Intuitive eating can’t work if you are holding onto any kind of diet beliefs, restrictive mindset, or not truly trying to heal your relationship with food. If you have any diet culture at play, intuitive eating will fail for you.
Does intuitive eating work for everyone?
By Joy Manning. (Image credit: Martinina) Intuitive eating, which in a nutshell means eating whatever you want when you want until you are full, is a clear alternative to the food journaling and calorie tracking I do to keep myself feeling on track and healthy.
Beware of “intuitive eating,” despite its funky sounding name; it could make you gain FAT weight . Intuitive eating is essentially a free-for-all when it comes to food. No foods are forbidden. Don’t eat for emotional reasons. Eat when hungry, stop when satiation starts kicking in. Eat foods you love and that make you feel good.
In fact, intuitive eating is picking up popularity, not only among former dieters but also with researchers. As of 2019, there are more than 100 research studies looking at intuitive eating.
Can intuitive eating improve your mental health?
On the other hand, a study published in the Cambridge University Press website reveals that there is a substantial and consistent relationship between intuitive eating and improved mental health.
Why intuitive eating is bad?
Myth 1: Intuitive eating is unhealthy. This comes mainly from the fact that intuitive eating allows you all kinds of food, even the ones you may consider “unhealthy.” Fact: Yes, when you eat intuitively, you can all the foods, because part of the intuitive eating process is to give yourself unconditional permission to eat. This means if you start intuitively, you will likely eat the food that you’re currently restraining.
You may be wondering “What does it mean to eat intuitively?”
“Intuitive eating is eating whatever you want, whenever you want.” “If you’re not on a diet, you’re already eating intuitively.” Or everyone’s personal favorite: “It just means ‘listen to your body. ’” But none of those are accurate, at least not according to the people who coined the term. And that matters.
Another frequently asked inquiry is “Do you intuitively Eat Like Shit?”.
The answer is that Like one personal trainer, whose many clients are morbidly obese, has stated: “People intuitively eat like shit.” Intuitive eating translates to listening to the voice inside your head urging you to polish off those three donuts sitting on your counter. What next, intuitive shopping?
Is two years too long to start intuitive eating?
Those who advocate for intuitive eating would probably tell me that two years isn’t long enough, that I would gain weight up to a point and then it would stop; I’d eventually find my set point as my “intuitive eating” wore on. Maybe it would be more than I weigh now, maybe less.
Why do obese people eat out of emotional eating?
They may eat out of depression, stress, loneliness, boredom or based on social cues such as dinner out, parties and social functions. This is dangerous advice for an obese or overweight person who’s an emotional or situational eater, even though one of the tenets is to avoid emotional eating.
I am using mindfulness techniques to guard myself as best I can against emotional eating and overeating. Those who advocate for intuitive eating would probably tell me that two years isn’t long enough, that I would gain weight up to a point and then it would stop; I’d eventually find my set point as my “intuitive eating” wore on.