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Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to stable weight loss

Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to stable weight loss
Intuitive eating is more effective than traditional weight-loss programmes in improving individuals' views of their bodies and decreasing eating disorders. © Shutterstock

Intuitive eating is all about getting in touch with your inner self and responding to your body's needs. You get to eat what you want, when you want and lose weight too.

Written by Jahnavi Sarma |Updated : September 18, 2019 1:02 PM IST

There are numerous fad diets doing the rounds today. All of them promise healthy weight loss and various other benefits. But if you want to be healthy, there are a few ways of looking at food and eating that does not involve any of these diets. Intuitive diet is not a fad diet. It is a way of life. All it requires you to do is make lifestyle and dietary changes and modifications. There are no strict timetables to follow and no foods to avoid. You may eat what you like and when you like. But, of course, there are certain principles that you have to follow.

Many people have followed the basic concepts of intuitive eating for a long time now. However, it was only in 1995 that the term was officially coined when Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch wrote a book titled 'Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works'. This book was promoted as a recovery book for chronic dieters. Tribole and Resch introduced a whole new way of eating and connecting with food. They stressed on the importance of nurturing the body instead of starving yourself. The best thing is that the concept of intuitive eating also promotes weight loss and actually puts you on the right path to attaining your ideal weight.

The principles of intuitive eating

People with body weight issues often have to deal with eating disorders. They try to follow mindless diets that promise weight loss and, in the process, end up in a worse state than before. But with intuitive eating, they develop a healthy relationship with their body and food. However, it is important to keep in mind certain things when you decide that you want to try this out for yourself. There are ten principles of intuitive eating, which we list below.

Reject the diet mentality

Honour your hunger

Make peace with food

Challenge the food police

Respect your fullness

Discover the satisfaction factor

Honour your feelings without using food

Respect your body

Exercise feel the difference

Honour your health

Intuitive eating is good for health

Researchers from Brigham Young University say that intuitive eating can lower cholesterol levels, body mass index scores and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This is because this kind of eating is all about taking internal cues, trying to recognise what the body wants and then regulate how much you eat based on hunger and satiety, they say. The American Journal of Health Education published this study that focuses on healthy eating for weight loss. As the researchers say, you eat when you're hungry and you stop when you're not hungry any more. This is a very healthy relationship with food and causes less eating disorders and obesity.

In another study, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that intuitive eating is more effective than traditional weight-loss programmes in improving individuals' views of their bodies and decreasing eating disorders. They say that traditional wellness programmes focus on weight challenges in which participants are asked to repeatedly weigh themselves.

This may help people lose weight initially. But most people tend to regain the lost weight after the programme is over. This is a very common cycle that most people trying to lose weight face. Intuitive eating supports healthy eating and body image. As a result, people tend to relate more to their internal body signals and not the numbers on weighing scales. This study was published in American Journal of Health Promotion.

Intuitive eating is often confused with mindful eating

The concept of intuitive eating is often confused with mindful eating. But it is not the same. Mindful eating is about engaging all the five sense to be aware of how food affects us physically and emotionally. It encourages you to be curious about your relationship with food. It also teaches you to be conscious of what you are eating and how much and also how it is affecting your body. But in intuitive eating. You reject the very concept of dieting or cutting back on your desires. It teaches you to recognise hunger and feed it. It is all about physical satisfaction, that can ultimately lead to emotional gratification.

But despite these differences, they are similar in a lot of ways. But this approaches to food encourage you to look at food and understand it impartially. It helps you to reconnect with your body at a basic level and identify its internal as well as external cues. Both claim that they are not for weight loss. Yet, both can lead to an ideal body weight. Because, when you eat intelligently, you also pick the right foods and eat healthy.

Intuitive eating and weight loss

In intuitive eating, you eat what you like keeping in mind the ten principles. You don't have to count calories and weigh your food. It teaches you to focus of what you are feeling and how your body reacts to food. Hence, this may not be right for you if you need to go in for drastic weight loss. This is because, you may or may not lose weight.

But, in the long run, this can aid in weight loss. As your body builds a nurturing relationship with food, you will automatically tend to gravitate towards more healthy food. And, eating healthy is the key to stable and long-lasting weight loss. This weight loss will also be more gradual and because intuitive eating is a lifestyle and not a diet, it will help you keep the weight off and make you more healthy and fit.

Also, most fad diets make you feel deprived. You are denied your favourite snacks and comfort foods. This can lead to binge eating and destroy the very purpose of going on that particular diet. In Intuitive eating, there is no such danger because you can eat anything and everything. In time, you will learn to identify and respect your body's requirements and eat accordingly. This will prevent overeating and ultimately lead to weight loss.