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7 Ways to Eat Healthy Simply Without Diet Culture and Restriction
7 Ways to Eat Healthy Simply Without Diet Culture and Restriction
Are you tired of feeling trapped by restrictive diets and confusing wellness trends? As a clinical nutritionist and certified intuitive eating counselor, I’m here to show you that it’s possible to eat healthy without buying into diet culture or imposing harsh restrictions on yourself. In this post, we’ll explore seven empowering ways to nourish your body and mind, free from the constraints of traditional diet mentality.
The Problem with Diet Culture and Restrictive Eating
Before we dive into our healthy eating strategies, it’s crucial to understand why traditional diets often fail us. Diet culture promotes a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, often encouraging restrictive eating patterns that are unsustainable and potentially harmful. These approaches can lead to:
– Disordered eating behaviors
– A negative relationship with food
– Ignoring your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues
– Feelings of guilt and shame around eating
Let’s break free from these harmful patterns and embrace a more intuitive, sustainable approach to healthy eating.
1. Build a Healthy Relationship with Food
The foundation of truly healthy eating lies in developing a positive relationship with food. This means:
– Stopping the use of food as a weapon to manipulate your body
– Letting go of the idea that food is solely a tool to change your appearance
– Learning to trust and respect your body’s signals
By shifting your mindset, you’ll be able to make food choices from a place of self-care rather than self-punishment.
2. Honor Your Hunger: Eat Enough Food
Many women have a distorted view of what constitutes “enough” food.
To eat healthy without restriction, it’s essential to tune into your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. This is a fundamental principle of intuitive eating, which encourages you to honor your body’s needs rather than following external rules.
3. Seek Satisfaction and Pleasure from Food
Here’s a concept that might feel revolutionary: it’s okay to enjoy your food! In fact, finding pleasure and satisfaction in eating is crucial for sustainable healthy eating. Try:
– Allowing yourself to eat foods you genuinely enjoy
– Being present and mindful during meals
– Savoring the flavors, textures, and aromas of your food
Remember, food is not just fuel – it’s also a source of comfort, celebration, and connection with others.
Think of steps 1-3 as your high school diploma in healthy eating of eating and 4-7 as your college degree.
4. Balance Your Macronutrients
Once you’ve mastered the basics of honoring your hunger and finding pleasure in food, you can start focusing on nutritional balance. Aim to include a mix of:
– Proteins
– Healthy fats
– Complex carbohydrates
The key is to approach this balance without guilt or rigid rules. Some meals might be perfectly balanced, while others might not – and that’s okay!
5. Embrace Imperfection in Your Eating Habits
Perfection is the enemy of progress, especially when it comes to healthy eating. Give yourself permission to be imperfect by:
– Letting go of “good” and “bad” food labels
– Allowing flexibility in your eating patterns
– Recognizing that one meal or day of eating doesn’t define your overall health
Remember, consistent habits over time are far more important than striving for perfection at every meal.
6. Diversify Your Diet with a Variety of Foods
Eating a wide range of foods not only ensures you’re getting a broad spectrum of nutrients but also keeps meals interesting and satisfying. Focus on:
– Incorporating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables
– Trying new whole grains and protein sources
– Experimenting with different herbs and spices
By embracing variety, you’ll naturally create a more balanced and nutrient-rich diet without feeling restricted.
7. Individualize Your Approach: Listen to Your Body
The ultimate level of healthy eating without diet culture is learning to truly individualize your food choices based on your body’s unique needs. This involves:
– Paying attention to how different foods make you feel
– Adjusting your eating patterns based on your body’s responses
– Trusting that you know your body better than any external “expert”
This step requires practice and patience, but it’s the key to developing a sustainable, personalized approach to nutrition that serves you for life.
Putting It All Together: Your Path to Intuitive, Healthy Eating
By following these seven steps, you can create a healthy eating pattern that’s free from the constraints of diet culture and unnecessary restrictions. Remember, this journey is about progress, not perfection. It’s okay to take small steps and gradually incorporate these principles into your life.
As you move forward on this path, you’ll likely find that:
– Food becomes less of an obsession
– You’re able to eat when hungry and stop when full
– Meals become a source of enjoyment rather than stress
If you’re ready to embrace this liberating approach to healthy eating, consider joining my Undiet Your Life Coaching Program. Together, we’ll work on implementing these principles in a way that’s tailored to your unique needs and lifestyle.
Remember, true health encompasses not just what you eat, but also how you think about food and your body. By rejecting diet culture and embracing intuitive, restriction-free eating, you’re taking a powerful step towards overall well-being and a more joyful relationship with food.
Are you ready to start your journey towards healthy eating without diet culture?
You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:
Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!
Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.
Undiet Your Life group coaching program is for women wto learn how to eat intuitively, become body neutral, and learn self-coaching at their own pace while being supported in a group setting by Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches.
Non-Diet Coaching Certification for professionals ready to integrate the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ in their practice and for women wanting to become Certified Coach and build a business coaching other women beyond the food.
Which diet is best for your health?
I was inspired to write this article based on a community member question, “Which diet is best for my health? I need to lose weight to be healthy… right?”
I hope this article helps you determine what is the best diet for you! (Hint: It may not be what you think.) Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
What does it mean to be healthy?
Does “obesity” cause one to be unhealthy?
Is health beyond dieting and weight loss possible?
What is a weight-neutral approach to health?
Sustainability and health beyond dieting
Who is an ideal candidate for weight-neutral approach to health?
Why It’s Hard to Change Your Beliefs About Weight and Health
The prevalent diet culture conditioned us to believe that thinner is better in all aspects of life including our health. Therefore, dieting is the answer to health so there has to be a “best diet” … right?
We’ve always heard that thin equals healthy, and that dieting is the way to a thinner body. It’s the same indoctrination that leads us into thinking that a thinner body is more attractive because it is associated with health.
What does it mean to be healthy?
We all grew up with the idea that health is the absence of illness. But the World Health Organization has a definition of health that’s different from what we’re all used to. WHO defines health as “a complete state of physical, emotional, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Good health is essential to being able to handle stress and live a long and active life. It doesn’t just refer to the absence of disease, but also to the ability to recover from illness, to adapt to life challenges in general.
Does “obesity” cause one to be unhealthy?
The keyword here is CAUSE. Before we can answer the question, we must first understand the difference between correlation and causation. For example, smoking is correlated with alcoholism, but it doesn’t cause alcoholism. However, smoking causes an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
For example, a research found that obesity does not affect the risk of having coronary heart disease and stroke “Metabolic status is relatively stable despite rising BMI”. (However, it does increase the risk of developing diabetes)
But if the question is, “Is obesity associated or correlated with health risks?” the answer would be yes. If the question is “Is obesity causing disease?” the answer would be no. That’s where the big difference lies.
Here’s where it gets interesting – one-third to three-quarters of people classified as obese are actually metabolically healthy. Being metabolically healthy means having your blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels, and other metabolic markers within the normal range. That’s me and millions of “overweight” women.
Is health beyond dieting and weight loss possible?
Yes, and scientific research proves it!
A 2016 study by researchers at UCLA studied 40,420 adult participants in the most recent U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers looked at the participants’ health as measured by six accepted metrics (not including BMI). These metrics are blood pressure, cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, insulin resistance, and C-reactive protein.
The study found that 47% of people classified as overweight by BMI and 29% of those qualified as obese were healthy based on at least five of those other metrics.
Meanwhile, 31% of normal-weight people were unhealthy by two or more of the same measures.
What is a weight-neutral approach to health?
A weight-neutral approach to health is based on the idea that your health status or risk level can’t be determined solely by your weight.
It acknowledges that your weight is determined by a complex set of genetic, metabolic, physiological, cultural, social, and behavioral determinants. Many of these factors are either difficult or impossible to change.
Instead of focusing on a weight-oriented outcome, weight-neutral programs teach you to take charge of the factors within your control. These factors include your thoughts and behaviors. Taking charge of these factors will help you improve your well-being, regardless of your weight.
Research have demonstrated the weight-neutral approach to health have significantly decreased body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depression. They’ve also increased sustainable, enjoyable self-care behaviors such as eating and moving well in the long term.
The Going Beyond The Food Method️ is a weight-neutral and non-diet health framework composed of eight core elements. Our health framework is grounded in holistic principles and functional medicine approach to health. It’s a five-step process that includes mindset, emotional regulation, mindfulness, body neutrality, and intuitive eating.
The method️ is based on four core pillars: Body Wisdom, Body Trust, Body Respect, and Body Neutrality.
Sustainability and health beyond dieting
The single most powerful advantage of a weight-neutral and non-diet approach like the Going Beyond The Food Method️ is sustainability. It helps you develop the ability to sustain health-promoting behaviors throughout your life.
Certainly, when it comes to health, consistency is significantly more powerful than short-term results.
A 2015 study systematically reviewed a weight-neutral and no-diet approach to health. It determined the overall effects on factors including weight, biochemical measures, food, activity, behavior, body image, and mental health.
- Weight stability (in 5 yrs)
- Improved biochemical markers
- Cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, CRP
- Sustained healthy behaviors & Improvement in:
- Dietary quality
- Psychological states
- Disordered eating patterns
- Self-esteem
- Depression
Who is an ideal candidate for a weight-neutral approach to health?
Truly anyone! Individuals who’ll benefit most from this approach are:
- Chronic dieters
- Women who are overly concerned with weight and shape (a.k.a. body image issues)
- Those who are repeatedly trying to lose weight and restricting food for two years or more
- Women who have had enough of dieting and regaining the weight that they lost
- Women who are intuitive eaters
Why it’s hard to change your beliefs about weight and health
Your reptilian brain is the reason why it’s not easy to let go of beliefs. It’s the most primal part of your brain that has the survival instinct. It seeks to protect you from danger. Because the diet culture has programmed your reptilian brain into believing that fat people aren’t healthy, you’ve since associated health with thinness.
That’s why your approach to health must also include mindset and thought reprogramming tools to help you change your core beliefs and negative self-talk. That’s what we do first inside our Conquer & Thrive community… been there done that as they say.
You can view the methodology in more details here.
Get started with the weight-neutral approach to health
To help you get started with the weight-neutral approach to health and make peace with food and your body, I have created a free audio guide for you to know exactly what to do when you stop dieting, emotional eating, binge eating and body image issues. Claim your way to freedom now!
What does it mean to be healthy?
Good health is essential to being able to handle stress and live a long and active life. It doesn’t just refer to the absence of disease, but also to the ability to recover from illness, to adapt to life challenges in general.
Does “obesity” cause one to be unhealthy?
The keyword here is CAUSE. Before we can answer the question, we must first understand the difference between correlation and causation. For example, smoking is correlated with alcoholism, but it doesn’t cause alcoholism. However, smoking causes an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Is health beyond dieting and weight loss possible?
Yes, and scientific research proves it!
A study found that 47% of people classified as overweight by BMI and 29% of those qualified as obese were healthy based on at least five of those other metrics. Meanwhile, 31% of normal-weight people were unhealthy by two or more of the same measures.
What is a weight-neutral approach to health?
A weight-neutral approach to health is based on the idea that your health status or risk level can’t be determined solely by your weight.
It acknowledges that your weight is determined by a complex set of genetic, metabolic, physiological, cultural, social, and behavioral determinants. Many of these factors are either difficult or impossible to change.
Who is an ideal candidate for a weight-neutral approach to health?
Truly anyone! Individuals who’ll benefit most from this approach are:
>> Chronic dieters
>> Women who are overly concerned with weight and shape (a.k.a. body image issues)
>> Women who are repeatedly trying to lose weight and restricting food for two years or more
>> Women who have had enough of dieting and regaining the weight that they lost
>> Women who are intuitive eaters
Why it’s hard to change your beliefs about weight and health
Your reptilian brain is the reason why it’s not easy to let go of beliefs. It’s the most primal part of your brain that has the survival instinct. It seeks to protect you from danger. Because the diet culture has programmed your reptilian brain into believing that fat people aren’t healthy, you’ve since associated health with thinness.
Where do you start to make peace with food?
Throughout my research, I’ve discovered that there is more to overeating, emotional eating and even binge eating than just food.
Most patients & students with food struggle will have body image struggle, negative mindset, overthinking behaviors. They are overwhelmed with an emotional roller coaster, lack confidence with food choices, low self-esteem. Moreover, they put their life on hold until they “lose the weight once and for all”.
This article talks about how to start to make peace with food and your body. In addition, I share how you can end the diet cycle to empower you to be your own expert. Here’s what you’re going to learn from this blog post:
How I started to make peace with food
Free resource to get started to make peace with food
How I started to make peace with food
Eight years ago, that was me. I consulted with a variety of specialists and experts hoping they would find what was “wrong” with me and that I could finally find the solution. Each appointment or purchase resulted in a few hundred $ and a new diet or protocol.
I would follow the guidelines, and yet I was always back to the starting point within weeks and months. This went on for years…
You see… There’s nothing wrong with me that could be fixed with a diet or protocol. The approach made everything worse. It compounded the side effects, made me gain more weight and have a deeper emotional relationship to food.
There’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, emotional eating, overeating eating and weight gain are part of the diet model. The diet and weight loss industry wants you to believe there’s something wrong with you because that belief keeps you coming back. Likewise, it keeps you feeling broken… keeps you feeling unworthy. That’s what we call the diet culture.
What is Diet Culture?
Diet Culture is defined as the worship of thinness and equating it to health and moral virtue. If you’ve been part of this culture, you might have spent your whole life thinking that you’re broken just because you don’t look like the “thin ideal.”
Diet Culture promotes weight loss as a means of attaining what it perceived to be a higher status—the thin ideal. Certainly, it oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed pictures of health and attractiveness.
It compels you to spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money trying to shrink your body, even though intuitive eating research clearly shows that almost no one can sustain intentional weight loss for more than a few years.
The good news is, it’s just a cultural movement. Belonging to a cultural movement is completely optional and something that you can say “no” to. Most importantly, you have the power to make the choice to be free from this oppressive culture.
How to break the diet cycle to make peace with food?
Breaking the Diet Cycle is possible and will come as a result of healing our relationship to food with acceptance and compassion. Moreover, it can be achieved by seeking to heal our relationship to food, respecting our natural hunger and fullness cue and accepting our bodies.
Intuitive Eating is a proven and well-researched self-care eating framework that teaches us to have a healthy relationship to food, therefore, empowering you to trust your ability to meet your needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hungers, and ultimately, develop body wisdom.
Intuitive Eating is the most effective approach to recover from years of dieting. In fact, that’s what changed my relationship to food and body and allowed me to start living my full life right away without having to lose weight.
This is what I teach women inside our Conquer & Thrive community so they, too can make peace with food and their body, and start living their full life now. Yes, it’s possible!
Free resource to get started to make peace with food
To help you get started to make peace with food and your body, I have created a free audio guide for you to know exactly what to do when you stop dieting, emotional eating, binge eating and body image issues. Claim your way to freedom now!
How I started to make peace with food
Eight years ago, that was me. I consulted with a variety of specialists and experts hoping they would find what was “wrong” with me and that I could finally find the solution. Each appointment or purchase resulted in a few hundred $ and a new diet or protocol.
The approach made everything worse. It compounded the side effects, made me gain more weight and have a deeper emotional relationship to food.
What is Diet Culture?
Diet Culture is defined as the worship of thinness and equating it to health and moral virtue. If you’ve been part of this culture, you might have spent your whole life thinking that you’re broken just because you don’t look like the “thin ideal.”
How to break the diet cycle to make peace with food?
Breaking the Diet Cycle is possible and will come as a result of healing our relationship to food with acceptance and compassion. It can be achieved by seeking to heal our relationship to food, respecting our natural hunger and fullness cue and accepting our bodies.
Free resource to get started to make peace with food
To help you get started to make peace with food and your body, I have created a free audio guide for you to know exactly what to do when you stop dieting, emotional eating, binge eating and body image issues. Claim your way to freedom now!
This Is Why You Struggle With Food
Whenever I meet new women and tell them about my mission of spreading awareness about how women can end their struggle with food and be at peace with food and their body without being on a diet. That we can be healthy without being thin and we can access optimal health and happiness unconditionally, women always say, “Wow, is that possible?” to which my response is…
“Yes. It’s actually our birth right, sister. You and I weren’t born to be on diet and hate our bodies.”
And then the conversation always turns to…. “Well, it’s different for me, Stephanie” or “I’m so “screwed” up when it comes to food not sure it can ever change” or “I’ve tried before”.
My answer: “First sister, there’s nothing wrong with you. The problem is not you, it’s what we’ve been taught about food and our bodies. The problem is the diet model, not you.”
This article tackles why you struggle with food and teaches you how you can make peace with food and your body. Also, I share how you can end the cycles of yo-yo dieting and empower you to be your own expert. Here’s what you’re going to learn from this blog post:
What’s the antidote to the eating pendulum swing
Innate body wisdom
You see humans were born with this innate wisdom that allows us to know what, when and how we should eat. If you have children, you know that… babies cry when they’re hungry and refuse to eat when they are full. They naturally know how to regulate their eating and accepting of their body. All of us women were once like that too, that is until we went on our first diet.
We were intuitive eaters and neutral with our bodies. Diet and diet culture did a “number” on our relationship to food and our body.
Research is clear that dieting has three main side effects:
- Short term weight loss and long term weight gain
- Major stressor to our mind and body
- Distort our relationship to food and body image
Why do we struggle with food?
I hope you’re ready for this because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
You see, most women have been hypnotized by the societal narrative that says it’s NORMAL for women and even HEALTHY to be on a diet. (I was too for 25 years more.)
If you read that sentence and right away your brain says “Well, some diets are healthy”, if that’s you that’s a good sign that you are hypnotized, too.
I really, really, really want to get you to understand that diets do not work. But in order for me to do that, I need to show you something:
That was my life for 25 years…. dieting and then overeating. Cravings all the food I restricted to lose weight to regain the weight lost.
Diets don’t work
Studies after studies the results are clear: 95-98% of dieters regain all of their weight within 1-5 years Just like I did. Maybe just like you?
Diets don’t work because of how reptilian brain reacts to food restriction and deprivation. Our brain perceives dieting as a threat to our well-being and engage in a protective reaction. Cravings, emotional eating, overeating aren’t due to a lack of willpower or discipline rather a biological reaction.
Why does our eating swing like this? Simply our body is responding to the period of starvation (dieting) with a period of feasting. And no, we can’t get away from this primal survival behaviors hence why 95%of dieter experience it.
What’s the antidote to the pendulum swing?
Love. Respect and Trust.
Just as a pendulum won’t abruptly stop at center, you won’t either. You will probably swing back and forth between restriction and chaos a few times before your pendulum (mindset, feelings, thoughts, behaviors) gently settles into the middle. Is it uncomfortable? Yes, it can be. But not as uncomfortable as spending the rest of your life swinging wildly.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Honour your hunger even when you’re afraid of what that means. Strive for satisfying meals even when your brain is shouting “don’t eat those carbs!” Learn to listen to your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. Remember no food is off-limits, so there’s never an emergency to finish eating what’s on your plate.⠀⠀⠀⠀
That’s what I call Going Beyond The Food. Helping women make peace with food and body. Ending the cycles of yo-yo dieting and empowering women to be their own expert. You being the boss of YOU. Learn how we do this by joining our Conquer & Thrive community.
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And know this calm and collected approach to eating is all possible for you, when you’re ready to stop restricting. 💗
Why do we struggle with food?
Most women have been hypnotized by the societal narrative that says it’s NORMAL for women and even HEALTHY to be on a diet. In short, we were socialized to be on a diet.
Why diets don't work
Diets don’t work because of how reptilian brain reacts to food restriction and deprivation. Our brain perceives dieting as a threat to our well-being and engages in a protective reaction. Cravings, emotional eating, overeating aren’t due to a lack of willpower or discipline rather a biological reaction.
The antidote to the pendulum swing
Love. Respect and Trust.
Just as a pendulum won’t abruptly stop at center, you won’t either. You will probably swing back and forth between restriction and chaos a few times before your pendulum (mindset, feelings, thoughts, behaviors) gently settles into the middle. Is it uncomfortable? Yes, it can be. But not as uncomfortable as spending the rest of your life swinging wildly.
Innate body wisdom
Humans were born with this innate wisdom that allows us to know what, when and how we should eat. If you have children, you know that… babies cries when they’re hungry and refuse to eat when they are full. They naturally know how to regulate their eating and accepting of our bodies. All of us women were once like that too that is until we went on your first diet.
Intuitive Eating Resources
I rounded up my best free intuitive eating resources, body neutrality resources, and Health at Every Size resources. It includes books, blogs, podcasts, programs, and courses.
Intuitive eating and body neutrality are increasingly becoming popular among women for a number of good reasons. For one, it’s been proven to lead to positive health outcomes. In addition, both are a healthy approach to health that puts you in control of your eating behaviours and body image.
Health at every size is the overarching weight-neutral health principle that drives the foundation of both intuitive eating & body neutrality.
This blog post is aimed at helping you discover intuitive eating resources to support you in your journey Going Beyond the Food: which means ditching diet culture, making peace with food and your body.
The meaning of Health at Every Size
My top 4 free intuitive Eating resources
Health at Every Size resources
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive eating is an evidence-based approach to eating that allows you to be the expert of your own body. And this self-care eating framework enables you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body.
Moreover, it teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.
Most importantly, eating intuitively is well–researched and proven health framework supported by more than 100 intuitive eating studies as of 2020.
What is Body neutrality?
Body Neutrality definition is about empowering you to embrace yourself as you are. That’s including the parts you don’t like about yourself. And its focus is to avoid self-hate while simultaneously relieving you from the pressure of having to love your body.
And the framework of Body Neutrality recognizes that not everyone is going to love every part of themselves all the time because that’s an unrealistic expectation, to say the least.
In short, the goal is to respect and accept your body for what it is – and that’s it.
What is Health at Every Size?
Health at Every Size definition is a philosophy and an approach to health. Linda Bacon, Ph.D wrote the book Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight.
The book demonstrated through health at every size research and studies that health behaviours influence health more than weight.
Above all, the HAES movement promotes the simple truth that all bodies are good bodies. It shifts the focus away from dieting for weight control.
Instead, it steers you toward self-care practices that support your body’s natural wisdom and vitality.
My top 4 free intuitive eating resources
#1 The Going Beyond The Food Show
This is my intuitive eating podcast. A collection of 200+ episodes that cover all topics about intuitive eating, body neutrality, and health at every size.
I suggest you get started at show 199 and move your way up!
#2 Health at Every Size Manifesto
A free HAES guide is provided by Dr. Linda Bacon. And it explains the Heath at Every Size approach to health and provides sustainable research-based evidence that demonstrates that health is accessible at any body size.
#3 Beauty Redefined
Beauty Redefined is a non-profit, dedicated to promoting positive body image online and in live speaking events. This website is run by identical twins Lexie Kite, Ph.D. and Lindsay Kite, Ph.D.
These two experts teach body image resilience through research-backed online education available on their website, and social media. Visit their blog and TEDx Talk.
#4 Get Started Guide
I created this free guide to help women understand the basics of intuitive eating. Most importantly, this guide is followed by a series of educative articles to help you to get started on this new journey.
Get the FREE guide here.
Intuitive Eating Resources
There are 3 levels of resources for you if you are ready to learn intuitive eating.
#1 Intuitive Eating Books
Evelyn Tribole is the ultimate intuitive eating expert, my teacher, and my mentor. She has dedicated her career to training health professionals with the intuitive eating framework.
All of our programs at Going Beyond The Food are certified by The Original Intuitive Eating Pro®.
#2 Structured Online Intuitive Eating Program
The Intuitive Eating Project is a 5-week online program.
In addition, it is a self-study program to teach you Intuitive Eating in an easy step by step, supported by an online community, and dozens of videos, guides and integration exercises. And it’s lead by myself, Intuitive Eating Expert, Stephanie Dodier CNP.
#3 Intuitive Eating Program Private Counselling
Two options for you:
#1 If you want to work with a local intuitive eating certified counsellor, then, you can visit this directory to locate someone to work with you 1-on-1.
#2 You can visit this intuitive eating coaching page on my website. Not only will you be able to read more on my coaching programs but also submit your application if you would like to work with me 1-on-1.
Most importantly, my 1-on-1 coaching is inclusive of body neutrality and health at every size alongside with intuitive eating.
Body Neutrality Resources
Are you ready to get started making peace with your body? Then, there are 3 levels of resources for you.
#1 Body Neutrality Books
I would suggest starting reading books. Things No One Will Tell FAT Girls by Jess Baker is a lived-experience book combined with research. This book was a game-changer!
The second book you should read is definitely The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf. This is a classic that redefined the relationship between beauty and female identity. Body image issue is a feminist issue! Must read for all women.
#2 Body Image Courses & Programs
I would suggest two online programs. Both of these programs are a step by step structured program to heal your body image and make peace with your body.
#1 Beauty Redefined Body Resilience Program. A 8-week program to build body resilience by helping you navigate body shame, objectification, and unreal ideals.
#2 The Body Image Accelerator, this is my baby. A 5-part online program to help you accept your body using the body neutrality framework.
#3 Body Image Private Counselling
Two options for you:
#1 Jess Baker is a Recovery Support Specialist with a long history working as a Psychosocial Behavioral Specialist. With both formal education background and lived experience I’m pleased to recommend Jess. You can find more about working with her here.
#2 Would you like to work 1-on-1 with me? You can visit this intuitive eating coaching page on my website. Not only will you be able to read more on my coaching programs but also submit your application if you would like to work with me 1-on-1.
My 1-on-1 coaching is inclusive of body neutrality and health at every size alongside with intuitive eating.
Health at Every Size Resources
Ready to relearn health and adopt a weight-neutral approach to health? I have a few options for you. Three levels of resources for you:
#1 Health at Every Size Books
The first place to get started is to read Dr. Linda Bacon’s Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. Think of this book as the bible of the weight-neutral approach to health.
Next, I would suggest my colleague, Christie Harrison’s book Anti-Diet. Her book is very well researched and structured for you to understand why health is available to you now!
#2 Health at Every Size Course
If you are looking for a step by step structured program to teach how to support your health in a weight-neutral holistic methodology…
Going Beyond The Food Health Mastery is a 9-module curriculum. And this program will teach you how to support your body towards the best health without having to lose weight. Not only without restricting food or taking any supplements! This program is taught by myself, Stephanie Dodier CNP.
#3 Health at Every Size Private Counselling
Want to work with a Health at Every Size care provider? You can visit this directory to locate someone to work with you 1-on-1.
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating definition is an evidence-based approach to eating that allows you to be the expert of your own body.
This self-care eating framework enables you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body.
Teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.
I hope this helps sister!
What is body neutrality?
Body Neutrality definition is about empowering you to embrace yourself as you are, including the parts you don’t like about yourself.
Its focus is to avoid self-hate while simultaneously relieving you from the pressure of having to love your body.
What is Health at Every Size?
Health at Every Size definition is a philosophy and an approach to health.
The HAES movement promotes the simple truth that all bodies are good bodies.
It shifts the focus away from dieting for weight control. Instead, it steers you toward self-care practices that support your body’s natural wisdom and vitality.
What are my top 4 free resources?
The Going Beyond The Food Show
Health at Every Size Manifesto
Beauty Redefined
Get Started Guide
What are the intuitive eating resources?
1. Intuitive Eating Books
a. The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch, Tracy Tylka (Foreword)
2. Structured Online Intuitive Eating Program
a. Intuitive Eating Project by Stephanie Dodier
3. Intuitive Eating Program Private Counselling
a. Intuitive eating certified counsellor
b. Intuitive eating coach, Stephanie Dodier
What are the body neutrality resources?
1. Body Neutrality Books
a. Things No One Will Tell FAT Girls by Jess Baker
b. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf
2. Body Image Courses & Programs
a. Beauty Redefined Body Resilience Program
b. The Body Acceptance Project
3. Body Image Private Counselling
a. Jess Baker
b. Stephanie Dodier
What are the Health at Every Size Resources?
1. Health at Every Size Books
a. Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Dr. Linda Bacon
b. Anti-Diet by Christie Harrison
2. Health at Every Size Course
a. Going Beyond The Food Health Mastery
3. Health at Every Size Private Counselling
a. Health at Every Size care provider
13 Intuitive Eating Myths You Shouldn’t Believe
These intuitive eating myths come as no surprise since intuitive eating has been named the #1 nutrition trend for the year 2020.
Since it is such a departure from dieting it’s bound to have lots of misconception, fear-mongering (Thank you, diet culture!) and yes false beliefs surrounding this practice.
These myths cause confusion and doubt. As a nutritionist and expert, I get all sorts of questions like:
“Is intuitive eating healthy?”
“Will eating intuitively make me gain weight?”
“Will intuitive eating work for me?”
In this article, I dispel the biggest 13 intuitive eating myths that I’ve come across since I started my own intuitive eating journey. And in the process of debunking these intuitive eating myths, I hope to help you better understand what eating intuitively means and what it can do for you.
Here’s a quick summary of all these intuitive eating myths:
Myth 1: Intuitive eating is unhealthy.
Myth 2: Intuitive eating will make me gain weight.
Myth 3: Intuitive eating means I’ve given up on myself.
Myth 4: Intuitive eating is simply the “eat when you are hungry and stop when you’re full” diet.
Myth 5: You can be a good intuitive eater or a bad one.
Myth 6: You can count macros and still be an intuitive eater.
Myth 7: Intuitive eating means you eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
Myth 8: Intuitive eating is for healthy-minded people. I won’t do it right and I’ll gain weight.
Myth 9: Intuitive eating doesn’t solve my “over-eating problem.”
Myth 10: Intuitive eating doesn’t lead to weight loss.
Myth 11: Intuitive eating will make you binge on food that you shouldn’t be eating.
Myth 12: Intuitive eating is impossible because of food addiction, and certain foods are addictive.
Myth 13: Intuitive eating is only for people with eating disorders.
Before we dive into these myths, let me first explain what intuitive eating means.
What is Intuitive Eating?
The best and most accurate intuitive eating definition I can give is this: “a self-care eating framework that uses your body’s internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to guide your eating behavior.”
Note that this is an eating framework, not a diet program. Unlike diets that dull your sensitivity to your body’s eating cues, intuitive eating encourages you to listen to your body and helps you develop trust in your body’s innate wisdom. Intuitive eating is supported by 100’s of studies showing the health benefits of intuitive eating.
Now let’s look into the 13 intuitive eating myths one by one:
Myth 1: Intuitive eating is unhealthy.
This comes mainly from the fact that intuitive eating allows you all kinds of food, even the ones you may consider “unhealthy.”
Fact: Yes, when you eat intuitively, you can all the foods, because part of the intuitive eating process is to give yourself unconditional permission to eat. This means if you start intuitively, you will likely eat the food that you’re currently restraining. Perhaps that’s carbs if you’re doing keto or animal products if you’re vegan.
Now, one interesting fact to understand is that the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
This means that health is not just all about the food you eat.
Health is also the quality and quantity of sleep you get, your mental health, emotional stability and balance, spiritual health, movement, etc.
Researchers have found that food restriction has negative physical and psychological side effects. This means food restriction affects your mental health.
For instance, studies reveal that women who go on a diet and restrict food have higher levels of cortisol in their bodies. Cortisol is a hormone that our body releases in response to stress. This hormone is linked to higher levels of inflammation, high blood pressure, change in blood lipids, and other negative factors that can adversely affect your health. Also, the restriction has been associated with depression and anxiety.
We also know that scientific studies associate weight cycling with morbid health conditions, meaning that being caught in an endless cycle of restricting and overeating leads to negative health consequences.
So is intuitive eating healthy? The answer is a big YES because it prevents all the negative side effects associated with dieting!
Not only that…Many of the intuitive eating benefits such as lower cholesterol levels, decreased stress, and improved mental health is backed by scientific evidence!
Myth 2: Intuitive eating will make me gain weight.
Another version of that myth is intuitive eating causes weight gain.
Now, before I go any further, I want to validate the desire for weight loss that you might have. These are real and consistently encouraged in the society that is laden with weight stigma. Weight stigma is also known as weight bias, weight-based discrimination, and also stereotyping based on a person’s weight.
So it makes perfect sense that you are afraid of gaining weight or that you desire to lose weight.
Fact: Intuitive eating DOES NOT cause weight loss or weight gain all the time. The truth is, none of us knows what the body will do as a result of changing the way you eat. If a dieting coach or guru predicts that you will lose 20 pounds in four weeks as a result of their new diet, that is BS.
We don’t know what’s going to happen with your body when you start becoming an intuitive eater. No one knows except your own body!
But we know that, when you start eating in accordance to your body’s natural hunger and satiety cues, this eating behavior will send information to your hypothalamus, that gland in your brain that regulates the hormone production around appetite and weight regulation.
Your hypothalamus establishes your set point, which is the weight range which your body believes to be healthy for you. Intuitive eating will take you to that weight range.
Now, that weight range may not be what you want. It may not be the “ideal” BMI for you. But your body’s innate wisdom knows it’s best for you.
(You can read my blog post about your body’s setpoint if you want to have a better understanding of the topic. Also, here’s a study that shows that Health At Every Size has more positive outcomes than dieting for weight loss.)
Intuitive eating will not either make you lose weight or gain weight. It will only support doing your body what is best for you.
Myth 3: Intuitive eating means I’ve given up on myself.
Another version of that is “Intuitive eating is lazy” or “Intuitive eating is just an excuse to eat whatever you want and not have to practice dietary control.”
Fact: If you think this myth is true, it means that your self-worth is based on how you engage with food. Likely your self-image is tied to the size of your body or looks and food is the weapon of choice to control your body appearance.
The truth is we were all born worthy. Along the way, someone came and led us to believe that we needed to earn our worth. Perhaps a few years later, dieting came into your life and then you associated a thin body with worthiness.
Then, after a few years of dieting, you associated your eating habits with how worthy you are. Thus, in your mind, eating “everything” meant you weren’t worthy.
Also, people judge those who eat intuitively as “lazy” because they associate their self-worth with dieting or eating “healthy.”
But does intuitive eating mean you’ve given up on yourself and that you’re lazy? Quite the contrary. It means that you are actually trusting yourself and that you have removed your self-worth from the way you look and the way you eat and reconnect to your innate power.
Myth 4: Intuitive eating is simply the “eat when you are hungry and stop when you’re full” diet.
Fact: This seems to be one of the most common intuitive eating myths, because the diet culture is prevalent in our society. When you have this myth in mind, that’s your diet brain speaking to you. It makes you believe that you must control what you eat in one way or another and that you are innately not smart, wise, or good enough to know what you should eat. Your diet brain makes you fall for the next diet or repeat the same diet.
The truth is, intuitive eating is not just another diet. Rather, it’s an entire eating framework. It’s a philosophy that changes your entire relationship with food. There’s more to it than just what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat.
Intuitive eating is about the entire relationship, what comes before and after. This means changing your perception around how you should engage with food and what it means to be engaged with food. I’ve broken down how to eat intuitively in 5 easy steps.
Myth 5: You can be a good intuitive eater or a bad one.
In other words, intuitive eating works for some people and it doesn’t work for others.
Fact: We know that diets don’t work.95% failure rate within 1-5 years. As a result, you have worked really hard at a process that doesn’t and adopting on the way perfectionistic behaviors and an all-or-nothing mindset. With each diet, your brain gets rewired to see food, exercise, lifestyle, health, behavior as good or bad or “all in or all out.”
The longer you diet, the longer you maintain this all-or-nothing frame of mind. I’ve worked with women who are typically 40 plus and that have been dieting at least 10, 15, 20, 30 years. What I’ve found is that this all-or-nothing mindset has spread throughout their entire life.
That’s why Going Beyond the Food Academy is a life-changing process. The first step of the program is to learn tools to shift your mindset away from “diet brain.” Subsequently, this changes the way you interact with your whole life.
Is it possible for you to be good or bad at intuitive eating? The answer is no because intuitive eating is a process, not an end goal. It’s a way of being.
Myth 6: You can count macros and still be an intuitive eater.
As intuitive eating becomes more popular, I’ve been seeing other versions such as keto-intuitive, flexible eating with intuitive eating, vegan intuitive, intuitive cheat day, etc.
Fact: People are getting tired of dieting. Their bodies are getting run down. Their emotions are all over the place. People are looking for another way. And so, diet culture is repackaging and renaming their diet programs so they could fit into intuitive eating because that’s what people want.
However, none of those programs is intuitive eating.
Their diet culture version of intuitive eating is the same old diet programs with “intuitive eating” attached to them. They do this so you’ll feel better about their programs and get you to be more attracted to their products.
Any rule around food is not intuitive eating. When you have rules as to what you should be eating, that means you don’t trust your body. Can you count macros or be keto-intuitive or a flexible eater and still be an intuitive eater? The answer is no.
Myth 7: Intuitive eating means you eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
Another version of this myth is “You can’t eat healthy on intuitive eating. Intuitive eating means intentionally eating unhealthy food.”
Fact: In a way, this is true. But then so what? Why is it a problem to eat what we want whenever we want?
Human’s love dichotomy. Labeling good or bad food makes us feel safe… It makes us feel like we are in control which cannot be further from the truth.
When you transform your eating pattern from dieting to intuitive eating, you have to lift all the rules around food.
There’s a period of time, the honeymoon period, from the moment you begin to when you become at peace with food where you’re trying to figure out what it means for you to eat when you want and whatever you want.
I call it in my program the elastic band period, where you go from restricting to finally achieving food freedom. Imagine pulling an elastic band towards you and then releasing it. What would happen? The elastic will go completely the other way. Then, it will rebound to restriction and go the other way again.
Every time it does a loop, it’s going to have less force in it. Then with time, it’s going to stabilize and be back to normal. That’s what happens when you become an intuitive eater.
When you release the rules, your reptilian brain is like “Holy crap. You mean we can eat the carbs we’ve been restricting for years? Let’s eat it all!” That’s what happens.
But it doesn’t last long, because intuitive eating teaches you to respect your body. When you eat too much of the food that was forbidden before, you likely not feel your best. Ever tried to eat donuts at every meal for a week?
You have to satisfy your reptilian brain and to really prove to your body that there are no more rules. Then your body will stabilize itself.
Myth 8: Intuitive eating is for healthy-minded people. I won’t do it right and I’ll gain weight.
Another version of this myth is, “Intuitive eating works only for certain people. I’m different.”
Fact: Intuitive eating is not another diet or a new scientifically-created way of eating. It’s innate in all of us. We were all born intuitive eaters.
Just observe a baby. When she feels hungry, she cries. When you feed her, she stops crying. Then, she stops feeding when she’s full and falls asleep. The cycle begins anew she feels hungry again.
Intuitive eating is simply going back to the way you were born.
Now, why would you feel it’s not for you? Your diet brain is partly responsible for that. It’s saying, “You know, girl, you’ve been dieting for years. Look where you are today. You’re not doing this right. You have to have a lot of restriction and control. Otherwise, you’ll lose control. You’re not good enough to do intuitive eating.”
Is intuitive eating only for certain people? Absolutely not. It’s for everyone because we all have it within us to be an intuitive eater. But if you want to be 100% sure, take the intuitive eating quiz.
Myth 9: Intuitive eating doesn’t solve my “emotional eating problem.”
Fact: There is only one truth around that. Intuitive eating does prevent emotional eating. Now, here’s the thing. I didn’t say solved it. I said to prevent it.
If you find yourself saying that eating intuitively won’t solve your emotional eating problem, again, it’s your diet brain speaking. You have been programmed to seek an external solution to an internal problem. You internally developed the behavior of using food as a soothing or regulate your emotions. This behavior is what we commonly refer to as emotional eating.
And now, you want a quick fix, a formula to come along and tell you how to prevent that. That’s the model of dieting. It’s all external. It’s just about food.
Intuitive eating will not solve the problem of emotional eating… but you will. It’s really up to you. Through the process of intuitive eating, you will figure out why you’re using food to cope with your emotions. Here’s another scoop for you: emotional eating is normal. Emotional eating is a gift when understood properly.
Myth 10: Intuitive eating doesn’t lead to weight loss.
Another version of that is “Intuitive eating can work for weight loss.”
Fact: Intuitive eating is not a weight loss program. The purpose and the goal of intuitive eating have nothing to do with weight management.
Now, because intuitive eating is becoming more and more popular, diet culture has latched onto this trend. It sells intuitive eating as a way to lose weight.
But I’m going to tell you this: if you see intuitive eating being marketed as a weight management program, then it is NOT really intuitive eating.
“… but I need to lose weight” the root causes of the desire to lose weight is what needs to be addressed for most women.
Myth 11: Intuitive eating will make you binge on food that you shouldn’t be eating.
Another version of that is “I’ll eat intuitively, but I’ll just eat junk food.”
Fact: If that’s what your body needs, then yes, you’ll binge on food you shouldn’t eat.
It may make you uncomfortable because you might believe that your body does not know what it needs. Thus, you might be thinking that you need to rely on someone or something else to tell you what your body needs.
The part of the intuitive eating journey is coming back to a respectful relationship between you, the spirit, and your body. This means that you do support your body through healthy behavior. In response, your body supports you through life.
When you experience a desire to binge or overeat, it’s because your body is trying to tell you something. The body is trying to point out to you that you are in a state of imbalance, that is something inside you is not okay, and it needs to comfort itself through food.
So does intuitive eating lead you to binge on food you shouldn’t eat? The answer is no. But it does make you more aware of the messages that your body tries to send you.
Myth 12: Intuitive eating is impossible because of food addiction, and certain foods are addictive.
Now, among the intuitive eating myths, this is a loaded one. Before anything else, if you are currently holding the belief that there is such a thing as food addiction or sugar addiction, I would refer you to episode 153 of The Beyond The Food Show. We had a food addiction specialist actually do a complete analysis of my eating pattern and my eating history. I shared all the results publicly with everyone via the podcast and a video interview.
She came to the conclusion that the Going Beyond the Food Method was extremely effective in healing or helping people to overcome what they believe to be sugar addiction or food addiction.
Fact: The belief that food can be addictive is debatable. At this time there is no study demonstrating human addiction to food and sugar.
The only study showing demonstrating evidence of sugar addiction in a rat model and researcher came to the conclusion that sugar addiction in the rats was only present when sugar was restricted.
If you’re currently thinking you are addicted to food and or sugar, I highly recommend that you seek help immediately.
Is intuitive eating impossible because of food addiction? The straight answer is no. But if you struggle with food or sugar addiction, there’s a deeper level of work that you need to do before you can actually become an intuitive eater.
Myth 13: Intuitive eating is only for people with eating disorders.
Fact: No. In fact, it is not, because intuitive eating is the natural way that humans engage with food. We were all born with this propensity.
Now, intuitive eating is used in the treatment of eating disorders. Why? Because it’s very effective. People who suffer from eating disorders are actually not connected to the innate cues of hunger and fullness and satisfaction. They use food in a disordered way to meet their unfulfilled needs.
When your eating behavior is causing harm to you physically, emotionally, or mentally, that’s when you need to seek professional guidance and help immediately.
Intuitive eating is not only for eating disorders, although it is used to treat eating disorders. It is for ALL of us.
Bonus: Myth 14: Intuitive eating has no scientific basis.
Fact: This is by far the easiest of all intuitive eating myths to debunk. Intuitive eating is a proven and well-researched eating framework. As of today, there are well over a hundred intuitive eating research studies published, most of them peer-reviewed, that demonstrate the efficacy of intuitive eating.
To this day, there is not one scientific research that shows any kind of danger associated with this eating framework.
Intuitive eating has a scientific basis. There will be more research around it as more and more people become intuitive eaters.
Ready to Begin Your Intuitive Eating Journey?
Now that I’ve debunked all these intuitive eating myths for you, I hope you have a better understanding of what eating intuitively really is. So how do you feel about intuitive eating now? Are you ready to start becoming an intuitive eater?
Here’s what I recommend that you do: First you can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:
Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!
Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.
Undiet Your Life group coaching program is for women to learn how to eat intuitively, become body neutral, and learn self-coaching at their own pace while being supported in a group setting by Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches.
Non-Diet Coaching Certification for professionals ready to integrate the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ in their practice and for women wanting to become Certified Coach and build a business coaching other women beyond the food.
What are the 13 myths of intuitive eating?
Myth 1: Intuitive eating is unhealthy.
Myth 2: Intuitive eating will make me gain weight.
Myth 3: Intuitive eating means I’ve given up on myself.
Myth 4: Intuitive eating is simply the “eat when you are hungry and stop when you’re full” diet.
Myth 5: You can be a good intuitive eater or a bad one.
Myth 6: You can count macros and still be an intuitive eater.
Myth 7: Intuitive eating means you eat whatever you want, whenever you want.
Myth 8: Intuitive eating is for healthy-minded people. I won’t do it right and I’ll gain weight.
Myth 9: Intuitive eating doesn’t solve my “over-eating problem.”
Myth 10: Intuitive eating doesn’t lead to weight loss.
Myth 11: Intuitive eating will make you binge on food that you shouldn’t be eating.
Myth 12: Intuitive eating is impossible because of food addiction, and certain foods are addictive.
Myth 13: Intuitive eating is only for people with eating disorders.
Intuitive Eating to Lose Weight: Your Set Point First
“I’m done with dieting… I’ve had enough. I can’t go on one more diet!”
You’ve probably said that at one point. You start looking for an option. Then you find intuitive eating, and it sounds interesting! No more food restriction. You follow your hunger and fullness cues instead of counting calories. You want to try intuitive eating to lose weight… because food freedom sounds oh so appealing and exciting after years of dieting!
More and more women are turning to intuitive eating these days. It’s “cool” to be anti-diet, and even cooler to be an intuitive eater. Intuitive eating has been proposed as the next big “diet trend” in the next decade ahead…and that’s a big problem!
Typically, when we refer to “diet trend,” we refer to ways of eating to achieve weight loss. That’s what we expect, and for most of us, that’s what we seek. We think we need to lose weight. Notice that the keyword here is NEED. We want to lose weight and we don’t want to diet anymore so intuitive eating seems to be the perfect option.
It’s normal to want to lose weight
I want to validate those weight loss desires. Those desires to modify your body to fit the “thin ideal” are real and constantly encouraged in a society that is laden with weight stigma and fatphobia. It makes perfect sense that you have that desire and that you think you need to lose weight.
If you find yourself asking the question, “How can I practice intuitive eating and still lose weight?” then this post is for you. And so, I’m writing this blog post to help you understand what intuitive eating is about, how your body maintains a certain weight through your set point, why it’s useless to fight against this mechanism through dieting, and what you can do instead.
You will learn:
Will intuitive eating lead to weight loss?
Homeostasis and happiness set point theory
Identifying and manipulating your set point
How to get started with Intuitive Eating
What is Intuitive Eating?
If people ask for an intuitive eating definition, this is what I usually give them: “a self-care eating framework that uses your body’s internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to guide your eating behavior.” Notice that this definition emphasizes the body attunement element of intuitive eating, meaning that you need to listen to your body in order to eat intuitively.
This approach to eating allows you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body. It teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.
Should you try intuitive eating to lose weight?
If someone who claims to be a health professional tells you that you’ll lose weight with intuitive eating, run the other way! No health professional can rightly claim that Intuitive Eating leads to weight loss. I’ll explain why.
Rejecting the diet mentality is the first principle of intuitive eating. Focusing on weight loss will only hinder your progress as an intuitive eater.
Does that sound surprising? Well, it shouldn’t if you understand what eating intuitively means.
Intuitive Eating is based on interoceptive awareness or the ability to perceive physical sensations inside your body. This means, to be able to eat intuitively, you need to connect with your body and listen to your body’s “messages.”
In contrast, focusing on weight loss is based on external rules. It dulls your interoceptive sense and leads to body-doubt. It makes you think that something is wrong with you just because you’re not losing weight as you expected. Thus, you’re likely to think that intuitive eating “doesn’t work.”
While it’s true that some people lose weight when they eat intuitively, weight loss is more of a side effect rather than the focal point of intuitive eating. Some people who eat intuitively don’t lose weight, and that’s okay. Intuitive eating is weight neutral and is aligned with the Health At Every Size approach. (For more info on this approach, I recommend that you read the Health At Every Size book by Linda Bacon.
Time and again, research has proven that dieting for weight loss is not sustainable. Besides, it causes more harm than good to your body and mind. Dieting increases the risk of eating disorders, binge eating, weight cycling and weight stigma.
Intuitive eating to lose weight? Your set point first.
Think of your set point like a natural mechanism that your body uses to maintain a natural weight. This mechanism runs without your intervention. It’s just like how your lungs manage the appropriate amount of oxygen for your body or the way in which your heart manages your blood pressure.
Another fascinating analogy is how your brain automatically gets you steady on a bike even if it’s been 10 years since your last ride. It just happens without you having to think about it. Set point manages your weight in the same way.
In her book Health Every Size, Dr. Lindo Bacon describes our set point as the fat thermostat in our bodies. Your set point acts just like a heat thermostat in a room. When set to a certain temperature, the thermostat will send a message to the heating system to activate when below a determined temperature.
Your hypothalamus is the region of the brain that controls the system in your body that regulates your set point. It sends messages of hunger and fullness to manage your weight. Set point will make you think of the cookies in the cupboard and will also make you say no to the pizza when you’re full.
Our set point manages all the various components in the complex human body that create our body weight. Your set point is your ideal body weight, the body weight you manage naturally without food restriction, deprivation, and over-exercising. It is your weight between diets, the weight at which you can live a non-food or exercise-obsessed life.
The set point is the body’s internal system to maintain healthy weight. One 1970s research study showed that the average weight of a 60-year-old man was only four to five pounds more than the average 30-year-old man. That kind of weight maintenance is no accident and not the consequence of dieting either.
Set Point example
Dr. Bacon has this very powerful example in her book, Health at Every Size:
“Just consider a 50-year-old woman who weighs about five pounds more than she did when she was 20. If she eats about 2,000 calories a day over the course of 30 years, she takes in about 22 million calories. Since five pounds of body fat stores about 17,500 calories, that means that her body was just 0.08% off in balancing energy in versus energy out. This amounts to a difference of about 50 calories per month—less than the calories in one egg!” – Bacon, Linda. Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (p. 12).
Our set point can fluctuate during our lifetime. Currently, research estimates the fluctuation to be between 10 to 20 lbs. Set point fluctuates so it can maintain homeostasis.
If you are ready to explore Health At Every Size, you can download Dr. Bacon’s manifesto here.
Homeostasis and happiness set point theory
Homeostasis is the ability of the human body to maintain a stable environment. It’s key to our survival. The body’s magical ability to adapt to its environment at any given condition is what allows us to survive.
This ability to maintain balance is what maintains a stable body temperature, stable blood pressure, stable level of iron, blood glucose…and yes, body weight. All of these biological systems focus on maintaining homeostasis, a.k.a. balance, so we can survive and thrive in our environment.
It even goes beyond the physical body. Homeostasis is also what creates your thoughts and emotions. Your mind responds to its emotional environment as well.
The happiness set point theory is almost similar as the body weight set point theory. It suggests that our level of subjective well-being is determined primarily by heredity and by personality traits ingrained in us early in life. As a result, it remains relatively constant throughout our lives. Our level of happiness may change temporarily in response to life events. However, it almost always returns to its baseline level.
For humans, homeostasis means survival. Our bodies will do anything to bring us back to homeostasis so we can survive, including the dreaded weight gain.
Identifying and manipulating your set point
Are you at your set point right now?
That’s a very good question which unfortunately is not that easy to answer. How much fat protection your body requires (your set point) is the result of a complex interplay of genetics and the lifestyle choices you made today as well as in the past.
You see, at this time, we do not have a tool that will allow us to determine an individual set point. We also don’t have the knowledge on how to manipulate someone’s set point either. As of today, the complexity of the human body and the number of elements involved in managing one’s set point exceed our scientific capacity.
So to be clear, if you see a headline claiming to have the secret trick to lower your set point, like the 21-day set point reset detox, which I just saw recently, that’s 100% diet culture in action. It’s a lie! Don’t buy into it because it’s a scam. It’s just another gimmick from someone who wants to make money from your despair about your body weight.
What we do know is that if we want our body to settle at a natural weight that is effortless and healthy, we must make our brain feel safe. When the brain feels safe, it will send messages to the body that it’s safe. Will you lose weight? We do not know. No one actually knows. But what we know is that health arises or is maintained in a safe physical and psychological environment.
Why dieting is not the answer
When you go on a diet or when you exercise, you create an unsafe condition for your body.
The human body perceives intentional weight loss as a threat. That’s the reason diets don’t work. Your body will adapt to the starvation/deprivation period while you’re dieting and trying to lose weight.
But as soon as you release the pressure of the unsafe condition (i.e. you stop dieting or over-exercising), your body will come right back to your set point. In many cases, it will ensure complete protection from any further threat of weight loss.
So, what can we do? Based on all the current research that I’ve read, I’d like to suggest focusing on creating a relationship of trust and respect with the innate wisdom of your body. Create a safe environment, both psychologically and physically, in which you and your body can thrive in, not just survive.
The best place to get started is to educate and understand what could be perceived by your body as unsafe especially when it comes to food and body weight.
I would encourage you to get started by listening to episode 214 of the Going Beyond The Food podcast right up to the part where I recommend a tool to help you determine what could be impacting your set point.
Here’s a free checklist and resource to help you understand the set point theory and get started on your journey into a more trusting and respectful relationship with your body.
How to get started with Intuitive Eating
In all the years that I’ve been helping women as a clinical nutritionist, I’ve found that intuitive eating is the best starting point for developing a healthy relationship with food and one’s body. I’ve also made a part of my life. The women I’ve helped, as well as I, can attest that it’s positively life-changing!
I invite you to start your own intuitive eating journey and experience the same benefits that we’ve enjoyed from it. I have put together some resources that will help you get a good head start.
First, you can download my Get Started with Intuitive Eating Guide for free. It will teach you a 3-step process that will help you get started with intuitive eating right away.
Also, you can listen to the intuitive eating podcast episodes. Here, I share my best tips and interview experts who give their valuable insights on eating intuitively.
Intuitive Eating to Lose Weight FAQs
What is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is “a self-care eating framework that uses your body’s internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to guide your eating behavior.” An approach to eating that allows you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body.
Will intuitive eating make you lose weight?
Intuitive eating LEADS to weight loss. Some people lose weight when they eat intuitively but weight loss is more of a side effect rather than the focal point of intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is weight neutral and is aligned with the Health At Every Size approach.
What is set point?
A natural mechanism that your body uses to maintain a natural weight. Set point manages your weight.
How to get started with Intuitive Eating?
1. Start your own intuitive eating journey.
2. Download Get Started with Intuitive Eating Guide.
3. Listen to the intuitive eating podcast episodes of the Going Beyond the Food Show.
What is Diet Culture and 4 Steps to Navigate It
If you’ve been following me on social media or reading my blog, you certainly have come across the term “diet culture.” I’ve mentioned it many times before. But what is diet culture? How does it impact your life? And what should you do about it?
This article tackles this topic and teaches you how to opt-out of it. Also, I offer some resources that will help you start a new life outside of this oppressive belief system. Here’s what you’re going to learn from this blog post:
How to navigate the diet culture
Diet culture educational resources
Now, let’s begin exploring the diet culture so you can take your first steps to freedom!
What is diet culture?
From the sound of it, you might think the term “diet culture” refers to a group of people who are on a diet. But it actually has a different meaning.
Christy Harrison, a colleague of mine, has the best diet culture definition. She defines it as a system of belief that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue. It’s now prevalent in our society and oppresses women from all over the world!
How does this impact your life?
This means you may have spent your entire life thinking that you’re broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin ideal.
That’s just one angle. You can also look at the diet culture from three other angles:
The second angle is that it promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status. It makes you feel compelled, almost obligated, to spend massive amounts of time, energy, and resources, trying to shrink your body so you can fit into this thin ideal. Now, research is very clear that the dieting model has a 95 percent failure rate, so it might as well be an exercise in futility.
The next angle is it demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It forces you to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, shames you for making certain food choices, and distracts you from the pleasure of eating as well as from your purpose and power.
Last but not least, it oppresses people who don’t match the supposed picture of health or the thin ideal. This affects us most particularly as women, although it’s starting to affect men.
My 25-year journey inside diet culture
As you probably know, I used to have a love-hate relationship with food and my body. A 25-year career in dieting left me obsessed, frustrated and confused about food. I was also at a loss on how to take care of my body.
Dieting was stealing my life and at 39. Then I decided that I had enough… I finally chose to take my power back and free myself from dieting and body shaming. The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ was born out of my personal journey.
Now, as a health professional, I’ve helped hundreds of women work their way out of this oppressive culture and develop a healthier relationship with food using intuitive eating and body neutrality.
Is diet culture affecting you, too? I invite you to consider its impact on your life. Take our quick self-assessment tool we created to help women determine if intuitive eating is the right solution for them.
How to navigate the diet culture
I invite you, and honestly all women, to become diet culture dropouts! Below are the four steps you need to take in your journey towards freedom:
Understand that you have a choice.
Now is the best time to be a woman. Unlike the generations before us, we’re liberated and empowered! You have to understand that diet culture is a tool that the patriarchy uses to keep us from being in our power. It keeps us busy minding our calories and macros. It induces guilt and so we feel inclined to punish ourselves when we fail.
Whether you want to stay in the diet culture and be oppressed or to break away from it and change your life, it’s totally up to you. But you should know that you have the power to make that choice.
Take responsibility.
With great power comes great responsibility. Now, that sounds like a quote from a Spiderman movie, but as an empowered woman, you are responsible for your life. No one else is!
Now, you can be the victim of diet culture and drown yourself in self-pity and helplessness. Or you can say, “Screw this! I’m going to take responsibility, and I’m going to work myself out of it and change my life.”
It’s your call.
Educate yourself.
Read books and blogs. Listen to podcasts. Consume content that supports the choice that you’ve made for yourself. Be on guard against the content that might suck you right back into the diet culture. As I’ve said before, beware of diet culture programs disguised as wellness practices.
I’ve made it my personal mission to empower women by educating them so they don’t allow themselves to be oppressed. And so, I have put together some resources for you.
We have anti-diet culture podcast episodes on the Going Beyond the Food Show, where I interview health professionals. I invite you to listen as they share their expert insights and opinions on our relationship with our bodies and with food.
You can also read our anti-diet culture blog posts on this website. Here, we go deep into the research and the studies around diet culture as well as dieting and its impact on health.
If you’re looking for an anti-diet culture book, I recommend Health At Every Size by Linda Bacon, PhD. Dr. Bacon does research around health and dieting. It’s a book that gave me a lot of “aha moments” and subsequently changed my life.
Find a framework to help you reconstruct your relationship with food and with your body.
You’re going to shift from the way of life that diet culture has taught you to a more empowering way of thinking and doing things. This means there’s a lot for you to unlearn and relearn, so you’re going to need all the support you can get.
The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ is a 5-step strategic process to help women move out of diet mentality and into self-care. Our 5 pillars are: mindset, emotional wellness, mindfulness, body neutrality and intuitive eating.
Diet culture educational resources
As a clinical nutritionist, I’ve found that intuitive eating is the most effective tool for developing a healthy relationship with food and your body. Intuitive eating teaches you to tap into your innate hunger and fullness cues. It requires you to relearn how to engage with food without restriction and without labeling food as “good” or “bad.”
The trauma around body image is more powerful than the one around food. What I have found over the years is that when we work through our relationship with food, it’s a lot easier and faster to heal body image issues.
We offer a variety of programs that will help you should you decide to opt-out of diet culture:
You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:
Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!
Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.
Undiet Your Life group coaching program is for women to learn how to eat intuitively, become body neutral, and learn self-coaching at their own pace while being supported in a group setting by Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches.
Non-Diet Coaching Certification for professionals ready to integrate the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ in their practice and for women wanting to become Certified Coach and build a business coaching other women beyond the food.
Diet Culture FAQs
What is diet culture?
Christy Harrison defines it as a system of belief that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue. It’s now prevalent in our society and oppresses women from all over the world!
How to navigate the diet culture?
1. Understand that you have a choice.
2. Take responsibility.
3. Educate yourself.
4. Find a framework to help you reconstruct your relationship with food and with your body.
What are the diet culture educational resources?
Intuitive Eating Project – This is a self-study program that will help you relearn how to eat intuitively at your own pace.
The Going Beyond the Food Academy – This is a group coaching program where we teach the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ and offer support and coaching in a more in-depth approach. In this program, we talk about mindset, emotions, body image, intuitive eating, and mindfulness.
Conquer and Thrive – This is a six-month, high-touch intensive program where you work one-on-one with me. Here, you learn how to work your way out of the diet culture and heal your relationship with food, your body, and yourself.
Intuitive Eating Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide
Intuitive eating is increasingly becoming popular among women for a number of good reasons. For one, it’s been proven to lead to positive health outcomes. Also, it’s an approach to eating that puts you in control of your eating behavior. You’re the expert of your body and the boss of you.
But how do you start eating intuitively? How do you make it work? This blog post aims to answer these questions by introducing you to the 10 key principles of intuitive eating that Evelyn Tribole developed. Here, I also show you how to get started in five easy steps. This guide is virtually intuitive eating made simple for you!
Here’s what you’ll learn from this blog post:
10 Key Principles of Intuitive Eating
Research–Based Health Benefits
Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss
What’s the difference Between Mindful Eating and Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating Made Simple: How to Get Started
Intuitive Eating Free Resources
Ready to learn how to get started with intuitive eating and make it work? Let’s dive in!
What is Intuitive Eating?
When people ask me what eating intuitively means, this is the definition that usually comes to mind: “a self-care eating framework that uses your body’s internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction to guide your eating behavior.” It’s literally trusting your gut! Note that this intuitive eating definition emphasizes self-care and not weight loss.
Intuitive eating an evidence-based approach to eating that allows you to be the expert of your own body. This approach enables you to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body. It teaches you to trust your ability to meet your own needs, distinguish between physical and emotional hunger, and ultimately develop body wisdom.
Eating Intuitively is well –research and proven health framework supported by more than 100 studies as of 2019.
10 Key Principles of Intuitive Eating
So how do you make intuitive eating a part of your life? Here are the 10 key principles of intuitive eating that will guide your journey towards a natural way of eating.
1. Reject the diet mentality.
Get rid of all the diet books, articles, videos, and other materials that give you the false hope that you’ll lose weight easily, quickly, and permanently. Scoff at the lies that try to convince you that you’re a failure or something is broken in you just because another diet has failed you and you gained back the weight that you lost. Never allow yourself to be deceived again.
2. Honor your hunger.
Keep your body well-nourished and provide it with enough calories to keep it energized. Depriving your body of food can kick the drive to overeat into high gear. On the other hand, honoring your hunger lays the foundation for learning to trust your body’s messages.
3. Make peace with food.
Allow yourself to eat without any conditions. Telling yourself that you can’t eat a particular food because it’s “bad” for you will do you more harm than good. It can lead to an intense feeling of deprivation that can result in uncontrollable cravings and binge eating. And if you give into the “temptation” to eat what you think is “bad” for you, you’ll experience intense guilt. You don’t need any of that B.S.! Stop labelling food as good or bad and instead make peace with it.
4. Challenge the food police.
When a voice inside your head says you’re “good” for minding your calories or “bad because you ate some French fries, tell it to shut up! The diet culture is insidious. It deploys the food police into your psyche. Every time you allow yourself to enjoy the pleasure of eating, the police induce guilt and the fear of weight gain. It may also call you unsavory names. If you want to make eating intuitively a part of your life, you have to drive the food police away and tell it to never come back!
5. Respect your fullness.
Be aware of your body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. When you feel comfortably full, pause in the middle of eating and ask yourself:
- How does the food taste?
- How full are you?
6. Discover the satisfaction factor.
You’re meant to eat, not just to live, but also to enjoy the pleasure of eating. The ability to enjoy the experience of eating is a gift. Sadly, because the diet culture pressures us to fit into the thin ideal, we often forgo this wonderful gift. The truth is the pleasure of eating is a powerful force that will help you feel satisfied sooner. Thus, the more you enjoy the experience of eating, the less food it takes to satisfy you.
7. Honor your feelings without using food.
There are ways to comfort yourself and resolve your issues other than food. We all experience uncomfortable emotions throughout our lives. While food provides temporary relief, it won’t fix the underlying problems that cause uncomfortable emotions. If you eat to relieve emotional discomfort, you’ll only feel worse if you don’t deal with the source of the emotion.
8. Respect your body.
Let’s say you had a shoe size of 9. Would you waste your time wishing you could wear a size 7 shoe? It just doesn’t make sense, does it? Well, the same is true for dress sizes. It doesn’t make sense to try to fit into a size 2 dress if you weren’t born with the genetic makeup for that size! Every person has a genetically predetermined body size and shape. Stop trying to fit into the thin ideal that the diet culture worships and start respecting your body. You’re perfect just the way you are.
9. Exercise—feel the difference.
You don’t have to spend countless hours at the gym and do a particular type of workout. You can just go outside for a brisk walk or turn on your favourite dance playlist and bust some moves! Just get your body moving. And move your focus from the calorie-burning effect of exercise to how you feel while moving your body. Exercise releases endorphins, your body’s “feel-good” hormones. It also energizes you. So make feeling good your motivation to exercise rather than losing weight.
10. Honor your health.
Choose foods that support your health and please your taste buds. But remember that you don’t have to eat a perfect diet to stay healthy. What you eat consistently over time is what truly matters. Aim for progress, not perfection.
But is intuitive eating really healthy?
Research–Based Health Benefits
Intuitive eating is not a diet fad. It is an approach to eating that’s backed by scientific research. In 2014, an intuitive eating research study involving 1,600 middle-aged women showed strong links between eating intuitively and having a lower body mass index and positive emotional health.
I’ve written a complete guide that walks you thru all the evidence-based health benefits of intuitive eating.
- Improved cholesterol levels
- Lower stress levels
- Increased energy
- Improved mental health
- Lower eating disorder occurrence
- Improved body awareness
- Enhanced self-esteem
- Improved level of happiness
Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss
Weight loss is the be-all and end-all of all diet and exercise programs, thanks to diet culture. The end goal of eating intuitively is not weight loss, period.
Rather, it is developing a healthy relationship with food and one’s body. This healthy relationship then leads to optimum physical and mental health. In other words, when you eat intuitively, you chase health rather than weight loss.
Weight loss may be one of the many outcomes of becoming an intuitive eater as much as it may not be. Your weight may also remain stable.
Caution: If anyone attempts to sell intuitive eating as a way for you to lose weight… run the other way. Eating intuitively isn’t compatible with intentional weight loss. Losing weight intentionally will prevent you from attuning to your innate eating cues and instead keep you focused on controlling how much you eat and what food you eat.
You can read more in this article, Intuitive Eating Before and After: My Story, where I share my personal journey of becoming an intuitive eater.
What’s the difference Between Mindful Eating and Intuitive Eating?
You might be wondering if mindful eating is the same as intuitive eating. Certainly, the answer is no, they’re distinct from each other. Mindful eating is part of eating intuitively.
Mindful eating is being fully present while you eat. It’s being present in your entire eating experience on purpose.
On the other hand, intuitive eating is an entire eating framework and philosophy. It includes physical activities, how you engage with your body image, and gentle nutrition. Mindful eating is an important component of intuitive eating, which is not limited to simply being mindful.
Intuitive Eating Made Simple: How to Get Started
Eating intuitively in 5 easy steps is possible! You can start your intuitive eating journey and build a healthier relationship with food following the next steps:
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Step 1: Understand the diet culture and your power to choose.
The diet culture worships the thin ideal and equates thinness with good health and moral virtue. It’s prevalent in the world today. But you don’t have to be a part of it. You have a choice!
Step 2: Reject the diet culture.
Refuse to be controlled by this oppressive culture. Unfollow social media accounts that use the weight loss lingo and uphold dieting myths. Throw out the books and delete videos, apps, and e-books that support the diet culture. Beware of diet-culture programs that masquerade as wellness programs.
Step 3: Be present with your food.
Practice mindful eating. First, turn off all distractions such as your phone and the television. Then, use your five senses to enjoy the experience of eating.
Step 4: Shift from external eating cues to your body’s internal eating cues.
Stop counting calories and macros. Instead of following dieting rules, use your body’s innate hunger and fullness cues to guide your eating behavior.
Step 5: Seek satisfaction from food.
Eat foods that you like. Get attuned to your body and notice how certain foods make you feel. Eat more of those that make you feel good.
Intuitive Eating Free Resources
Want to have a better relationship with food and become healthier in the process? I’ve put together some free resources to help you begin your intuitive eating journey:
1. Is intuitive eating right for you?
2. Get Started with our free intuitive eating guide
3. Listen to our Intuitive Eating podcast episodes on the Going Beyond the Food Show.
4. Get some tips and more information from my Intuitive eating blog.
Most frequently asked questions about Intuitive Eating
Does intuitive eating really work?
Yes, eating intuitively is a well–researched and proven health framework supported by more than 100 studies as of 2019.
What are the 10 principles of intuitive eating?
1. Reject the diet mentality.
2. Honor your hunger.
3. Make peace with food.
4. Challenge the food police.
5. Respect your fullness.
6. Discover the satisfaction factor.
7. Honor your feelings without using food.
8. Respect your body.
9. Exercise—feel the difference.
10. Honor your health.
How to get started with Intuitive Eating?
Step 1: Understand the diet culture and your power to choose.
Step 2: Reject the diet culture.
Step 3: Be present with your food.
Step 4: Shift from external eating cues to your body’s internal eating cues.
Step 5: Seek satisfaction from food.
The Powerful Gift of Emotional Eating
What is the gift of emotional eating?
Thinking of emotional eating as a gift may seem to be a strange concept as the prevalent diet culture demonizes this same eating behavior. Diet culture teaches us not to give in to emotional cravings as it may be a sign that we lack willpower and discipline. Yet almost every human being eats emotionally.
One of the foundational aspects of the Going Beyond the Food Method is to see our relationship with food and our body as a message. Seeking to understand our eating behaviors instead of fighting them is what will allow us to see the gift of emotional eating. If we fail to see the gift behind emotional eating, we miss out on the guidance and opportunity for growth that it has to offer.
This article aims to help you understand emotional eating and how it can empower you instead of sending you down the path of shame and self-loathing.
It also answers these questions about emotional eating:
What is Emotional Eating versus Binge Eating versus Overeating?
What is the gift of eating emotionally?
Why do we want to stop eating emotionally?
How do we stop emotional eating?
What is Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating is the act of using food to reinforce positive emotions such as joy, love, and celebration or to soothe negative feelings such as anxiety, stress, fear, anger, boredom, shame, etc.
A shorter and simpler emotional eating definition that I can give you is “eating for reasons other than satisfying one’s physical hunger.”
Most women can relate to emotional eating in some way. 99.9% percent of us are emotional eaters. Emotional eating is more common in women partly because we are more emotionally sensitive than men.
What is Emotional Eating versus Binge Eating versus Overeating?
People often describe emotional eating as mindless eating. It’s consuming food when you’re not hungry or when you’re trying to satisfy an emotional need.
On the other hand, binge eating involves eating a large amount of food within a short period of time. This eating behavior is usually accompanied by the feeling of a lack of control over the eating episode as well as intense shame about the behavior.
Binge and emotional eating aren’t necessarily two separate and distinct processes. Instead, they are one process that occurs in a continuum. What may start as casual emotional eating may lead to eating past the point of comfort (simply overeating).
How do you know when you’re moving further into the continuum of emotional eating? By paying attention to the “3-how’s”:
- How much are you eating?
- How often do you use eating as a coping strategy?
- How else are you coping with difficult emotions?
Overeating is interesting. The word clearly means “eating over a certain amount.” What is that certain amount? Who determines it?
The concept is 100% created by the diet culture. It’s a term used to shame someone who’s not following a prescribed meal plan, diet, etc.
When you ditch the diet culture and practice intuitive eating, you’ll find that there’s no such thing as overeating. That’s because you let your internal hunger and fullness cues guide you when it comes to how much you should eat instead of following a dictated amount from an external guide.
Why do we want to stop eating emotionally?
Diet culture is the primary driving force that promotes the concept that emotional eating should be first controlled and then avoided. It puts a negative spin on emotional eating as it leads people to eat more than the ideal amount it prescribes. And when you eat more than the prescribed amount, it tries to shame you and labels your behavior as “overeating.” Diet culture then provides tips and tricks to stop emotional eating as a way to ensure that you “stick to your diet”.
The second reason why people so badly want to stop emotional eating is that they don’t understand it.
Diet culture leads you to be afraid of gaining weight or not losing weight. It’s when you begin to understand that there is a gift behind emotional eating that you can finally get out of that state of fear and start engaging with your desire to eat emotionally with curiosity instead of judgment.
What is the gift of emotional eating?
Now, I’m going to get a little bit science-y here. Let’s break down emotional eating.
Let’s start by understanding what is an emotion. Emotions are created by your thoughts and communicated to the rest of your body via a burst of electric energy in your nervous system. Think of this burst of energy as a signal for the rest of your body to act or behave in a certain way. These bursts of energy are simply signals or messages that are felt in your body as sensations. You feel these sensations (aka emotions) deep down in your body both consciously and unconsciously.
Sometimes, these sensations can be uncomfortable. Emotions such as anxiety or stress are often deeply uncomfortable and food can be an antidote for this emotional discomfort. To help this emotional discomfort, food will release dopamine in our brain to offset the discomfort of stress or anxiety, making you forget for a while that you are anxious or stressed.
And so, over time, you may start building a pattern of reaching for food when you feel uncomfortable emotions. Think of this behavior as protective; you are simply trying to feel better. Humans are wired to seek comfort and pleasure and to avoid pain and discomfort.
But once you understand how your emotions relate to your eating behavior, you’ll begin to see emotional eating as a radar for your life and as a way of getting to know yourself better. Emotional eating allows you to ask powerful questions that can put you back in control and help you change your life.
The gift of emotional eating is that it’s a window into your truth and growth.
How do we stop?
Do you really want to learn how to stop emotional eating? Or do you want to understand your emotional eating behavior?
The first place to start is to shift from judging your eating behaviors to being curious about them. See emotional eating for what it is – a gift.
Ask yourself questions like:
“I wonder why I eat every night after 8 o’clock?”
“I wonder why I crave chocolate every morning around 11 am? What is that all about?”
“Why is that when I have a fight with my partner all I want is chips?”
“Why am I so afraid of gaining weight? What am I really afraid of?”
When you ask yourself questions like these, only then will you be able to start the process of understanding what is hidden behind your emotional cravings.
As the term itself suggests, emotional eating is eating in response to emotions. An emotion is a mood, a state of mind derived from our thoughts and our perspective in life. All of your emotions are the outcome of the way you think.
If you want to stop emotional eating, the best way to do that is by changing the way you think. Emotions are produced by our thoughts, therefore if we change our thoughts, we change our emotions.
To better understand how events, thoughts, and emotions influence your actions, you can listen to my self-coaching podcast episode or read my self-coaching article where I discuss how the brain works.
Seeking to understand your emotional eating behavior will help you understand yourself better. By understanding yourself and your life better, you will start making different choices and interrupting patterns that create emotional discomfort.
That’s when you stop needing to eat emotionally.
My biggest shift
For me, shifting my perspective of emotional eating has been a turning point in my life. It’s been a gift. It sent me down the path of healing. I use my relationship with food, weight, and my body as a way of seeing what’s going on in my life.
Shifting from judging my eating behavior and my body weight to being curious has been a journey. That journey wasn’t easy. I made some mistakes along the way and it led me to understand myself and why I had been struggling with food and my body since the age of 12. After dieting for 25 years, I finally understand the real reason why diets never worked for me.
It was never about the food or my body…
Need help with emotional eating?
Perhaps you came across this article because you’re looking for ways on how to overcome emotional eating. It’s mostly about understanding the gift behind it, and harnessing this gift to develop a healthier relationship with food.
We are ready to help find YOUR gift of emotional eating!
You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:
Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!
Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.
Undiet Your Life group coaching program is for women to learn how to eat intuitively, become body neutral, and learn self-coaching at their own pace while being supported in a group setting by Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches.
Most frequently asked questions about eating emotionally
What is Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating is the act of using food to reinforce positive emotions such as joy, love, and celebration or to soothe negative feelings such as anxiety, stress, fear, anger, boredom, shame, etc.
What is Emotional Eating versus Binge Eating versus Overeating?
People often describe emotional eating as mindless eating. It’s consuming food when you’re not hungry or when you’re trying to satisfy an emotional need. On the other hand, binge eating involves eating a large amount of food within a short period of time.
Why do we want to stop emotional eating?
Diet culture is the primary driving force that promotes the concept that emotional eating should be first controlled and then avoided. It puts a negative spin on emotional eating as it leads people to eat more than the ideal amount it prescribes. And when you eat more than the prescribed amount, it tries to shame you and labels your behavior as “overeating.” Diet culture then provides tips and tricks to stop emotional eating as a way to ensure that you “stick to your diet”.
What is the gift of emotional eating?
Once you understand how your emotions relate to your eating behavior, you’ll begin to see emotional eating as a radar for your life and as a way of getting to know yourself better. Emotional eating allows you to ask powerful questions that can put you back in control and help you change your life. The gift of emotional eating is that it’s a window into your truth and growth.
How to stop emotional eating?
If you want to stop emotional eating, the best way to do that is by changing the way you think. Emotions are produced by our thoughts, therefore if we change our thoughts, we change our emotions.
Welcome!
I’m Stephanie Dodier
Non-Diet Nutritionist & Coach
I teach and coach women how to break free from the socialized thinking of diet culture and liberate yourself from unrelenting pressure to be thinner so that you can eat in a way that truly supports your well-being and start living the life you’ll look back on with no regrets.
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