Intuitive Eating
By Niamh Orbinski
Resident Intuitive eating expert (BSc, PgCert)
Create a life full of health and free from food & body obsession.
Discover more about Intuitive eating &
My Top 5 Non-Diet Books…
In today’s culture, we are surrounded by subliminal messaging of how we should eat and look. This has resulted in a systemic obsession with food and health and can result in disordered eating behaviours and in some cases, an eating disorder itself. Intuitive eating is a compassion based framework that can allow you to escape these food rules and restrictions and return to a place of health and happiness…
10 Principles..
Intuitive eating is a personal and dynamic process that includes 10 principles.
1. Reject the Diet Mentality
2. Honor Your Hunger
3. Make Peace with Food
4. Challenge the Food Police
5. Feel Your Fullness
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
7. Cope With Your Emotions With Kindness
8. Respect Your Body
9. Exercise - Feel the Difference
10. Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive eating is an evidence based approach to food and eating, created by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. It was created by two dietitians who were completely disheartened from using the traditional weight loss model with their clients, where studies show that 80% of weight is often regained within 5 years after being lost through a diet. Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to health and wellbeing that helps you tune into your body signals, break the cycle of chronic dieting (if it is present) and heal your relationship with food. It focuses on food freedom rather than food fear and is a powerful tool that helps to achieve health and wellbeing without the obsession. This approach gives you your power back over food. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your own life and empowers you to know that you, and you alone, have control over your own body and what makes you feel at your best. It focuses on internal, rather than external cues. It reconnects you with yourself and your needs. In short, it helps you unlock your inner wisdom. As a Nutritionist, I was drawn towards practicing this framework as it provides nutrition interventions that are behaviour focused rather than restriction or rule focused.
Sounds great - what about the science?
There are over 125 studies on intuitive eating and the evidence in support of this model is compelling. These studies show that intuitive eating has many positive health outcomes, and that intuitive eaters eat a more diverse diet without turning to junk food, take more pleasure in eating and eat a healthier diet than those who do not eat intuitively. Other benefits include:
Better body image
Decreased rates of disordered eating (restriction and bingeing) and emotional eating
Improved cholesterol levels
Reduced stress levels
Higher self-esteem
Improved metabolism
Increased life satisfaction
Lower body fat percentage
What Intuitive eating is not..
As intuitive eating continues to gain momentum, it is important to recognize that as a result, there may be many misrepresentations, misapplications and misappropriations of the approach portrayed in the media; particularly social media. Here is a list of what intuitive eating is not, so you know what's what and what's not and can spot when the true intuitive eating approach is not being used. Intuitive eating:
Does not promote counting calories, macros or points as a means to control weight
Does not involve any sort of rules or restrictions around food or exercise
Does not include failures, or missed targets/goals
Is not aimed towards one particular type of body
Is not "letting yourself go"
Is not anti-weight loss but is also not a weight loss model
Is not anti-health
Moving through the intuitive eating process can be a powerful journey of self-discovery that helps you look after yourself in the best way possible that works for you.
Top 5 Non-Diet Books…
Over the years, I've collated quite an impressive collection of books that support health, non-diet nutrition, intuitive eating and body acceptance and this list continues to grow. Given the current health crisis, I've been spending lots of time reading and getting through that stack on the bedside locker!
If you're beginning your own journey into intuitive eating and non-diet nutrition and would like to learn a little more, here are my top 5 books I recommend you start with.
1. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Programme That Works
by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
The original intuitive eating book was published by the founders of intuitive eating in 1995 and the latest edition is set to be released in June 2020. This book was life-changing for me and was the catalyst for changing how I practice. It details each principle of the intuitive eating process, coming from a research and evidence based perspective and is the perfect place to start.
by Laura Thomas
This book helps you get your shit together around food and comes from an intuitive eating, social justice and nutritional science perspective. Lot's of real talk in here, along with practical tools and exercises to help heal your relationship with food.
3. The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers Behind Women's Obsession with Food and Weight
by Michelle Mary Lelwica
Detailing our cultural obsession with weight loss, Michelle brings us through the societal cues that cause us to obsess about our weight. She speaks of how the pursuit of obtaining a slender body has developed into a "religion", complete with its own set of beliefs, myths, rituals, images and moral codes. A fascinating and eye-opening read.
by Connie Sobczak
This book emphasizes that self-love, acceptance of genetic diversity in body size, celebration of the unique beauty of every individual, and intuitive self-care are fundamental to achieving good physical and emotional health.
5. Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women can Transform their Relationship with Food through Myths, Metaphors and Storytelling
by Anita Johnson
Anita does a beautiful job of storytelling to discover and address the issues behind our negative attitudes toward food. It explains the inner workings behind our relationship with food, through poetic wisdom.
Niamh Orbinski | BSc, PgCert
🙏 Rebuilding Healthy Relationships with Food
🧁 IE+HAES
🤝 Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor
🧘 Yoga Teacher
👩🎓 Studying Psychotherapy
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