PDF Summary:Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

Food plays a profound role in our lives: It nourishes our bodies, satisfies our cravings, provides comfort, and serves as a focal point for celebrations. However, the relentless pressure to be thin, combined with conflicting advice on what and how much to eat, can turn eating into a struggle for many people. For them, the pleasures associated with food are overshadowed by guilt, shame, and a fear of making dietary mistakes.

In Intuitive Eating, dietician Evelyn Tribole and nutritionist Elyse Resch suggest a way to overcome this internal struggle and cultivate a healthy relationship with food: Fulfill your body’s needs by tuning out what others say you should eat and tuning in to what your body wants to eat.

This guide explores how succumbing to the pressure of dieting damages your relationship with food, and it presents advice for tuning in to your body and fostering a more positive connection to it. Additionally, we’ll expand on the authors’ ideas with research and advice from other health experts.

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Tribole and Resch argue that the key to a healthy relationship with food is to promote food harmony: Tune out external influences dictating what you should eat and instead tune in to your body's cues and cravings. This requires prioritizing internal signals of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to develop a deeper understanding of your body's unique nutritional needs and preferences. By embracing this understanding, you can make food choices that align with your body's requirements, avoid feelings of deprivation, and experience the pleasure that comes from nourishing your body with satisfying foods.

(Shortform note: While research continues to explore the effects of this approach, studies suggest that it offers numerous health benefits. These include improved cholesterol levels, reduced BMI (body mass index), enhanced body satisfaction, and decreased levels of depression, anxiety, and restrictive eating. However, people with health conditions requiring dietary restrictions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, should consult health care providers before adopting this approach.)

Tribole and Resch suggest four ways to tune in to your body’s needs:

1. Stop dieting and accept your unique body.
2. Listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues.
3. Prioritize food satisfaction over food morality.
4. Find joy in moving your body.

Let’s explore their advice in detail.

Tip #1: Reject Diets and Accept Your Unique Body

The first way to tune in to your body’s needs is to stop dieting and accept your unique body as it is now. This requires letting go of the pressure to conform to a specific body size and instead prioritizing your overall physical, mental, and emotional health.

Because dieting interferes with your internal cues and compels you to focus on external factors like numbers on a weighing scale, Tribole and Resch recommend that you abandon diets and avoid anything that might cause you to fixate on your weight. Here are some ways to achieve this:

• Throw away your scale. (Shortform note: Many dieticians recommend this advice because weight constantly fluctuates due to factors like hydration, food intake, stress, hormones, and sleep quality—making the numbers on the scale meaningless for tracking overall health.)
• Delete diet apps and calorie counters, and get rid of dieting books. (Shortform note: Closely tracking your eating habits and weight-loss progress can elevate stress and cortisol levels. This not only disrupts the body's ability to regulate hunger and fullness cues, but also undermines your physical health.)
• Unfollow influencers who promote dieting. (Shortform note: Research warns that even body-positive social media feeds can lead to self-objectification, shifting your focus from internal cues to external appearance. Therefore, fill your feed with non-body related content, like hobbies.)

Encourage Self-Acceptance by Practicing Self-Care

Even after you remove everything related to dieting from your life, you may find it challenging to accept your body as it is and resist the pressure to manage your weight. To overcome the temptation to give in to this pressure, Tribole and Resch suggest practicing self-care and cultivating respect for your body. Their suggestions for achieving this include:

1) Break free from external influences: Let go of comparisons to others by focusing on the unique qualities that make you feel good about yourself. Additionally, avoid people who make comments about your weight or eating patterns, and surround yourself with supportive friends who appreciate you for who you are.

(Shortform note: According to Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life), focusing on qualities that make you feel good about yourself automatically removes unwanted external influences from your life. She argues that every experience reflects your opinion of yourself: If you don't accept your body, you send out emotional signals that cause other people to mirror your lack of acceptance back to you—for example, by making you feel uncomfortable about your body. She suggests that practicing self-love affirmations improves your self-perception and the emotional signals you emit, leading others to respond to you more positively. The affirmations can be statements such as "I love and appreciate myself.")

2) Embrace body positivity: Appreciate the functionality and capabilities of your body by replacing self-critical thoughts about your body with self-affirming ones such as, “My body is strong and capable,” or “I am beautiful just as I am.”

(Shortform note: Emily Nagoski (Come As You Are) suggests complementary advice: Examine your naked body in the mirror and list everything you like. When self-critical thoughts arise, let them go by remembering the perspective you had of your body before society taught you to internalize self-criticism. By making this a daily practice, you’ll gradually unlearn the cultural tendency of self-judgment, as well as the self-criticism your body may trigger.)

3) Nurture self-care: Indulge in soothing treatments or massages that promote a positive connection with your body. Enhance this connection by wearing clothing that flatters your personal style and boosts your confidence in your own skin.

(Shortform note: If you’re unsure how to incorporate self-care practices into your routine, consider partnering with a supportive friend for added encouragement and motivation. Together, you can explore various self-care activities, such as visiting spas, shopping for clothes, or engaging in body-positive classes. This shared journey offers mutual support that makes the process more enjoyable and sustainable, empowering both of you to develop a healthier and more positive body image.)

Tip #2: Listen to Your Body’s Hunger and Fullness Cues

As you work on freeing yourself from the pressure to diet and conform to a specific body size, practice listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Tribole and Resch say that this practice offers multiple benefits: It helps you notice and fulfill your hunger—which, in turn, prevents extreme hunger and curbs intense cravings, and it enables you to satisfy your body’s needs without falling into the trap of overeating.

The authors offer the following advice for tuning in to your body’s hunger and fullness cues:

1) Practice mindful eating by assessing your hunger levels before, during, and after each meal. This allows you to become more aware of how much and how often your body requires nourishment.

(Shortform note: Mindful eating experts suggest that understanding seven different types of hunger helps you assess hunger levels by differentiating between genuine physical hunger and other triggers for eating: 1) Stomach hunger—the physical hunger felt when the body needs nourishment. 2) Eye hunger—the desire for food stimulated by seeing delicious-looking dishes. 3) Nose hunger—cravings triggered by the aroma of food. 4) Mouth hunger—craving specific tastes or textures. 5) Mind hunger—emotional or psychological hunger driven by stress or boredom. 6) Heart hunger—longing for emotional connection or comfort, sometimes fulfilled through food. 7) Cellular hunger—a deeper need for essential nutrients.)

2) Pay attention to bodily sensations that indicate hunger, such as a grumbling stomach or low energy levels. When you experience a hunger cue, eat promptly to avoid excessive hunger—being too hungry makes it challenging to discern what food your body needs and when it’s had enough.

(Shortform note: Experts suggest that paying attention to bodily sensations helps you distinguish between hunger and appetite. Hunger is a physiological response driven by biological needs to maintain energy levels. On the other hand, appetite is the desire to eat, often influenced by emotions or external factors. One way to differentiate between the two is to observe your reaction to a nutritious dish you don't particularly enjoy. If you would willingly eat it, it's likely true hunger. However, if you find yourself craving a specific indulgence instead, such as a slice of rich chocolate cake, it's more likely appetite.)

3) Ensure easy access to food by preparing meals and snacks in advance. This eliminates feelings of deprivation that trigger overeating because you can confidently stop eating when you've had enough, knowing that you can meet your body's needs whenever hunger arises.

(Shortform note: While the idea of preparing food in advance may appear to contradict the advice to eat only according to your body’s hunger cues and needs, there is a way to align both approaches and stay true to your body's internal signals. When meal prepping, plan your meals for the week with a flexible mindset, focusing on creating a variety of options that appeal to your individual tastes and preferences. This allows you to have easy access to choices while remaining open to your body's changing needs and cues. Trusting your instincts and honoring your hunger and fullness cues will guide you in selecting the right meal from your prepped options, promoting a balanced and satisfying eating experience.)

4) Consume food every three to four hours. This practice is particularly beneficial if you’ve lost touch with your body's natural hunger cues—consistent meal patterns can help your body regain a reliable sense of hunger.

(Shortform note: While experts acknowledge that the optimal time between meals varies depending on factors like activity level, state of health, and nutritional needs, they agree that eating regularly offers multiple health benefits. Regular meals stabilize blood sugar levels and sustain energy levels, prevent extreme hunger and overeating, improve metabolism, enhance focus and concentration, aid digestion, and reduce discomfort after eating. Additionally, structured meal times encourage mindful eating, fostering a more balanced and mindful approach to nourishing your body.)

Distinguish Between Physical and Emotional Hunger

In addition to listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues, practice distinguishing between physical and emotional hunger. This will help you recognize when you may be using food to fulfill needs other than physical nourishment. For example, you may be using it as a coping mechanism for emotional discomfort or as a means of distraction.

According to Tribole and Resch, recognizing how you use food to address your emotional needs offers two significant benefits: First, it enables you to make more conscious eating choices based on your body's physical cues, allowing you to respond to genuine hunger signals. Second, it empowers you to explore alternative and more fulfilling ways to meet your emotional needs, freeing yourself from relying solely on food.

They suggest that you identify your emotions when you catch yourself eating when you’re not physically hungry. This can involve various techniques such as sitting with your emotions and experiencing them, journaling to express and understand your feelings, or confiding in someone you trust to gain clarity.

Once you’ve identified your emotions, ask yourself what you need to do to address your feelings. Then find healthy and appropriate ways to meet those needs beyond turning to food. For example, you might be feeling frustrated and in need of physical exercise, or you might be feeling bored and require mental stimulation, or you might be feeling sad and could benefit from a comforting hug.

Mindfulness Helps Uncover the Root Cause of Emotional Eating

Mindfulness experts offer additional insights that can aid in recognizing and overcoming emotional eating patterns. They identify four categories of emotions that people often try to alleviate by engaging in habits such as emotional eating:

• Wanting: eating food in an attempt to feel better emotionally

• Distracting: eating food as a way to avoid facing negative emotions or experiences

• Resisting: eating food as a protective shield against facing or acknowledging certain emotions

• Doing: eating food as a means to keep busy and regain a sense of control

By becoming more mindful of the specific emotions driving your desire to eat, you can gain a deeper understanding of your emotional patterns. This awareness will empower you to explore healthier alternatives to effectively address those emotions.

Tip #3: Prioritize Food Satisfaction Over Food Morality

Another essential way to tune into your body’s needs is prioritizing food satisfaction over food morality. This includes rejecting judgments and biases associated with food, focusing on how different foods make your body feel, and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat what you want without feeling guilty.

Tribole and Resch explain that shifting away from food morality helps you avoid the cycle of dieting, intense cravings, indulgence, and guilt. To overcome the cycle of dieting and negative self-judgment, they suggest focusing on how foods nourish and satisfy your body, rather than labeling them as "good" or "bad." They recommend the following steps for achieving this:

1) List all of the foods that appeal to you and identify those you’ve been judging as “bad.”

2) Eat each of these so-called “bad” foods, paying close attention to how they make you feel physically. For example, you might identify fries as “bad” and note that eating more than a handful satisfies your taste buds but makes you feel bloated and lethargic.

3) Identify any judgments that trigger feelings of guilt or shame associated with eating these foods. For example, you might believe that fries have no nutritional value, leading to a sense of wrongdoing when consuming them.

4) Examine whether your judgments align with your body’s needs. For example, question why you believe fries have no nutritional value, if this belief truly benefits your well-being, and if fries can fulfill your physical needs when eaten in moderation.

5) Give yourself permission to continue eating the foods that make your body feel good, and allow yourself to savor the experience of eating them without guilt or self-judgment.

Question, Fact-Check, and Reframe Moral Food Labels

Eating disorder specialists offer complementary advice for prioritizing food satisfaction over food morality. Like Tribole and Resch’s advice, it includes self-reflection, and it also adds a fact-checking step to help you reframe ideas about food morality and describe food objectively.

1) Consider why you assigned specific food labels and how these labels impact you by answering the following questions:

• What or who is the original source of the label?

• Should you be giving that source authority?

• What rules have you created for that food based on its given moral value?

• What happens if you eat “good” food?

• What happens if you eat “bad” food?

• Does assigning moral value to the food help you be more flexible with your eating?

• What would happen if you let go of the label altogether?

• How would letting go of the label change your relationship with that food?

• Would you tell anyone else to use this morality system to guide their eating habits?

2) Engage in fact-checking to determine if your food judgments are objectively true. Achieve this by seeking credible sources and scientific research to validate or debunk the claims you've assumed about specific foods.

3) Release guilt and self-judgment for your food choices by using neutral, objective language to describe food. For instance, instead of labeling cookies as “junk” food, use descriptive terms like "flavored biscuits" or "crumbly baked goods" that focus on texture, smell, or other objective characteristics.

Focusing on What Feels Good to Your Body Helps Fulfill Your Nutritional Needs

According to Tribole and Resch, in addition to helping you cultivate a healthy relationship with food, releasing food judgments also helps you fulfill your nutritional needs. While the authors emphasize the importance of getting all the nutrients your body needs, they acknowledge that maintaining your nutritional needs without experiencing negative emotions can be challenging, as it involves making food judgments. For example, feeling like you should eat a salad instead of fries because it’s the healthier option may trigger conflicting emotions such as guilt for preferring fries and resentment for depriving yourself of what you want.

However, by following the preceding advice and focusing on what feels good to your body, you’ll become more conscious of how food affects you physically, and you'll naturally choose foods that feel satisfying and meet your nutritional needs. Additionally, because you’ll no longer deprive yourself of so-called unhealthy foods, your cravings for them will diminish.

(Shortform note: Michael Greger (How Not to Diet) offers advice that may seem contradictory to the authors’ advice for tuning in to your body’s needs but actually complements it. While Tribole and Resch say that you should never make food judgments or deprive yourself, Greger argues that you should avoid highly processed foods because they’re never good for your health—they cause numerous diseases and can desensitize your palate, making natural foods less appealing. Most importantly, they’re engineered to encourage overeating, which disrupts your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Therefore, by steering clear of highly processed foods, you’ll find it easier to attune to your body and make choices that align with your overall well-being.)

Tip #4: Find Joy in Moving Your Body

Up until now, we’ve focused on how tuning in to your body helps foster a positive relationship with food. Now, let’s explore how exercise—and finding joy in moving your body—can enhance this relationship.

Regular exercise provides numerous health benefits, such as enhancing mood, boosting energy levels, improving cardiovascular health, and increasing strength and flexibility. However, Tribole and Resch say that when you have an uncomfortable relationship with food, you may also have an uncomfortable relationship with exercise. You might view it as a punishment for eating and feel the need to overcompensate with extra workouts after indulging in treats. This negative association can affect both your relationship with food and your motivation to engage in and benefit from regular exercise.

(Shortform note: Michael Matthews (Bigger Leaner Stronger) suggests that the inverse is also true: Some people use exercise to justify indulging in unhealthy eating habits, thinking they've earned the right to eat junk food after completing a workout. To counter this moral licensing, Matthews suggests applying the same approach to exercise as Tribole and Resch advise for food: Stop labeling your actions as good or bad. Instead, shift your focus to the overall benefits of exercise. By embracing a more balanced perspective, you can cultivate a healthier relationship with both food and physical activity.)

Change Your Attitude Toward Exercise

To improve your relationship with exercise and stay motivated, the authors suggest approaching it as a source of pleasure and fulfillment, rather than as a punishment or obligation. They provide five guidelines for changing your attitude toward exercise:

1) Shift from viewing exercise solely as a means to burn calories or change your body shape to recognizing its positive impact on your mood, energy levels, and overall well-being.

(Shortform note: Research suggests that avoiding fitness content aimed at altering appearance can help change your perspective and increase your motivation to exercise. Several studies reveal that seeking inspiration from this type of content may, in fact, decrease your motivation to exercise and leave you feeling more dissatisfied with your body. This is particularly true for people who want to exercise to achieve a certain appearance rather than to achieve a state of health.)

2) Explore various forms of exercise to find what resonates with you the most, and engage in spontaneous movement that feels good to you, without the pressure of adhering to a strict exercise regimen.

(Shortform note: While allowing room for spontaneity is important, experts suggest focusing on four key types of exercise to ensure comprehensive well-being: aerobic exercises for cardiovascular health, strength training to build and tone muscles, flexibility exercises to improve range of motion, and balance exercises to reduce the risk of falls. Contrary to the misconception that structured routines limit variety, incorporating these four areas will provide numerous opportunities to inject spontaneity and different exercises into your workouts. You can explore different activities, try new exercises, or adapt your routine to suit your mood and preferences, making your fitness routine enjoyable, diverse, and sustainable.)

3) Invite others to join you in your physical activities, as shared experiences can make the process more enjoyable and motivating.

(Shortform note: Studies support this suggestion, revealing that working out with others significantly boosts motivation to exercise for various reasons. When you commit to exercising with others, positive peer pressure, support, and encouragement naturally come into play, creating an uplifting environment. Additionally, having a workout partner enhances accountability, reducing the inclination to skip sessions. And finally, friendly competition pushes you to do your best, especially when exercising with fitter individuals. This atmosphere of camaraderie and challenge makes the experience more enjoyable, helps you release more endorphins, and leaves you eagerly anticipating the next workout.)

4) Set achievable milestones, celebrate your progress, and avoid unrealistic fitness goals that may lead to burnout or disappointment.

(Shortform note: Experts offer a five-step process for setting and achieving realistic fitness goals: 1) Assess your current fitness level by considering strength, endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular health to set appropriate goals. 2) Identify your priorities, such as muscle gain, flexibility, or overall health, to set specific objectives. 3) Use the SMART framework for goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (for example, aim to walk for 30 minutes three times a week). 4) Break long-term goals into manageable milestones, enabling you to celebrate small victories along the way. 5) Maintain motivation and accountability by tracking your progress with workout records, measurements, and achievements.)

5) Remember that you’re not obligated to exercise. You can always choose to take breaks when needed.

(Shortform note: Fitness experts suggest that taking well-timed breaks can benefit you in four ways, by helping you: 1) Avoid overexertion—allowing your body to rest prevents excessive strain, enabling you to improve your fitness levels when resuming workouts. 2) Combat stress overload—exercise itself can cause mental stress. Resting helps counter the negative effects of stress, particularly when cortisol levels are high. 3) Recharge motivation—taking a break from constant discipline prevents willpower depletion, helping you stay focused on your fitness goals. 4) Enhance performance—prioritizing breaks can help optimize your physical and mental capabilities, leading to improved performance in your workouts and daily activities.)