Hi, all! My name is Loren Bockweg and I just started my internship at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. My first rotation is in Food Service Management, and all the time I’ve spent working in and around the kitchen has left me thinking about food preferences and how we actually eat our meals.
One innovative approach to eating is Intuitive Eating. It’s a Registered Dietitian-created approach to food and overall health that allows you to tune in to your own hunger and fullness cues and nurture a healthy relationship with your body. It is centered on learning how to recognize physical hunger, honoring your hunger by making the time to eat, and then stopping when you feel satisfied. It is the way you were born to eat – by listening to your body.
Intuitive Eating is not a diet and weight loss is not included as a goal of the eating model. In fact, scientific studies have shown improved health outcomes even in the absence of weight loss. In a review of Intuitive Eating studies published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2014, the overall conclusion was that people that used the Intuitive Eating model improved their relationships with food which led to improved blood lipid profiles, increased cardiovascular fitness, and reduced blood pressure. Additional benefits included improved self-esteem, increased physical activity, and decreased body dissatisfaction.
Intuitive Eating focuses on making peace with food, a task that is more difficult than it might seem, especially for anyone that has struggled with an eating disorder, chronic dieting, or emotional eating. People who have a history of disordered eating have often worked hard to distance themselves from their body’s hunger and fullness signals – so hard that they don’t even recognize them anymore. Intuitive Eating can help break the pattern of restricting food, ignoring internal signals, and over or undereating. It also helps eliminate unhealthy “food rules” and diet mindsets that many people have developed. Researchers believe that “diet-minded” thinking and food restriction-based programs actually limit weight loss results because participants become discouraged by unrealistic weight goals. Instead of focusing on the weight piece, Intuitive Eating allows people to achieve better health through achievable, behavior-based goals.
Anyone can benefit from Intuitive Eating concepts, even if they don’t have a history of trouble with food. It’s a natural way of eating that allows you to choose foods based on what sounds good and will make your body feel good. It makes eating balanced and nourishing meals easy and, well… intuitive.
Follow these links for more information, scientific articles, and additional resources:
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/
http://www.rd4bc.com/research.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/eating-mindfully/201406/the-evidence-intuitive-eating
References:
Consason, A. The evidence for intuitive eating. Psychology Today Web site. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/eating-mindfully/201406/the-evidence-intuitive-eating. Published June 27, 2014. Accessed September 23, 2016.
Schaefer JT & Magnuson AB. (2014). A review of interventions that promote eating by internal cues. J Acad Nutr Diet; 114: 734-760.
One innovative approach to eating is Intuitive Eating. It’s a Registered Dietitian-created approach to food and overall health that allows you to tune in to your own hunger and fullness cues and nurture a healthy relationship with your body. It is centered on learning how to recognize physical hunger, honoring your hunger by making the time to eat, and then stopping when you feel satisfied. It is the way you were born to eat – by listening to your body.
Intuitive Eating is not a diet and weight loss is not included as a goal of the eating model. In fact, scientific studies have shown improved health outcomes even in the absence of weight loss. In a review of Intuitive Eating studies published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2014, the overall conclusion was that people that used the Intuitive Eating model improved their relationships with food which led to improved blood lipid profiles, increased cardiovascular fitness, and reduced blood pressure. Additional benefits included improved self-esteem, increased physical activity, and decreased body dissatisfaction.
Intuitive Eating focuses on making peace with food, a task that is more difficult than it might seem, especially for anyone that has struggled with an eating disorder, chronic dieting, or emotional eating. People who have a history of disordered eating have often worked hard to distance themselves from their body’s hunger and fullness signals – so hard that they don’t even recognize them anymore. Intuitive Eating can help break the pattern of restricting food, ignoring internal signals, and over or undereating. It also helps eliminate unhealthy “food rules” and diet mindsets that many people have developed. Researchers believe that “diet-minded” thinking and food restriction-based programs actually limit weight loss results because participants become discouraged by unrealistic weight goals. Instead of focusing on the weight piece, Intuitive Eating allows people to achieve better health through achievable, behavior-based goals.
Anyone can benefit from Intuitive Eating concepts, even if they don’t have a history of trouble with food. It’s a natural way of eating that allows you to choose foods based on what sounds good and will make your body feel good. It makes eating balanced and nourishing meals easy and, well… intuitive.
Follow these links for more information, scientific articles, and additional resources:
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/
http://www.rd4bc.com/research.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/eating-mindfully/201406/the-evidence-intuitive-eating
References:
Consason, A. The evidence for intuitive eating. Psychology Today Web site. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/eating-mindfully/201406/the-evidence-intuitive-eating. Published June 27, 2014. Accessed September 23, 2016.
Schaefer JT & Magnuson AB. (2014). A review of interventions that promote eating by internal cues. J Acad Nutr Diet; 114: 734-760.
