co-author, Elyse Resch, writes, ”to move from dieting to intuitive eating, you might have to take a leap of faith to jump into these uncharted waters.”
Challenges with the Intuitive Eating Approach
In my experience over the past several years of trying to incorporate the Intuitive Eating model into my practice, I’m starting to realize that the Intuitive Eating book and its principles operate from unwritten assumptions that the reader (the person in pursuit of becoming an “intuitive eater”) is:
in a state of/has easy access to consistent safety and support,
adequately resourced with time, money, and a sense of agency,
aware of the effects of unresolved trauma,
actively receiving assistance from trustworthy attachment figures to heal from trauma, and
conscious of cultural conditioning towards the “thin ideal”, “beauty standards”, and “health standards”.
That’s a lot of unwritten assumptions and describes a very privileged (and small) group of people.
Maybe it’s the label “Intuitive” Eating that does it for me.
Intuition: the Big Picture
We are complex beings living and operating in a complex environment. All living organisms (including humans) are programmed to survive, to grow, to heal. Anywhere we see life, we see it reaching with intention for survival and, if given the chance, to thrive.
There are many intuitions that drive our actions. Two examples:
There is an intuition that drives us to find comfort, avoid guilt/shame, and seek attachment. This intuition operates for the sake of immediate safety and survival. And, there’s more at play. By design, we humans automatically (unconsciously) seek safety and survival, but oppressive systems re-wire us to desire a certain type of safety (one that keeps us safe from fatness, blackness, poverty, dependence on others to name a few).
There is an intuition that drives us to connect with our inner knowing and with the innate worthiness in others, driving us to operate from the present moment and making decisions with care for the future of ourselves and collective humanity, aware of cultural conditioning, but not colluding with it. This intuition operates for the sake of growth, healing, and a sense of wholeness.
And, throughout life, It’s not one intuition or the other. Ever. It’s always a mix of both.
What does this mean for the “intuitive eating” approach and our relationship with food?
I’m writing this post to encourage you.
If you are interested in becoming an “intuitive” eater, I want to be the first to tell you YOU ARE ALREADY AN INTUITIVE EATER. Even if you have an eating disorder. Even if you go from one diet to the next.
Your intuition is not “wrong” or “broken”.
If you are experiencing threat (or live with uncared for/unidentified past trauma), your intuition compels you to find immediate safety for survival. Our culture (external forces) has conditioned you to respond in many ways including changing your eating style/behaviors. That might mean restricting energy to suppress your weight to fit into a fatphobic culture/family system; being rigid with your food choices to “appear good” while living with a chronic illness; and/or using eating disorder behaviors to regulate big emotions and dull uncomfortable body sensations.
If you have been taught to depend on dieting behaviors to achieve belonging, safety, dignity, you are not alone. You are the rule, not the exception.
To be clear, you have an intuition. It’s not broken. It’s only getting you to a faux-safety. A safety that comes with conditions:
you’re safe if you are thin
you belong only if you avoid “junk food”
you are respectable only if you get x amount of steps in per day and eat nut-based cheese.
The path to new and peaceful relationship with food and your body
So, now what? Do we throw out the Intuitive Eating book and it’s promise for a peaceful relationship with food and body?
As I write this, I’m landing on the side that the Intuitive Eating book can stay, but we need to read it through a new lens. The invitation here is to get skillful at recognizing which intuition is driving you so you can know what you need to move forward.
More importantly though, what if the “work” started with prioritizing getting good at recognizing our culture’s impact on our sense of safety and belonging.
Experiment 1:
Asking yourself:
What is my culture (this could be media but also your family, friends, teacher, and/or doctor) telling me to do to be well and worthwhile?
Is it affordable?
Does it fit my ethnic upbringing or ask me to reject my ancestral healing practices/foods?
Does it allow for flexibility and honor the natural ebb and flow of life?
If you need immediate safety, you may need to continue to do the thing that allows you to survive. This is where eating disorders, diet fads, “cleanses, whole-food, plant-based, clean” eating regimens, and rigorous/punishing workout routines make the most sense. It may also be where you depend on lots of fast food, a bag of chips after a day of not having time for breakfast and lunch, a candy bar for pleasure when your spouse is cold and unavailable, or extra long screen-time for your kids so you can get sh*t done.
Recognize that. Just notice it. No need to do anything more. No “fixing”.
If you are privileged to be in a place of safety, with the connection and unconditional love and support of others, you will be in an easier position to examine your current relationship with food and your body and come up with new {additional} solutions to adjust those behaviors to support yourself in a new, sustainable way.
Experiment 2:
With eyes wide open to the fatphobic culture and our heirarchical drive to survive, let’s review the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating:
Reject the Diet Mentality - can you identify the rhetoric and rules of diet mentality?
Honor Your Hunger - can you identify all your hungers (not just the stomach-growling kind)?
Make Peace with Food - can you accept that there are no “bad” foods (except that which has spoiled)? Even McDonalds chicken nuggets? Even soy milk? Even abc food that wakes you up at 3am worrying?
Challenge the Food Police - can you identify (a.) food rules that create guilt and shame, (b.) the creators of those rules, and (c.) how those creators profit off your insecurities?
Discover the Satisfaction Factor - do you feel you deserve to feel satisfied? Can you identify what pleasure and desire feel like in your body?
Feel Your Fullness - can you accept that you have needs and deserve care; can you tolerate a full feeling in your stomach beyond “just on the other side of no longer really hungry”?.
Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness - can you accept that all emotions are automatic and natural? Can make room for emotions beyond “I’m fine” and “I’m happy”?
Respect Your Body - can you accept that bodies come in diverse sizes just because (not due to a moral failing)? Can you consider that you cannot control everything about your body? Can you be on the side of a body that can and will change…no matter what?
Movement—Feel the Difference - can you reframe your relationship with movement, not as a compensatory behavior to make up for eating but to care for your nervous system, to find joy and connection…even if your weight and shape never change because of it?
Honor Your Health—Gentle Nutrition - can you accept that food can play a role in supporting your body’s functions and well-being in ways that aren’t measurable by a lab test, blood pressure reading, etc? Can you accept that what is “healthy” for one person isn’t necessarily “healthy” for another person?
Experiment 3:
If you try out some of the exercises and practices in the Intuitive Eating book or workbook, notice if you are met with tolerable discomfort that leads to small changes or distress that leads to hopelessness. If you are met with a sense of perceived failing, pause and proceed slowly with kindness and curiosity.
Ask yourself, “Which intuition is driving me at this moment?”
If you are feeling a sense of threat or discomfort, stop focusing on changing eating behaviors and start doing things that really support finding safety in the moment. You will very likely need the support of a family member, friend, community member. This work is done best in relationship.
Schedule an appointment or contact me, I can provide support or help connect you with other forms of support.
Post Script
This is about creating a path towards healing and wholeness, not about doing Intuitive Eating “right”. The idea that there is a “right” way to eat is a tenet of diet culture and the language of incompetent and negligent posers.
This is not about compliance, this is about growth.