FAQs

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Intuitive Eating in Practice .

If I have permission to eat ‘all foods’ won’t my eating be out of control and I’ll gain weight?

Once you have made peace with food, and recognised that you can have any food, at any time, without guilt, the excitement around that food will fade. You will learn how to attune with your hunger and fullness cues and how to eat for satisfaction. This will result in eating moderately, instead of overeating.

Will I lose weight?

Your natural healthy weight is the weight you maintain when you eat and exercise normally. If you have an unrealistic view of what you should weigh then you won’t lose weight and keep it off! If you have been moving between periods of dieting and overeating you can probably reach your healthy natural weight. For those who have weight cycled (yo yo dieted) for years and damaged their metabolism as a result, you may require extra movement and increasing the amount you eat to boost your metabolism to help you lose weight.

Won’t I be unhealthy if I eat ‘what I want’?

This is a common fear when first embracing intuitive eating. However, in Tribole and Resch’s year’s of experience (The registered dieticians who designed the intuitive eating framework) giving yourself unconditional permission to eat all foods, results in a 90/10 balance of food choice. This means that roughly (this isn’t a rule remember) 90 percent of your food choices will be foods that are nutritionally healthy and honour your health. Whilst 10 percent will be ‘play’ foods that take care of your soul! Remember you are unlikely to crave, binge, overdo foods that you aren’t deprived of. You will learn through intuitive eating ‘body food congurance.’ This is how to recognise the appropriate foods in their appropriate amounts that make you feel good/healthy. Without needing to restrict, create diet rules or weight cycle in and out of diets that just don’t work. ⁣

You can learn to trust your body again and biology will take care of the rest. ⁣

What if I don’t lose weight?

If you are someone who is genetically predisposed to weighing more than society’s ideals and cannot lose weight, then intuitive eating is still very much for you. You will be free of the deprivation and guilt cycle that diet culture induces. You will learn to eat to honour your health and feel better and healthier as a result. You will learn how to move for joy, how to improve your sleep and stress management. You will free up your mental capacity to think about things that are truly important to you. You will lead a fuller, more enriching and happier life.