How to Eat Intuitively When You’ve Spent Years Dieting

A gentle guide to healing your relationship with food and your body

It’s October, which means it’s my birthday month and Health Literacy Month. This month, I’m truly passionate about ensuring people have the information they need to make informed decisions about their health. However, some health professionals mistakenly tell their patients and clients what to do rather than focusing on what works best for them.

After posting a Substack note about the community’s thoughts on meal plans, I was most recently reminded of this.

Despite working with registered dietitians, one community member replied that an issue they often faced was constantly being recommended meal plans even though they had never worked for them. Even though I’ve taught meal planning and prepping for years, meal plans can often become so rigid that they prevent people from trusting their bodies’ signals. That’s partially why I’ve found that intuitive eating (IE) can be one of the most effective strategies for those who no longer desire to rely on meal plans, rigid diets, or calorie counting.

What is Intuitive Eating?

IE is an evidence-based approach developed by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It is focused on listening to and responding to our body’s signals to meet our physical and physiological needs.

While diet culture has co-opted IE as another way to lose weight, at its core, it is a weight-neutral approach that shifts the focus from weight to other health measures. However, it’s far from perfect. Tribole and Resch created the 4th edition of their book Intuitive Eating to address some of the criticism they’ve received over the years regarding the way they’ve approached how to eat intuitively.

Let me be clear that I agree with the criticism and believe the 4th edition made some significant strides in addressing areas often overlooked in the anti-diet space. As someone who implemented intuitive eating into my lifestyle after a long period of disordered eating, I can say firsthand that it did support me on the path to developing a much healthier relationship with food.

However, I’ve also spoken in the past about some of the roadblocks we can face along our IE journey. That’s why I argue that two things can also be true: the IE principles can be beneficial despite still needing some work. Considering it’s Health Literacy Month, I want to ensure you have the information you need to decide whether IE is the right approach confidently.

Breaking Down the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

Before I break down the 10 principles of IE, I want to clarify that I’m far from an “expert” on the subject. Instead, I’ve applied what’s worked well for my lifestyle and accepted that some aspects of IE don’t work for me. I’ve taken the same approach when it comes to working with clients.

Regardless of where you’re at on your journey, these principles are the foundation for learning how to eat intuitively. That’s why I've highlighted each one below:

Principle #1: Reject the Diet Mentality

As much as there might be a desire to believe that “you’re just one diet away from a better life,” the longer you cling to that lie, the worse off you will be. No one diet will be the solution for every person, and releasing that expectation is key to finding true healing.

Principle #2: Honor Your Hunger

Reconnecting to our hunger and fullness cues can be difficult after years of dieting, which has taught us not to trust our food choices. By rebuilding that trust with food, you can acknowledge your biological hunger and adequately nourish your body without second-guessing your food choices.

Principle #3: Make Peace With Food

Giving yourself unconditional permission to eat will likely feel scary initially, but it’s one of the most essential steps in building a healthier relationship with food. When we constantly deprive ourselves of food we want to eat, we force ourselves to fight an uphill battle instead of embracing a diet that fits our lifestyle.

Principle #4: Challenge The Food Police

When we commit to following rules about which foods we’re allowed and not allowed to eat, we often ignore our food preferences and culture. By challenging the food rules we’ve created for ourselves, we can ditch the guilt and shame of choosing foods we love that aren’t as nutritious (but that we actually enjoy!)

Principle #5: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Food is not just about consuming nutrients but about enjoying the eating experience. When you allow yourself to eat what you want, you’ll feel satisfied and content with your food choices.

Principle #6: Feel Your Fullness

Understanding when you’re full can be difficult, depending on your history with disordered eating or an eating disorder. Rediscovering your fullness involves recognizing that there might be reasons you’re eating when you’re not hungry. You might have a legitimate reason to do so, such as enjoying a bite of birthday cake with your child or eating a meal during the only break you have during your workday.

Principle #7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness

Eating can be an emotional experience that sometimes makes you feel like you’re losing control of yourself. In that situation, we must be kind to ourselves and recognize what might trigger that loss of control. That awareness allows us to address specific “unwanted” behaviors with more effective coping mechanisms.

Principle #8: Respect Your Body

Body respect might seem impossible in a world that constantly tells us something is wrong with our bodies. Respecting our bodies doesn’t mean loving every aspect of them. However, it does mean that we come to a greater acceptance of the diversity of our bodies and those of others.

Principle #9: Movement–Feel the Difference

Movement is more than exercise; it is also how we feel when we move our bodies. Whether performing household chores or weightlifting in the gym, focusing on how we feel when we engage in movement is key. In other words, we don’t need pain to experience gain.

Principle #10: Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition

Making health-promoting food choices isn’t just choosing the most nourishing option; it’s about eating what aligns with our food preferences, culture, and lifestyle. In doing so, IE becomes an approach that allows you to consistently focus on what you can do over time to eat and move well.

How to Get Started with IE as a Beginner

I know that I just highlighted these ten principles; however, I don’t expect (nor should you wish) to master each principle at once. It’s been years since I first learned about IE, and I’m still working on adopting all the principles into my lifestyle. For example, as much as I want to say that I’m a master at Principle #7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness, I’m still a work in progress regarding eating emotionally. This is why I don’t judge those who struggle with emotional eating, as I’m also working on it as a health coach!

For this reason, I encourage you to focus on just one principle over the next 90 days.

I know it’s tempting to go all in, but remember this isn’t another diet. It also isn’t a rulebook, because these principles are nuanced. Some principles might be achievable today, others might take time, and some you might choose not to explore. Focusing on one principle at a time, based on what’s most important to you today, is the point.

For instance, Principle #9: Movement–Feel the Difference is most pertinent to me as I’ve experienced too many exercise-related injuries over the past six months. I haven’t been tapping into how my body feels, and that has resulted in injuries I honestly could have prevented. Focusing on this principle for the next 90 days doesn’t mean the rest are ignored. There are complementary principles like #8: Respect Your Body and #10: Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition that I will incorporate naturally as achieving one makes the other ones possible.

As one of my coaches used to say, you don’t win a prize for being the person who struggled the most. Focus on just one thing. When you win in one area, it motivates you to focus on the rest. I’m not just making this statement from personal experience, but seeing it work repeatedly with clients.

Ready to Get Started? Here are Two Options!

Option 1: Grab Your Copy of the Intuitive Eating Workbook.

When you’re focused on implementing one principle at a time, this is where the Intuitive Eating Workbook comes in handy. It walks you through transforming your relationship with food and your body. It’s a great compliment if you’ve read the IE book. However, if you haven’t, you’ll still benefit from the practical steps in reconnecting with your innate wisdom.

Option 2: Work with a Health Coach (like me!)

This is a shameless plug: I’m currently accepting new health coaching clients, and I would love to support you on your health and wellness journey. Whether you're on board with intuitive eating or not, having a coach with a personalized plan can be incredibly beneficial for supporting you and your diverse needs. When you’re ready to take that next step, message me, and we can chat about what working together might look like.