Intuitive Eating: Is It Always the Best Approach?

Eat when hungry and stop when full — that is intuitive eating in its purest form.

Yes, keeping things straightforward and listening to your body can be wise; less restrictions could mean having an easier relationship with food.

But intuitive eating may not always be suitable; for instance, should a Keto dieter completely disregard calories and carbs? No doubt not!

Soon we will explore the advantages and disadvantages of intuitive eating in greater depth, but first let’s briefly cover its basics.

What Is Intuitive Eating? mes Intuitive eating means listening to the signals your body gives for making food choices. By employing this approach, intuitive eaters eschew dieting altogether in favor of eating mindfully without restriction or restriction.

Beyond managing your appetite, you don’t limit yourself: simply consume meals when hungry and stop when satisfied.

Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch first coined this term in their 1995 book Intuitive Eating; today we will examine its implications.

Tribole and Resch offer 10 principles of intuitive eating in their book, Intuitive Eating Principles
Below is an adaptation of those ten principles for intuitive eating from Tribole and Resch’s work:

Avoid dieting to achieve your health goals. Instead, strive to eat when moderately hungry – waiting until you’re ravenous often leads to overeating. Don’t limit or restrict food; allow yourself to indulge your tastes freely without moralizing eating habits or moralizing what foods “should or shouldn’t” be eaten. Reject such thoughts. Food should bring joy. No need for massive portions to feel satisfied; simply monitor satiety as you eat and stop when full; food won’t fix emotions so deal with those separately; accept your body; it doesn’t need to conform to stereotypes set forth by society; stay active all day without stressing over exercise routines; enjoy food that makes you feel good, including junk food when necessary – and enjoy every bite you eat!
Summing up intuitive eating in three words: Eat when hungry, stop eating when full, and don’t restrict yourself. That is it.

Potential Advantages of Intuitive Eating

No matter your personal views on Tribole and Resch’s full doctrine, listening to your body should not be overlooked as part of its healing.

Respecting hunger and fullness signals is important. Your body has its own way of telling you when it needs or does not need additional nutrition.

Hormones play an essential role in controlling our appetites; eating causes hunger hormones like ghrelin to decline while leptin rises – these hormonal shifts serve as a powerful safeguard against overeating.

People generally find intuitive eating easier to practice; there are no restrictions or diet requirements to consider.

Are people actually reaping any advantages from intuitive eating? Let’s see what the research says.

Researchers conducted a review on 26 studies related to intuitive eating, of which eight were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), considered to be the gold standard in scientific study. RCTs suggested intuitive eating may assist with:

Weight MaintenanceMental HealthBlood Pressure and CholesterolMetabolitesFood Regulation(i.e., less overeating) Other research suggests intuitive eating may improve body image, self-esteem, depression anxiety and quality of life as well as other markers of psychological well being.

Are You Navigating Intuitive Eating Strategies Correctly? Here Are a Few Hindrances

Listening to what your body tells you may seem obvious, but perhaps listening only isn’t sufficient for creating health.

Hunger, for instance, is both physical and psychological in its manifestation.

Stressful situations or simply seeing an advertisement featuring french fries could trigger hunger pangs in anyone.

Tribole and Resch advocate managing emotions independently; however, that may prove challenging when you come home after an exhausting workday to find an ice cream cone in the freezer!

Your body loves the sugar in this ice cream. In Paleo times, sugar was seen as providing valuable calories that helped maintain fat reserves; today it simply adds empty calories.

Therefore, intuitive eating provides little guidance regarding proper nutrition. Your body may know which nutrients it needs for optimal functioning; however, don’t expect it to provide a shopping list!

Your body may lead you astray. That’s why snack food companies hire food scientists; their job is to come up with delicious, hyper-palatable treats that “hijack” your body’s normal hunger and fullness signals and create craveable dishes that could send signals directly into the brain that could tempt people into binging on processed junk foods that “hijack” those signals from within your system.

When to Take a More Structured Approach An intuitive eating approach may not work for all people. If you have specific health goals or considerations that impact how you eat, intuitive dieting might not work. For these people, more structured approaches to dieting might work better.

Let’s first discuss weight loss. There is limited evidence that intuitive eating aids weight loss; however, it may help with maintenance of bodyweight.

Evidence indicates that tracking food intake leads to significantly greater weight loss than its alternative (two times more!) without needing any special diet plans or restrictions.

Keto diet, an eating pattern well-documented to aid weight loss for obese individuals and those living with type 2 diabetes. Success on Keto requires restricting carb intake; thus breaking at least three intuitive eating commands.

To reap the potential advantages of ketosis (weight loss, hunger management and mental clarity among others), you need to pay close attention to your macros. And if you are following Keto for therapeutic reasons (epilepsy, cancer, autism or neurodegenerative disease), restricting carbohydrates is especially essential.

No matter what diet or eating plan you follow, tracking meals provides motivation and accountability to eat better. Knowing you have to log that second piece of cake may motivate you to go with just one instead!

Listening to Your Body
Tuning in with your body’s signals for fullness can be an invaluable life strategy, so always pay attention to its signals for fullness.

But should we dismiss diets outright and be less restrictive about food choices?

What kind of diet works for me depends. Intuitive eating might work if your nutrition comes from whole food sources and health maintenance is your focus, while intuitive eating may work if your goals include weight loss, improved digestion, or managing specific medical conditions. Otherwise, more structure might be beneficial.

Be mindful, however: even as you pursue a structured diet plan, don’t ignore what your body tells you – balance between structure and intuition will ensure sustained success!