Intuitive Eating: Listening to Your Body’s Needs

We become more and more aware that it is not only what we eat that matters, but also the way we do it. Knowledge about healthy eating and consumer awareness are constantly growing. Popular grocery stores offer more and more vegan dishes, products without added white sugar or harmful preservatives. Despite this, we are still struggling with the growing problem of excess weight and obesity, which unfortunately increasingly affects not only adults but also children.

As a result, we try to look for new solutions in the field of diet and nutritional models that will make it easier to maintain health. One of my favorites (which I often mention) is Intermittent Fasting (I wrote more on the topic and about my private experiences with intermittent fasting HERE). At the end of last year, I also mentioned mindful eating on my blog (HERE). Today I would like to draw your attention to another interesting concept, which is intuitive eating.

 

Return to Natural Body Signals

Intuitive eating is a nutrition model officially proposed for the first time by two dietitians, E. Tribole and E. Resch, in 1995. Although the authors indicate that its goal is not directly to reduce body weight, they also emphasize that intuitive eating is the basis for the prevention of excess weight and obesity.

What exactly is it? The main idea is to eat in response to the body’s needs, i.e. following the hunger and satiety signals. Intuitive eating rejects any division of products into healthy and unhealthy (food categorization), as well as (most controversially) any dietary restrictions. Moreover, Tribole and Resch describe 10 rules of intuitive eating, such as satisfaction with meals and respect for your body and health.

 

Potential Benefits and Inevitable Challenges

You will probably agree that the pace and lifestyle nowadays are not conducive to eating in response to physiological hunger. We are surrounded by various food-related stimuli (advertisements on the Internet and TV, displays of food products in windows and on billboards, tempting smells, food at every turn) that are difficult to ignore. All this is based on our traditions and customs as food accompanies family celebrations, meetings with friends, cinema screenings, etc. On the other hand, we struggle with the problem of lack of time for any meal because we are so absorbed by work and other responsibilities.

Research on the impact of intuitive eating on health remains inconsistent but there is evidence that it may have potential benefits: helping maintain body weight, positively impacting mental health (body image, symptoms of depression) and some parameters of physical health (such as cholesterol levels and inflammatory markers). Scientists emphasize, however, that more research is needed, covering a wider group of subjects, of different genders and ages, and a longer observation period. Only this will allow us to learn the mechanisms behind intuitive eating and develop practical recommendations on how to implement this way of nutrition in everyday life.

 

When Intuitive Eating Fails…

The principles of intuitive eating seem really helpful: listen to your body, eat when you feel hungry, stop eating when you are full. But what if the hunger and satiety centers have been ignored for a long time and their work has been disturbed? Or if eating has become the dominant way to regulate emotions? Then your body may suggest you choose foods with a low content of necessary vitamins and minerals, but rich in simple sugars and saturated fats instead. And yet, according to intuitive eating, you should give your body full freedom and eat what you want… As you can see, this might lead to serious health problems.

 

Summary

Finally, I would like to emphasize that lifestyle changes which include a nutritious, reduced-calorie diet (adapted to individual needs), regular exercise and adequate length and quality of sleep remain the basis for managing excess weight and obesity. I think the concept of intuitive eating is very interesting and I’m glad that it encourages you to listen to your body’s signals. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of ifs and doubts that need to be clarified in order to finally determine who should follow such nutrition rules, for what purposes, and in what way.

 

Bibliography:

1. Lewandowska B. Style jedzenia i ich charakterystyka. Brytek-Matera A. (red.), Psychodietetyka. Warszawa: PZWL, 2021, 175-177.
2. Van Dyke N, Drinkwater EJ. Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: literature review. Public Health Nutr. 2014 Aug;17(8):1757-66. doi: 10.1017/S1368980013002139.