Introduction to
Intuitive Eating

So many of us if are growing up in this culture and have been taught the diet mentality, or exposed to the diet mentality, since probably birth, honestly.  If we’re going to really return to the messages our body gives us we need to first really look at that.

The diet mentality tells us to not trust our bodies, to use external rules to decide what we’re going to eat, and how much, rather than internal guidance.

So we really need to start there if that’s a part of what’s shaped our eating. For most of us, it has, just from being in this culture.

Cindi: So basically, from what I’m gathering when you say external determinants for when you’re eating you’re saying things like “eat every three hours, eat a snack.”

Anna: Right. Eat a certain amount. Eat these certain foods. Or don’t eat these certain foods.

So that was the first principle. If we jump to the 10th principle it’s gentle nutrition.

So after you’ve done all this work of rejecting the diet mentality, tuning back into your hunger, really looking at satisfaction. All these 10 principles and that last one is gentle nutrition. Which is bringing in that information that can really help us.

You know, pairing up foods to fuel us for several hours. A lot of people can feel their best and have a lot of energy for the day. But, if we start there then we are not able to do all this other hard work of tuning back in.

Cindi: So you mentioned diet mentality. A lot of our diet mentality is fueled by what we term diet culture. If you could define in your own words what diet culture is and what essentially diet culture has done to us, to shape the changes in our eating.

Anna: In my words, diet culture is the messaging we all get that certain bodies are superior to others, and eating in a certain way is morally superior to eating in another way.

The message that we get that small bodies are better, that eating in some “healthy way” that’s defined, and there’s always this morality piece.

Diet culture is based on the idea that people that achieve these things are morally superior to people that don’t. When you start to look at where we get these messages, it’s really everywhere.

I have three children of different ages and I can hear it out of their little mouths. Which is amazing.

Cindi: And you’re like, “I haven’t said this.” I think a great example of diet culture is, you had mentioned hunger and fullness and that intuitive eating is more than just hunger and fullness, but what diet culture has done is really turn it into a hunger-fullness diet with the idea of ultimately shaping your body in a certain way.

Anna: Right, we do see that.

People advertising that you can use intuitive eating to lose weight or use it as the latest diet. And they’re really co-opting the language in this book, which is about to come out now with the fourth edition.

The research behind it is amazing, but people are co-opting that as another way to shape bodies and that is not at all the intention.

Crissy: I’ve explored intuitive eating and it really speaks to me on a deep, personal level. It just makes sense. I still struggle with a lot of the diet mentality though. Do you think, in your experience, we can ever actually ditch it? Can we ever fully ditch the diet mentality and embrace this or is it something you’re constantly working on? We are bombarded every day.

Anna: I think that’s different for each person. That’s what I’d say.

I think you’re right, that we live and breathe in this every single day so it’s something that people have to work on and work on and work on. I don’t think there is a certain perfect way to do it.

Yes, doctors have laid out these 10 principles, but you don’t have to do it in perfect order. It doesn’t have to look a certain way.  It could be something you’re constantly noticing or having to work on, and that’s okay.

Talking to moms I think the work we do in this every single day and the change that we’re making for ourselves could then make an effect on our children, who then might not have to work so hard if they’re not brought up with those messages. Which is a neat thing to think about.

But, I’ll tell you I live and breathe this stuff and I still need to work on it every single day. You know, I talk to clients about it, write about it, I’m constantly living it. But, I grew up in this culture and am still influenced by it.

Crissy: That is very helpful to hear.

Anna: Maybe our children won’t have to work so hard. That’s what I tell myself.

Cindi: Right now in the fitness world and in the eating world, you’re seeing lots of different foods being deemed as good and others being deemed as bad. There’s this scale. For example, gluten has been touted as the thing that everyone is allergic to now, as well as dairy, etc.

With intuitive eating, I’m gathering that there is nothing excluded. It’s what you feel works best in your body. But, what if somebody has a certain medical condition?  For example, celiac or lactose intolerance. Is intuitive eating right for them?

Anna: Absolutely.

Those would be things that make them feel really sick. So they need to avoid it.

People with certain medical conditions can really benefit from intuitive eating. For example, if someone has celiac, that is really harmful to their body.  You absolutely would not want to eat that food.

Diet culture is saying these other foods are bad and we shouldn’t eat them. If someone really dives into this work and they truly feel worse when they eat certain foods, that is also intuitive eating.

The thing is, right now it’s all so muddied up with diet culture.

That’s hard personal work. But, I would never sit across from someone and say, “that food doesn’t really make you feel bad, you should eat it.”

It’s more, we should investigate that. Where is that coming from? Let’s really look at that.

So often, when foods are off-limits we actually seek them out more. So we might restrict them, but then eat more of them later. Healing from intuitive eating really helps that.

What I find is that if something really makes someone feel poorly, they don’t really seek it out. It’s not really a restriction, it’s guided by internal cues.

Cindi: So for example, if we were to try to do a specific diet to shape our bodies by eliminating carbohydrates, you’re saying most likely what we will do is crave carbohydrates and then binge on those carbohydrates because we’re telling ourselves we can’t have them.

Anna: Right.

And that happens on two different levels.

On the psychological level, when we tell ourselves that we can’t have something, we want that thing more. That’s just human nature.

That’s also on the physiological level. Our bodies need carbohydrates. We feel better. We make serotonin when we eat carbohydrates. Our brains work off of carbohydrates. It’s a survival mechanism when we eliminate things that our body truly needs, most people really seek them out in some way, whether it’s this week, this month, this year, five years from now. That usually happens.

Cindi: Would that hold true for food such as brownies? We love brownies, don’t we? Sweets are often deemed…

Crissy: I literally just said the words “it’s my guilty pleasure!” (laughter)

Cindi: So in the book, they say to have it in the house and people are like, “no, because I’ll eat the whole thing.”