Featured RD: Understanding Intuitive Eating

In my practice, I mostly use an intuitive eating approach. I certainly was

never taught this in school, but when I stumbled upon the concept I became

convinced that this is the answer to our nation’s obesity woes! Perhaps times

have changed and nutrition programs are starting to realize the connection

between mind and body, but for those of you who may be unfamiliar, this is

what IE means to me:

I believe one of the most challenging pieces of the the intuitive eating

approach is that people can’t see how it can work. People, in general, don’t

trust themselves. They believe they won’t be able to stop eating chocolate or

cake or pizza. Maybe they have dieted so long that they feel they lack

willpower. Or, perhaps it’s because the diet message is so pervasive in our

society, there are millions of diet plans telling us what to eat. Whatever the

reason,it astonishes me how much my clients rely on external sources to

know what, when and how much to eat. Odd, because hunger is a

physiological response similar to breathing or having to pee. When we visit

the restroom, we don’t say, “did I pee too much?” When we take a breath,

we don’t say, “it’s not time to breathe yet”. But clients ask me all the time,

“how much should I eat?” Or they say, “I am hungry all the time.”

I know what you are thinking, you are thinking, “but, Heather, we are

dietitians, that’s what we do, we tell people what to eat”. I used to think so

too, but lately I have realized there is a difference between teaching or

telling a person something and having them come around to the idea

themselves as a light bulb moment. My client’s extra weight does not stem

from lack of nutrition information, but rather they lack the ability to apply

that information to their lives. They can’t seem to do what they know they

should be doing! That’s where IE comes in.

Despite what many believe- that eating intuitively means eating whatever

you want when you want to-Intuitive Eating really means loving

yourself enough to want to honor your body with nourishing, healthy

food. Sometimes, nourishing yourself means eating a hot fudge sundae, but

if you find yourself wanting a hot fudge sundae every day, then something

else is going on. It’s time to do some inquiring and ask yourself what is the

real reason you want a hot fudge sundae every day? Often, I find because

my clients are not nourishing themselves in other ways, they turn to food.

They look to food as a quick fix, but because food only fixes hunger, they

never feel satisfied and continue to turn to food in a horrible cycle.

I wish I had the answer to my clients struggles with food, I wish I had the

magic pill or the right words, or even the perfect meal plan, but the bottom

line is that the answer lies within them, lies within you. All I can do is help

my clients to find their answer. If I can help those clients begin to find joy

and nourishment in other ways besides food, and I can get them to release

their guilt about food and begin to trust themselves they can begin to focus

on their inner wisdom - the internal barometer that we all are born with that

tells us when, what and how much to eat. Sometimes their body may say

chocolate and sometimes it may say steamed baby vegetables, but whatever

their body says, is the right choice for them at that moment. That’s what IE

means to me - listening, trusting, and satisfying your body.