Intuitive Eating
I get asked “What is intuitive eating?” a lot so- here we go:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The term intuitive eating was coined in 1995 as the title of a book by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The ideas are rooted in work by early pioneers such as Susie Orbach, who published “Fat is a Feminist Issue” in 1978, and Geneen Roth, who has written about emotional eating since 1982.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Intuitive eating is built on the principle that diets don’t work and that lifestyle changes and personal care are more important for long-term health.
Diet Culture
We are all born as intuitive eaters but we lose this intuition around food due to external influences such as dieting and diet culture.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We lose our ability to listen to our own bodies when we trust diets and so-called experts about what, when, and how to eat. Dieting is full of food rules whereas intuitive eating has no rules.
All diets lead you away from trusting your body and its intuition. To eat intuitively, you will need to learn how to trust your body again.
It’s basically all about listening to your hunger cues, eating food that will satisfy your body, and doing movement that makes you feel good.⠀⠀⠀⠀
What is HAES?⠀
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Usually, when I get asked about intuitive eating I also get asked about HAES too so here we go:
HAES stands for Health at Every Size, so, in short, it means that it’s possible to be healthy at every size. Many of the beliefs people have around health and size are actually incorrect information that we’ve been fed by the diet industry.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Health at Every Size first appeared in the 1960s, advocating that the changing culture toward aesthetics and beauty standards had negative health and psychological repercussions to fat people.
We go to great pains
Because the slim and fit body type had become the acceptable standard of attractiveness, fat people were going to great pains to lose weight, and that this was not, in fact, always healthy.
They contend that some people are naturally a larger body type, and that in some cases losing a large amount of weight could in fact be extremely unhealthy for some. That’s HAES. So going to great lengths to lose weight is damaging to the health of people.⠀⠀
Did you know…
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Around 85% of the clients I work with are on a diet/thinking of going on a diet when they start working with me? That’s a lot, I know. And I welcome every one of them with loving open arms because I know what it is like to be in a diet cycle of-⠀
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😔 Feeling bad about your body ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
😟 Going on a diet⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
😢 Restriction⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
➡️ Bingeing⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
➡️ Gaining weight⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
😭 Going on a diet⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Many women live their entire lives in this cycle. I help people to end this cycle so they can like their bodies and take care of their health. In my own work I help individuals, mums, and teens to build their body confidence so they can accept their bodies.⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Want to learn more about body image? Read more on The Body Blog or follow me on Instagram.