How does intuitive eating work?

I first explained intuitive eating in my post “What is intuitive eating?” and this week we take a closer look at how intuitive eating works.

As mentioned in the earlier post, intuitive eating is a process of honouring your health by paying attention to the messages of your body and meeting your physical and emotional need. When we use the process of intuitive eating, we are putting ourselves at the centre of the process. Because you are the expert of your own body. Everyone is the expert of their own body. Intuitive eating acknowledges not just our needs around food, but also thoughts, feelings and experiences.

But how do we get to this place where we so called ‘eat intuitively’. Well it is a process. an ongoing, even forever process, but there are 10 principles to help guide this process and navigate all the learned thoughts and behaviours from diet culture that you need to overcome.

The 10 principles of intuitive eating are:

1. Reject diet mentality

2. Honour your hunger

3. Make peace with food

4. Challenge the food police

5. Feel your fullness

6. Discover the satisfaction factor

7. Cope with your feelings without using food

8. Respect your body

9. Exercise: feel the difference

10. Honour your health with gentle nutrition

Some of these principles help you tune into your body and become more aware of your body’s cues like hunger and fullness. The other principles help remove obstacles that prevent you from finding that connection to your body.

Want to hear more about intuitive eating and finding food freedom? (Spoiler alert!) Tune into season 1 episode 3 of the ALL THINGS FOOD podcast.