Be More Instinctual with Intuitive Eating

Get In Sync with Intuitive Eating

Ditch the old school “diet” in 2022. It’s time to forgo food rules and reclaim your body’s innate ability to signal what foods you need, when you need them, and how much you need. If you’ve ever tried a diet (or ten), the concept of giving up rules around food may feel foreign or even scary, but this mind-body approach sets a framework to help you learn to make food decisions based on what best serves your body.

Getting in touch with your body’s natural signals around food has benefits. From a more positive body image and mental health to less stress and a reduction in disordered eating patterns, research backs intuitive eating as an effective (not to mention more gentle) way to achieve and maintain a healthful relationship with food and your body!

Intuitive eating is based on 10 principles that teach you how to move away from traditional dieting and instead tune into your hunger and fullness cues while also learning what foods satisfy you. All foods are on the table with intuitive eating — yes, you can have your cake and eat it too. With intuitive eating, there are no “good” or “bad” foods or rigid rules around what and when you can eat.

Intuitive eating will help you learn to:

Reject diet mentality
Honor your hunger
Make peace with food
Challenge the food police
Discover the satisfaction factor
Feel your fullness
Cope with your emotions with kindness
Respect your body
Movement – feel the difference
Honor your health – gentle nutrition

One thing to keep in mind when you start this journey — becoming an intuitive eater doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an ever-evolving process, not a quick fix to help you drop 10 pounds, but it may be a lifelong approach to eating if you’re tired of jumping on and off the diet train. To further explore intuitive eating, read more about it or find a certified intuitive eating counselor in your area.

Ever wonder what diet the food and nutrition experts at Bon Appétit recommend? None, we believe in intuitive eating whole heartedly. But we understand that food is a very personal experience and we respect some may choose a different path. If you’re interested in dabbling in a popular diet, find the science in our lowdown on popular diet series.