What is intuitive eating and does it really work?

We ask health experts to share their thoughts on the pros and cons of adopting the anti-diet approach

Even if you weren’t keeping a close eye on what went down at the Met Gala this year, you probably know that Kim Kardashian’s popularity plummeted when she disclosed how she lost seven kilos in as little as three weeks to fit into a dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe. The extent of the internet’s outrage, however, isn’t a result of this incident alone.

For a long time now, we’ve watched a plethora of public figures, with the power to influence millions of minds, advocate unrealistic body standards. Additionally, social media platforms are rife with diet recommendations encouraging us to embrace unhealthy extremes. And don’t forget the abundance of airbrushed images, which have long contributed to a deep-rooted conditioning that suggests beauty is synonymous with slim, slender bodies. The information surrounding us is problematic to say the least, and it was a desire to dismiss it that led to the birth of intuitive eating. Coined by dieticians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995, intuitive eating, or the anti-diet approach, encourages us to drown out any external stimuli and eat based on our body’s signals of hunger and fullness without feeling guilty. Sounds easy enough, but is it really so? We asked health experts to share their thoughts on the concept that has been around for nearly three decades and only seems to be gaining momentum.

Intuitive eating explained

The initial chapters of Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works (1995)–which is currently in its fourth edition and has sold over 500,000 copies–see Tribole and Resch explain that we are all born intuitive eaters but as we grow older our judgment is clouded by certain factors. Our parents well-meaningly pressure us into eating what they believe is healthy and we’re increasingly exposed to the aforementioned content that glamourises weight loss. As a result, we find ourselves taking on different eating personalities such as the professional dieter (someone who is always on a food plan), the careful clean eater (someone who scrutinises everything they put in their body) or the unconscious eater (someone who eats without awareness).

However, the intuitive eater in us, Tribole and Resch say, can be awakened. The first step towards achieving this is ditching diet culture in its entirety. This can be done in a variety of ways, including–but not limited to–deleting all calorie-counting apps, unfollowing social media accounts that promote diets and refusing to engage in any conversations with friends about fleeting weight-loss trends. The idea is to take the power from external, often inaccurate, sources and place it back in our hands. Intuitive eating trains us to become more sensitive to the subtle signs of hunger and fullness–you don’t wait for a rumble to know you’re hungry or nausea to know you’re full–with as much kindness as we can muster. Through the rarely linear journey, it’s important to silence your inner critic, respect your body in its current state, approach any emotions you experience with gentleness and exercise only to a point that feels comfortable.

The benefits

The advantages of intuitive eating are better explained by highlighting the key flaw in fad diets. Kardashian’s controversial crash diet required her to wear a sauna suit twice a day and swear off carbs and sugar. Those of us who have fallen prey to similar plans might be familiar with how they end. “Fad diets tend to be very restrictive. A lot of them cut out food groups completely and this starts a vicious cycle. The restrictiveness leads to a sense of deprivation, which sooner or later causes a lot of cravings. You then end up breaking the diet and you’re left with a sense of guilt and low self-esteem. In addition to not being sustainable, from a medical standpoint, we also see patients who get nutrient deficiencies from such diets. They complain about electrolyte imbalance, cramps in their calves, hair fall, weak bones, muscle loss and so on,” says Vishakha Shivdasani, a medical doctor who specialises in lifestyle and weight management.

The biggest perk of intuitive eating is that no foods are off limits. You are allowed to indulge in a piece of chocolate cake or a slice of cheese pizza, as long as it’s consumed in moderation. Intuitive eating shuts down the food police–the critical voice in our head which reprimands us for eating dessert and rewards us for a low-calorie snack–and replaces it with a kinder voice that does not label anything as the enemy. This reduces the anxiety we experience when we eat something that we’re constantly told is bad for us. “When you’re stressed, your body pumps cortisol and cortisol slows down your digestive system. So, if we feel guilty and stressed about each bite of that rich chocolate cake, we end up storing it as fat instead of digesting it properly. If you eat the same cake with the pure intention of love for yourself and the food, then your body processes it very differently,” explains celebrity nutritionist Rashi Chowdhary.

Additionally, intuitive eating urges us to understand our emotions and identify instances where we’re fixing feelings of anxiety, anger or even boredom with food. “Think about the emotions you’re eating with and the emotions you’re eating for. Once you start doing this, what you eat or how you eat, over time, will not be dependent on your emotional state but will become a conscious choice,” adds Chowdhary.

In doing all of the above, intuitive eating, ultimately, not only strengthens our relationship with food but also with ourselves. “Intuitive eating encourages us to spend more time getting to know ourselves and understanding our psychological cues with regard to food, which can be helpful for our mental health,” says Mumbai-based nutrition and wellness consultant Neha Sahaya.

The challenges

However, is this picture, perhaps, too rosy? Is there a caveat that we’re missing? “While you must always listen to what your body tells you, you need to be in a place where you're metabolically healthy for your body to guide you correctly. For instance, if you’re someone who eats a lot of carbs throughout the day, you are intuitively going to want to eat more carbs. Every time your sugar spike plummets, your body is going to ask for more sugar. That’s not intuitive eating. It just means that the premise has been set incorrectly to begin with. Set your macros, lifestyle and hormonal parameters correctly, then listen to your body. Only then will it be able to give you accurate hunger cues and tell you the difference between real hunger and cravings,” says Shivdasani, highlighting that a certain amount of groundwork is required before we rely on our bodies to drive the decision-making.

Sahaya also recommends not rushing into intuitive eating. Her reservations are related to the amount of trust placed in the average individual to catch inaccuracies, which are not only delivered through reels and carousels on Instagram but also in more persuasive forms such as the packaging of our food. “People do require guidance in today’s time with regard to food and food options. With misguided advertisements, wrong food labelling and excessive information online, there’s too much confusion. Moreover, the word ‘diet’ shouldn't always be associated with restrictions and counting calories. We all want freedom from food rules and food anxiety. However, the fact is, some people need to work with guidelines and adjust their eating, at some point, to achieve physical health,” concludes Sahaya.

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