How to spot fake Intuitive Eating

Diet culture is sneaky, and as Intuitive Eating gains in popularity and press, it’s important to call out what isn’t Intuitive Eating. Wellness culture and diet culture are co-opting the language (by using the word INTUITIVE before the word FASTING on a book title!), Some of the concepts of Intuitive Eating are also being co-opted as well, turning IE into the “Hunger/Fullness” diet.

Of course the multi-million dollar diet industry is doing this so that they can gain traction to sell more of their diets. Dieting is big business and they are jumping on the Intuitive Eating  bandwagon, but without actually embodying the principals of Intuitive Eating. This is sneaky and potentially dangerous. It’s also just not cool, aka unethical!

Let’s reminder ourselves what Intuitive Eating is and isn’t.

Intuitive Eating (IE) is NOT:

• Intuitive Fasting
• Noom
• Counting Macros
• Counting points
• Having a cheat day
• Eating clean
• Detoxing, cleansing etc.

You can’t cherry pick one or two principals and say you’re eating intuitively.

Intuitive Eating is:

• Has 10 principals as guidelines to help you become your own nutrition expert. Only you get to decide what, how much and when you eat. No one is telling you to follow x amount of macros, calories or types of foods to eat.

• Is pleasure driven! It’s about paying attention (awareness) to what the body needs to feel good and nourished. It’s not about avoidance or deprivation.

• It’s much more than the oversimplification of: “Eat when you’re hungry, stop when full.” It’s a dynamic interplay between your thoughts, your feelings, your intuition (instinct), and your physical body sensations.

• It’s about self- discovery. Intuitive Eating is a process whereby you learn about your own unique needs through your body signals and how to meet those needs. This trickles into other areas of your life as well. It’s an empowering process. Dieting disempowers.

• It’s about good self-care practices that are body centered and also leave room for practicality. Intuitive Eating is a privilege and this sometimes means eating ‘on the go’ because that’s good self care rather than skipping a meal.

• Intuitive Eating is weight inclusive and aligns with the Health at Every Size philosophy. It’s about dignity and respect for all bodies.

• Intuitive Eating is evidence based with over 140 studies to date. Go to the the source for research articles at www. Intuitive Eating .org