Intuitive Eating for a Healthy Mind and Body

June 30, 2021
8:42 pm

Take a moment to think about infants. What did they do? They eat, poop and sleep. And what do they do when they want their needs met? They cry. Why? Because their bodies are telling them it needs something to survive. When babies are hungry, they cry. When they are full, they stop. When they need to relieve themselves, they do and when they are tired they fall asleep. In other words, they are aware enough to listen to their body’s cues in order to get what they need. This is called interoceptive awareness…the ability to sense what’s going on in your body.
Unfortunately as we grow older, external influences are introduced which contribute to or dictate eating behaviors. Over time, the internal signals that we relied on so heavily are disregarded which, if consistent, result in an eventual loss of ability to feel those sensations.
Intuitive Eating is the journey back inward. It’s the process necessary to essentially “reparent” what is our innate ability to really eat with pleasure, eat when biologically hungry and stop eating when we feel we’ve had enough to meet our biological needs or satisfy our palate.
Originally developed by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995, Intuitive Eating is an evidence based model with over 120 research studies that includes a valid standardized assessment scale which may or may not mean much to some of you but to those who are “sciencey,” it will!
It’s a non diet approach to health with a comprehensive framework compromising 10 principles to help you tune into your body signals, break the cycle of chronic dieting and heal your relationship to food, mind and body. This dynamic integration of self-discovery allows you to take back your power, listen to only your body and, essentially, honor your health.
Only then, will we see change. By change, I don’t mean weight. In fact, depending on your diet and exercise experience; your family history; and your overall genetic blueprint, it could mean restoring (yes, gaining) the body back to its natural weight, losing weight towards your set point or remaining neutral. A natural or set point weight is a weight one can sustain without struggle, chaos or deprivation. None of these results mean your health is in jeopardy, has not improved or benefited because weight is not an indicator of health, behaviors are. In fact, your health will improve regardless of the number on the scale because you’re not fighting anymore. You’re free.
The Ten Principles: