By claire sullivan
“Having a healthy relationship with food means you are not morally superior or inferior based on your eating choices. ”
“Wow, I can’t believe I just ate that much?!” “I hate the way I look.” “I’m too big.” “I’m too small.” “I wish I looked like that person.” “If only I could lose 15 more pounds, then I’d look great.” Have you ever had any thoughts like these? I know I have. The human body is an incredible miracle that most people aren’t satisfied with. Everyone has things that they don’t like about themselves; usually, physical qualities find themselves in this category. So, what do you do about it? Contemporary Western culture (and most cultures around the world) would say that dieting is the perfect solution. However, what does this “perfect solution” really look like?
Many people go on all sorts of diets (or more popularly stated, wholesome, clean, simple, wellness, or healthy lifestyles) to try and get the “perfect body.” Whether you self-diagnose as gluten-free, do a juice fast, have no sugar, do the keto diet, or any other restrictive eating plan, the goal is most likely to lose weight and feel better. Now, before I go on, I want to make it clear that if you have a real, diagnosed medical condition, then by all means follow whatever diet is beneficial for your health. However, in most cases, people decide for themselves to go on a diet with no official medical need. If you are one of those people, then listen up.
A robust body of evidence supports the fact that intentional weight loss efforts of people don’t work, with a failure rate of 95% (Harrison, 2021; Stunkard & McLauren-Hume, 1959). Now you may be thinking, “Well, I went on a diet and lost weight!” This is usually the case for people around 6 months to a year after their diet began. However, the number of people that keep the weight off for up to 2-5 years is very minimal. Most diets appear to work in the short term but don’t lead to long-term weight loss. Many researchers have found that it is quite rare for dieters to achieve any significant weight loss and that it is more common for people to regain most or all of the weight they lost (Brody, 1992; Fildes et al., 2015; Stunkard & McLauren-Hume, 1959). This information has actually been around for longer than you may suspect. Stunkard and McLauren-Hume (1959) discovered that there is a 98% failure rate for dieters to keep weight off after 2 years. This statistic goes along well with a NIH panel that almost 40 years later was saying similar things—by 5 years, practically all of the weight people lose by dieting is gained back by 90% to 95% of people (Brody, 1992).
So, when you get down on yourself for a diet not working on you, think again, because diets don’t work on the majority of the population. Researchers suggest that our bodies’ weight set ranges are as genetic as our heights, and that 70% of individual differences in body weight are dictated by genes (Logel et al., 2015). This is where dieting can become dangerous, because when one restricts themselves of food (of any kind), their body thinks it is in a famine. This is why when one finally stops restricting food or binges on cheat days, their body will latch on to those nutrients since it doesn’t know when it will get them again; thus, weight cycling begins (Harrison, 2021). This constant weight cycling—going on a diet, losing weight, gaining the weight back (usually more), and then going on another diet—is hard on one’s body and is unhealthy. Therefore, it seems that the only things diets are good for is causing people to gain weight over time. Put abruptly, diets may be a waste of time.
Why are diets so popular if research has proclaimed for decades that they usually don’t work? Well, the research firm Marketdata LLC (2019) reported that the U.S. diet industry is worth more than $72 billion. I won’t go through all the details, but if you think about it, most diet related programs, foods, clothes, weight loss pills, gym memberships, etc., all cost money. One wellness-industry research firm reports that the worldwide market for “healthy eating, nutrition, and weight loss” is worth $648 billion (Sole-Smith, 2018). As a side note, this number is not including the billion-dollar plastic surgery industry that allows people to have drastic surgeries and procedures to change the way they look. Overall, people are making money off of your dieting.
Ok, well now what? The real solution to saving your money, time, and having more well-being in your life is to participate in intuitive eating. Intuitive eating has been defined as having a strong connection with physiological and satiety cues and eating in response to those cues (Tylka, 2006). People who eat intuitively do not obsess or ruminate over food or dieting, and they do not classify foods as “good” or “bad” or ignore hunger cues (Tribole & Resch, 1995). Rather, intuitive eaters listen to their body, allow themselves to eat what they crave, understand that all foods have nutritional value with different purposes, and honor their hunger and fullness cues their body gives them. Being an intuitive eater can liberate you from the restraints of diet culture. There do not have to be rules around food, or distress about overeating something that is “bad” for you. No more guilt or shame. Hazzard et al. (2020) highlight that intuitive eating can predict lower levels of eating disorder psychopathology and psychological distress over time. Also, intuitive eating is consistently associated with lower levels of disordered and restrictive eating, body image concerns, and psychological distress, as well as higher levels of self-esteem, positive body image facets, social support, and better quality of life (Homan & Tylka, 2018; Linardon et al., 2019; Linardon et al., 2020; Linardon & Mitchell, 2017). Therefore, intuitive eating is the way you can save your money and time, as well as increase your well-being.
To practice intuitive eating for yourself, here are the 10 principles of intuitive eating, coined by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD (Harrison, 2021) and some notes to help get you started. At the end of the day, bodies are great miracles that work hard to help us function daily. Treat your body with kindness and this will end up being a healthier and happier approach than you could have imagined:
Reject the Diet Mentality
Educate yourself on the reality of diet culture.
Throw out any diet books or magazines you have. You can’t fully be an intuitive eater until you truly disregard diet culture.
Honor Your Hunger
What signs does your body give you that you are hungry? Does your mouth start watering? Do you get irritated? Does your stomach growl? Take note.
Allow yourself to eat whenever your body wants to. Not listening to your body will disrupt the hunger signals your brain sends you. It will also cause you to overeat when you finally do eat.
Make Peace with Food
Give yourself unconditional permission to eat.
Allow yourself to eat “forbidden” foods whenever you want. This is usually called the “honeymoon phase” due to indulging in food that you actually enjoy. (People usually get scared, thinking they will never stop eating their forbidden foods, but trust me—your body knows what you want. Whether it takes 2 days or 2 weeks, your body will eventually get sick of your “forbidden” food and regulate itself).
Telling yourself you can’t eat something usually leads to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and often binging.
Challenge the Food Police
Challenge the critical voice inside your head that tells you eating certain food is “bad” or “good” for you.
Don’t let this voice dictate your eating rules. Look at this voice with curiosity and allow room for some self-compassion.
Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Eat something that gives you pleasure. Practice mindful eating (using all your senses and eating slowly) to really enjoy and savor your food. How does your body feel when you eat this way?
Feel Your Fullness
In what ways does your body tell you that you are full? Observe different signs that show you are comfortably full.
Pause in the middle of eating and ask yourself how the food tastes. What is your current hunger level? Have some check-ins to stay mindful while eating.
Manage Your Emotions With Kindness
Food restriction can both physically and mentally trigger loss of control, which can feel like emotional eating.
Do you eat when you are excited, sad, angry, bored, celebrating, need a reward, procrastinating, etc.? Notice if you link foods with certain emotions.
Find some other options in how to cope with emotions so that food is not your only way to cope.
Respect Your Body
Accept your genetic blueprint. You are great just the way you are!
Just like a person with a shoe size of 8 wouldn’t try to fit in a size 6, it is equally important to not have that expectation for body size.
You deserve love and respect simply because you are human, not because you have a certain body type or size.
Movement – Feel the Difference
Do something active that you enjoy. How does it feel to move your body?
Focus on moving for enjoyment rather than calorie burning. Is there a difference when you change your motivation behind exercise?
Honor Your Health – Gentle Nutrition
Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good.
You don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy. One unhealthy snack, meal, or day of eating will be okay.
Try new recipes and find foods from all the food groups that you enjoy.
“Treat yourself as if you already are enough. Walk as if you are enough. Eat as if you are enough. See, look, listen as if you are enough. Because it’s true.”
References
Brody, J. E. (1992, April 2). Panel criticizes weight-loss programs. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/02/us/panel-criticizes-weight-loss-programs.html
Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A. T., & Gulliford, M. C. (2015). Probability of an obese person attaining normal body weight: Cohort study using electronic health records. American Journal of Public Health, 105(9), 54-59. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302773
Harrison, C. (2021). Why obsessing over what you eat is bad for your health: Anti-Diet: Reclaim your time, money, well-being, and happiness through intuitive eating. Little, Brown Spark.
Hazzard, V. M., Telke, S. E., Simone, M., Anderson, L. M., Larson, N. I., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2020). Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors: Findings from EAT 2010-2018. Eating and Weight Disorders, 26, 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4
Homan, K. J., & Tylka, T. L. (2018). Development and exploration of the gratitude model of body appreciation in women. Body Image, 25, 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.01.008
Linardon, J., Incerti, L., & McLean, C. (2019). Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Inflexible Eating Questionnaire in a sample of adult women. Appetite, 142, 104380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104380
Linardon, J., Messer, M., Helms, E. R., McLean, C., Incerti, L., & FullerTyszkiewicz, M. (2020). Interactions between different eating patterns on recurrent binge eating behavior: A machine learning approach. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53, 533–540. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23232
Linardon, J., & Mitchell, S. (2017). Rigid dietary control, flexible dietary control, and intuitive eating: Evidence for their differential relationship to disordered eating and body image concerns. Eating Behaviors, 26, 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2017.01.008
Logel, C., Stinson, D. A., & Brochu, P. M. (2015). Weight loss is not the answer: A well-being solution to the “obesity problem.” Social and Personality Compass, 9(12), 678-695. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12223
Marketdata LLC. (2019). The U.S. weight loss & diet control market: A market research analysis (15th ed.). https://www.marketresearch.com/Marketdata-Enterprises-Inc-v416/Weight-Loss-Diet-Control-12225125/
Sole-Smith, V. (2018). The eating instinct: Food culture, body image, and guilt in America. Henry Holt.
Stunkard, A. J., & McLauren-Hume, M. (1959). The results of treatment for obesity: A review of the literature and report of a series. A.M.A. Archives of Internal Medicine, 103(1), 79-85. doi:10.1001/archinte.1959.00270010085011
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (1995). Intuitive eating: A recovery book for the chronic dieter: Rediscover the pleasures of eating and rebuild your body image. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin.
Tylka, T. L. (2006). Development and psychometric evaluation of a measure of intuitive eating. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(2), 226–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.2.226