Regan Wilson, RD

“Intuitive Eating” Introduction

I love the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA.  It’s a book that seems to resonate with so many people.  In this series of posts I will discuss some of the main points of the  book, but encourage you to purchase  your own copy if you see that some of these concepts apply to you.  As I discuss certain topics in the book, I may pull direct quotes from the book and will cite corresponding page numbers to the 2nd edition of the book published in 2005.

Fist, I must say that this information isn’t for everyone.  Many people have healthy, normal relationships with food and their bodies so this information will seem just weird.  Some people do lose weight and keep it off by calorie counting, limiting portion sizes or cutting out high calorie drinks from their diets.   Some people are just “normal” eaters.  They order what they are hungry for from a menu, eat what satisfies them and then either push it aside or have it boxed up without a second thought.  I’m sure you know those people, and may even envy them.  There are many people who just need information about calories in vs. calories out and they work it out for themselves and there’s nothing more to discuss.  For many of us, though, food, dieting and body image is much more complicated and much less about food than we suspect.

Here’s some food for thought (pun intended).  As our society’s obsession with dieting and weight loss has increased and the number of “diet” products has increased, the prevalence of overweight, obesity and eating disorders has gone up.  Strict “diets” are a form of starvation and anyone on them will inevitably “rebel” and eat; our bodies need food!  (pg. 7)  We feel as though we’ve failed and have no willpower and maybe we’re even bad or unworthy.  Have you ever said to yourself after a failed diet, “I am such a loser/incompetent/failure/idiot…”?  The intent of the book, Intuitive Eating is to help get past the “diet mentality” and develop a healthy relationship with ourselves, our bodies and food.

In the second chapter of the book, the authors ask you to examine what kind of eater you are and to evaluate if your seemingly “normal” eating is a sort of disordered eating.  Our society is easy to recognize bingeing and purging as bulimia and severe food restriction as anorexia nervosa, but there are other types of eating that probably fall into a category of a “Not Otherwise Specified” eating disorder.  In those cases, eating isn’t natural; it’s not how a 2 or 3 year old or an “Intuitive Eater” wold eat.

Here are their list of “Eating Personalities” (and people may have traits of many of these types):

1.  The Careful Eater is extremely vigilant and claims it’s about fitness and health.  He or she “tend[s] to undereat and to monitor the quantity of food eaten.”  (p. 10)  This person isn’t “on a diet” but is very, very careful and usually claims to be careful for health’s sake rather than to lose weight.

2.  The Professional Dieter is, as the name implies, always on some sort of diet.  They’ve done low fat, Atkins, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, cleanses, calorie counting and know every “diet trick” in the book.  In  my opinion, this type of eater believes there is a “trick” that will work and they will be miraculously “cured.”  These people may develop serious eating disorders.  (p. 12)

3.  The Unconscious Eater often eats and does something else at the same time.  The authors suggest several types of “Unconscious Eaters.”  Do any of these sound familiar to you?

• The Chaotic Unconscious Eater will eat whatever’s available.  He or she may not recognize that they’re hungry and may inadvertently skip meals.
• The Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater just eats because the food is there.  Candy jars, boxes of donuts, pizza in the break room are all just opportunities for this type of eater to grab something without realizing it.
• The Waste-Not Unconscious Eater won’t throw out food and wants to get the best “bang for her buck” so may opt for the “Super Size” deal for an extra 20 cents.  This person will probably eat others’ leftovers.
• The Emotional Unconscious Eater may not realize that he’s had 6 cookies after a stressful phone conversation with his mother.

For some people unconscious eating isn’t a problem, but when it results in unwanted pounds, feeling uncomfortably full, or just chronic overeating, it probably is  a problem.

On page 14, the authors introduce us to “The Intuitive Eater.” These people eat when they’re hungry, they eat what sounds good to them and they don’t feel guilty or bad about the food choices they make.  Intuitive Eating is about trusting yourself and your body’s natural hunger cues and signals.  It’s how we all ate when we were toddlers but it got mixed up somewhere along the way.  Some parents “push” food, others worry that their children are gaining weight, sometimes children see the disordered eating of their parents and it affects them.  Those well intentioned “clean your plate” and “there are starving kids in Africa” comments at mealtime don’t help either.  And of course, living in a society that is obsessed with dieting and body image is a huge contributor.

In my next post about Intuitive Eating, I’ll discuss the principles of Intuitive Eating as set forth by the book.

May you be happy and healthy,

Regan