Intuitive Eating Resource Guide
Truth is, we are all intuitive eaters.
I was 18 when my baby sister was born. I saw her precious newborn head turn open mouthed towards our mum’s nipple for her first feeding. With no outside influence, no training, no one made her do it — she knew she was hungry and drank deeply.
What freedom we are born with; to eat when we need to eat. Like it’s no big deal. And of course, no big deal it should be.
But then along comes life. With its history, cultures, socioeconomic statuses, accessibility — or lack thereof, upbringings, messages, traumas, and triumphs. Its ups, downs, scribbly bits, wiggle bits, and wobbly bits.
We are culturally bonded by a long list of valid fears. Fear of loss, of grief, of failure, of being unworthy, of letting loved ones down, of rejection, of harm, of mortality. And we are indoctrinated with a long list of products to help avoid, squash, cope with, hide, and make up for our perceived inadequacies to evade our fears.
One of those products we are provided is diets. For only $79.50 per month, you too can soothe your fear of being unlovable, unwell, and unworthy for a short while. But it’s ok — the first month is free! (Minimum cost $238.50. Results not guaranteed.)
Diets exists because diet culture exists. ‘Diet culture’ describes our current social landscape where eating disorder behaviour is celebrated, thin bodies are venerated, and “healthy” behaviours are believed to help you attain some sort of higher status. (Christy Harrison has a great piece on it here.)
So, perhaps at some point in your life, you ate when you wanted, what you wanted, and how much you wanted without really thinking about it. Like it’s no big deal. But then, something intervened. Maybe poverty intervened and you’ve grown up with sporadic or limited access to food. Maybe diet culture intervened. A set of rules. A list of ‘good’/’healthy’ or ‘bad’/’junk’ food. A pressure to look ‘better’. An unspoken assumption that being thin and therefore beautiful is to never be sick, sad, or unloved. A comment about your body. A comparison of yourself to the ideal. A desire to control your health, body image, shape with food and exercise. A personal preference for a slight frame or a specific athletic look. Gradually, food becomes a big deal. A source of stress.
We are culturally bonded by a long list of valid desires. Desire of having plenty, of joy, of success, of being worthy, of being able, of being loved, of keeping safe, of being well. And we are sold a lie: that diet and a healthy lifestyle will assure these aims met.
But a diet is not the answer.
Diets are reported to induce life threatening eating disorders, lower self esteem, cause weight cycling (which has a whole list of its own health risks), weight gain, weight stigma, and many other health risks. Diets are straight up bad for you. Even if you feel better during the 6–12 weeks you’re doing a program — the real risks show up 1–2 years later and further risks for those who engage in repeat dieting attempts. This is how diets are designed and sold. Diet culture places a disproportionate amount of pressure on fat people to buy diets; if diets worked, there would be no fat people.
But there is nothing wrong or innately unhealthy in being a particular body size. Believing so is called “weight stigma” and harms fat people of all health statuses. Honestly, it’s ok to be fat. It’s ok to be really, really, really fat.
So, since dieting is snake oil — what are we supposed to do? Especially when we still want al these wonderful things in our life like love and feelings of self worth? The short answer — quit your diet.
Even if you think you’re not on a diet, you could still be on a diet. Even if you’re just trying to be healthy, you could still be on a diet. Even if you don’t weigh yourself and just go by how your clothes feel or how your body looks, then you’re definitely still on a diet. Diets are sneaky; if you’ve never learnt about diet culture, weight stigma, or fatphobia before then you’re probably on a sneaky diet.
A great place to start learning how to quit your diet is to learn about Intuitive Eating (IE).
Intuitive Eating is a book (on its fourth edition) by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole. There are 10 principals — not rules — of Intuitive Eating. I recommend reading all ten rules and digging deep within yourself to understand them. The main goal is to let go of diet culture and eat peacefully. Like food is no big deal. A lot goes into that.
My list of reliable sources for learning about IE are:
Podcasts
Food Psych Podcast by Christy Harrison
Don’t Salt My Game by Laura Thomas
Books on Intuitive Eating
Anti Diet by Christy Harrison
Just Eat It by Laura Thomas
Intuitive Eating by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole
Intuitive Eating Workbook by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole
The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner
The Eating Instinct by Virginia Sole-Smith
Websites and Online Materials
Intuitive Eating Fundamentals by Christy Harrison
Intuitive Eating by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole
Be Nourished by Hilary Kinavey and Dana Sturtevant
Unpacking Weight Science by Fiona Willer
Academic-y Stuff
Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors: findings from EAT 2010–2018.
This piece is significant because it is an 8 year eating study that actually follows up on participants. Most diet/weight loss studies are not this rigorous and not this long term.
Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift
This piece is quite readable for an academic article. It’s important because it’s a study of weight loss interventions and whether or not they actually work for people.
Any PubMed search on “weight cycling” and “weight stigma” will further your understanding of why we need to quit dieting.
Also:
Keep on the lookout and remain suspicious of pseudo- and co-opted IE. Keep a critical eye on the rhetoric you’re consuming and weigh up for yourself if this is in line with food peace, or is this a wolf in sheeps clothing.
Any “intuitive eating” course, book, podcast, health provider, or website that sells intentional weight loss is a diet. Any resource that claims you can lose weight with IE, manifest your best body, achieve a ‘happy’ weight, or has any focus on changing your appearance through “wellness” behaviour is a diet. Any program, thought, or product that aspires to thinness is a diet. Any thing that makes you feel like you can control your body, your body size, and therefore heal your body image issues — is a diet.
