The 10 Principles Of Intuitive Eating (My take on them)

Let’s take a look at the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating, where they come from and I’m going to give my take on each of the 10 principles as I see them and some little tips and ideas that I’ve picked up along the way.

Please note that I am not a health expert or anything like that. These are just my own thoughts and experiences with Intuitive eating.

The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

Reject the 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
Honour your health – Gentle nutrition

Where do the intuitive eating principles come from?

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The intuitive eating principles come from the book INTUITIVE EATING: A REVOLUTIONARY ANTI-DIET APPROACH by RDN Evelyn Tribole, MS, and RDN Elyse Resch, MS

Just to point out that I may interpret these principles differently from other people so I do encourage you to read the book for yourself. It’s really in-depth.

My take on the 10 principles of intuitive eating

Here’s my personal take on the 10 principles of intuitive eating and how I’m applying these tips to my own life.

1. Reject The Diet Mentality

Think of all the things you’ve learned from diets. All the restrictions you’ve tried to follow in the past and all of the rules you’ve had to follow. The first principle of intuitive eating is to reject all of these ideas.

For me, the biggest thing I’ve had to work on is the idea that some foods are good for me and some foods are bad for me (which will make me put on weight). For example, I shouldn’t eat chocolate, crisps, cake…

For others, this is sticking to a certain amount of calories or points. Maybe it’s something like not eating a certain food type such as carbohydrates.

Another big thing that is talked about is getting rid of the scales as they can be a major part of diet mentality.

I’m going to be totally honest, I haven’t got rid of my scales but I’m definitely not jumping on them every day. Maybe once a month or so I’ll jump on them out of curiosity.

I suspect true intuitive eaters would not approve of this. But, I’m going with no rules. And throwing out my scales is a rule.

I find myself thinking, I shouldn’t eat… sometimes. When I notice those thoughts, I take a minute to examine them. Thoughts like this are often related to diet mentality.

2. Honour Your Hunger

This is basically to eat when you feel hungry and we’re not talking really, really hungry. Also, not to eat just because it’s a certain time of the day if you’re not hungry. I’m taking this as… If I’m hungry I eat something. I also try to really think about what it is I really want to eat to feel great.

3. Make Peace With Food

Most of us who have been on a weight loss journey for any amount of time will have beliefs about whether food is good or bad. This is really about just seeing food as food. Not good, not bad, just food.

I used to try not to have certain foods in the house such as chocolate bars. But then I would go and buy a load thinking I could just have one a day. No, that didn’t happen, I’d sometimes eat 4 or more in a day until I felt ill.

When I started to move toward intuitive eating I made a decision that I would buy with my normal shopping whatever treat food I wanted and I gave myself permission to eat them whenever I wanted.

I admit that this idea really, really worried me and I think I definitely went overboard for a little while but actually I’ve found that I’m so much more relaxed about them now. I don’t want them anywhere near as much as I used to. But when I do want something, I have it.

4. Challenge The Food Police

I feel this is similar to the reject diet mentality principle. But start to question old rules about food. For example, now when I notice one of those old beliefs, I imagine lights flashing and a siren going off. Beliefs such as…

Don’t eat late at night!!! (Food Police). When I question this belief, I actually know that if I feel hungry late at night I will sleep better if I have a small amount of food.
Don’t eat carbs!!! (Food Police) – This is not the kind of approach intuitive eaters take
Only eat a set amount of calories each day!!! – I actually think this is a really silly rule. Some days I will need a lot more calories and far fewer on others. It really depends on what’s going on that day or even the day before. You also can’t be guided by your own body if you limit yourself to a set amount of calories or points.

Just challenge why you’ve had these rules in the past and challenge other rules other people suggest to you. You don’t have to actually challenge the person, just challenge what they’ve said in your mind.

5. Discover The Satisfaction Factor

This is helping me to eat until I feel satisfied. Now, this will be different on different days. Some days I eat until I don’t feel hungry anymore but some days to feel satisfied I eat past that point. Not so that I feel stuffed to bursting or anything like that.

Here’s an example. I go to a family meal and about halfway through the meal, I check in with how I feel and I’m definitely not hungry anymore but I definitely want to carry on eating. This is a special meal and I’m really enjoying it, so I will continue to eat. I will check in as I keep eating and stop when I feel satisfied.

Another example is when I really want a chocolate bar of some kind. I’m not particularly hungry but I really fancy some nice chocolate. So, I will have some chocolate to feel satisfied.

6. Feel Your Fullness

I think this is similar to the last principle just kind of said in a different way. It’s really abouy paying attention to your body and noticing how full you feel.

7. Cope With Your Emotions With Kindness

This is a really important principle in my view. For those of you who are new to my site, I’m a qualified EFT Practitioner – EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques. We simply tap on special points on the body (mainly around the face) and say statements to improve the energy flow, release blocked or low emotions, and limiting or negative beliefs.

I also specialize in helping people with mindset. So, learning how to cope with emotions with kindness is something I’m really passionate about.

When it comes to eating, many of us overeat because it’s how we deal with emotions. I still do this from time to time even now. I don’t think it’s something you just switch off. But there are ways to deal with emotions in a positive way.

Just paying attention to how you feel and sitting with that emotion is a great start. I like to do some EFT to help release unwanted emotions. For example, If I feel stressed and worked up, I’ll do some EFT to calm down or if I’m feeling fed up, I’ll do some EFT for when you’re fed up.

I also like thought building blocks. Here’s how it works. You check in with yourself and ask “How am I feeling?” You’re feeling angry that your friend said something to you that wasn’t very kind.

Your thought building could go something like this…

I’m really angry and upset with Jenny (my virtual friend)
I feel angry
That was a thoughtless and unkind thing for Jenny to say
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
Is the thing that Jenny said true? If it is, why does this bother you and what could you do about it? If it’s not, acknowledge that it’s not and acknowledge that maybe your friend hadn’t really thought about what she was saying or maybe has personal reasons for saying it that have nothing to do with you.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH

The key is to deal with your emotions in a kind way without needing to turn to food. You may like to read my post How to deal with low emotions in a positive way without food.

8. Respect Your Body

I love this principle. Many of us who have been dieting for a long time have learned NOT TO RESPECT our body. So this principle is getting back to a state where you respect your body.

Some examples of respecting your body given in the book are…

My body deserves to be fed
My body deserves to be treated with dignity
My body deserves to be dressed comfortably and in a style I like
…

I encourage you to really think about how you’ve been treating your body and how you can respect your body more.

9. Movement – Feel The Difference

This principle is all about moving your body in a way that you enjoy, do it simply because you enjoy it and it feels good. Not exercising in a way that feels like torture to your body. So, if you hate the gym or the hour-long fitness classes, don’t do them, find other ways to get your body moving.

For me personally that looks something like this.

Walks with my dog
Dancing (my style) around the house
Lucy Wyndham-Read videos on YouTube – These are my favourites.
Swimming to enjoy the experience rather than pushing myself to do a certain amount of laps

10. Honor your health – Gentle nutrition

So, there are some nutrition tips in the book but the idea is very much around NOT HAVING FIXED RULES and not having to be perfect. It’s more about listening to your body and what it needs.

The way I see this is that it’s eating without rules in a way that helps your body feel really good. For example, I know that If I eat a very heavy meat-based meal such as a typical BBQ meal, my body doesn’t feel great, so I choose the lighter options and have less meat.

Now, I choose the lighter options because I know I will feel better and not because I think I can’t have other options. If I really want something I will have it.

My overall thoughts on intuitive eating

At this stage, I would not say that I’ve totally got this whole intuitive eating thing and I think that’s okay. I’m currently re-reading the INTUITIVE EATING BOOK.

It’s really in-depth and I don’t feel like I totally took in everything the first time around. It’s not the kind of book I was able to read quickly. I want to go through it all again now I feel I have a basic knowledge.

In general, I really love this way of eating. I am still carrying more weight than I would like for my health. I am going to talk more about weight loss and intuitive eating in a different post but I do not feel I am able to just let go of wanting to lose weight. But I’m approaching it in a way that feels better to me.

I’m paying attention to my body, I’m letting go of old rules, moving my body in a way I enjoy, and paying attention to the food that feels good to me as I’m eating and after I’ve eaten. I’m being kind to myself, to my body and I’m respecting my body.

I totally understand the order of the principles and they do go into why they’re in this order in the book. But I have found that things are really settling into what I feel is a really positive and healthy way of eating and treating my body once I’d read through all of the principles.

Yes, I can eat 6 chocolate bars but actually, that’s going to make my body feel really yucky and uncomfortable. Light meals feel much better to me compared to meat-heavy big meals.

This is definitely a way of eating I feel is positive for me. I do still focus on weight loss but I feel I do it in a really positive way. My body and the way it feels is my top priority, not the actual weight loss.

Check out these other intuitive eating posts

I’ve already written a couple of posts on intuitive eating here on the blog if you’d like to check them out…

Share your thoughts

Are you starting out as an intuitive eater? How are you getting on? Are you an experienced intuitive eater? Please share your thoughts and tips.

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