How to Eat Intuitively
Psychotherapist Andrea Wachter discusses intuitive eating with Dr. Laurie Santos, advocating for listening to inner hunger cues over external diet rules. She explains how this approach, rooted in self-care and body respect, can free individuals from disordered eating and the diet-riot rollercoaster, leading to improved well-being and peace of mind.
Deep Dive Analysis
16 Topic Outline
Introduction to New Year's Resolutions and Diet Culture
The Problem with External Diet Advice and Body Shame
Andrea Wachter's Personal Struggle with Disordered Eating
Turning Point: Prioritizing Peace of Mind Over Body Size
Understanding Intuitive Eating as a Paradigm
Connecting Intuitive Eating with Health at Every Size (HAES)
Challenges in Hearing the Inner Voice Amidst Life's Noise
Distinguishing Motives for Dietary Restrictions
The Role of Scales and Tracking Apps in Intuitive Eating
Benefits of Intuitive Eating Beyond Body Size
Strategies for Developing an Intuitive Relationship with Food
Distinguishing Internal Voices: Dieter, Rioter, Body Wisdom
Intuitive Eating as a Long-Term, Mindful Process
Overcoming Guilt and Shame in the Intuitive Eating Journey
Preventing Intuitive Eating from Becoming Another Diet
The Liberating Impact of Intuitive Eating
4 Key Concepts
Diet Riot Rollercoaster
This term describes the cycle of drastically restricting food intake (dieting) followed by periods of uncontrolled eating binges (rioting). It's a pattern that can last for decades, causing obsession and distress around food and body image.
Intuitive Eating
A paradigm for approaching wellness and food choices that encourages listening to one's internal hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues rather than external diet rules. It's a commitment to self-care and respect, allowing the body to settle into its natural size.
Health at Every Size (HAES)
A movement aimed at ending weight discrimination and challenging the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy. It promotes self-care, self-respect, and respectful, non-restrictive eating for overall well-being, rather than for achieving a specific body size.
Diet Mentality
An ingrained belief system that categorizes foods as 'good' or 'bad' and links a specific body size or weight to happiness, health, and lovability. This programming often leads individuals to cut themselves off from their natural hunger and fullness signals, causing restriction and eventual rebellion.
9 Questions Answered
The 'diet riot rollercoaster' is Andrea Wachter's term for the cycle of restrictive dieting followed by periods of uncontrolled eating or binging, which she experienced for decades.
Intuitive eating is a paradigm that encourages individuals to listen to their internal body cues (hunger, fullness, satisfaction) for food choices and self-care, rather than following external diet rules, with a focus on overall well-being.
Health at Every Size (HAES) is a movement that complements intuitive eating by promoting self-care, self-respect, and non-restrictive eating for well-being, challenging weight discrimination and the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy.
Yes, if the motive for restriction is ethical (e.g., vegetarianism) or due to a genuine physical response like an allergy, it can be consistent with intuitive eating. However, if the motive is calorie restriction or weight loss goals, it's likely to cause obsession and rebellious eating.
For individuals with a history of body image issues or disordered eating, weighing or tracking apps are generally not recommended as they can be triggering and detract from listening to internal cues. For others without such issues, tracking might be a fun activity, but an app cannot tell you what your body truly needs.
Benefits of intuitive eating include increased energy and clarity, decreased disordered eating, improved well-being and happiness, improved cholesterol levels, and a sense of liberation from constant obsession over food and body.
When making food choices, one can identify the inner dieter voice (focused on 'shoulds' and 'bad' foods), the rioter voice (desiring excess due to restriction), and the body wisdom voice (which seeks what feels loving, respectful, non-restrictive, and delicious).
Intuitive eating is a long-term, mindful process that requires unlearning years of diet mentality and practicing internal listening, unlike quick-fix diets that promise immediate results but often fail in the long run.
To prevent intuitive eating from becoming another diet, one must continuously keep an eye out for diet mentality statements like perfectionism or self-judgment. It requires renewing the commitment to peace and freedom from battling food and body, rather than aiming for 'perfect' intuitive eating.
34 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Peace Over Size
Make a conscious vow to prioritize peace of mind and wellness over achieving a specific body size or number, committing to tune into your wise and loving inner self when making food choices.
2. Adopt Intuitive Eating Mindset
Start approaching food choices by listening to your body’s internal cues, similar to how you respond to other bodily needs like going to the bathroom or putting on a sweater when cold, rather than external rules.
3. Commit to Inner Cues
Make a commitment to intuitive eating, which involves a fundamental ‘do-over’ of how you approach food, movement, and self-care by focusing on internal cues rather than external rules.
4. Question Diet Industry Claims
Be prepared for the seduction of fad diets and cultivate the willingness to believe that if diets truly worked, they would have been effective by now, recognizing the industry’s high failure rate.
5. Acknowledge Diet Ineffectiveness
Increase your awareness of diet mentality and be willing to acknowledge that diets are generally ineffective, as evidenced by their repeated failure to provide lasting results.
6. Diminish Eating Shame
Work to diminish shame related to your body and eating habits by recognizing that these issues are often a result of ‘faulty and insane programming,’ not personal failing, as shame can fuel both overeating and restriction.
7. Side With Your Body
Instead of turning against your body, choose to side with it, reject harmful societal programs, and consciously decide to pursue peace with your body and eating.
8. Practice Self-Care, Self-Respect
Embrace self-care and self-respect by feeding yourself non-restrictively and respectfully, prioritizing overall well-being over attempting to achieve a body size that may not be natural for you.
9. Care for Body Like a Child
Treat your body with the same care and attention you would a child, ensuring it is fed and nurtured even amidst a busy schedule, by being willing to dedicate time for self-care.
10. Listen to Inner Hunger Voice
Tune into your ‘wise inner hunger voice’ to guide your eating decisions, which helps avoid the shame and negative influence of external diet advice.
11. Increase Body Needs Awareness
Develop a heightened awareness of your body’s internal signals, such as hunger, thirst, and temperature, and learn to recognize what foods sound delicious and what your body truly needs.
12. Tune Into Movement Signals
Listen to your body’s cues regarding movement, asking ‘What does my body want to do?’ instead of adhering to rigid exercise rules or feeling compelled to move out of obligation.
13. Distinguish Inner Eating Voices
Learn to differentiate between your inner dieter voice (restriction), the rioter voice (rebellion), and your true body wisdom (loving, respectful choices) to make conscious food decisions.
14. Ask: Feed Loved One?
When making food choices, especially when struggling, ask yourself, ‘How would I feed someone I love who doesn’t diet or riot?’ to access a more compassionate and wise perspective.
15. Ask: What Feels Loving?
When choosing food, ask yourself, ‘What feels the most loving for my body right now?’ and ‘What feels the most respectful for my body right now?’ to guide you toward choices that honor your well-being.
16. Identify, Challenge Unkind Thoughts
Learn to identify and process your feelings, and become aware of your thoughts, challenging and ‘upgrading’ any unkind or negative thought patterns, especially those related to your body and food.
17. Address Underlying Emotional Needs
Identify and address the unmet needs and deeper underlying emotional issues that contribute to eating problems, rather than solely focusing on food itself.
18. Deal With Feelings Constructively
Learn to process and deal with your emotions and unmet needs through means other than food, preventing emotional eating or restriction.
19. Assess Food Restriction Motives
Evaluate your motivations for cutting out foods; it’s respectful to avoid foods for ethical reasons or allergies, but restrictive eating based on calorie counts or weight goals is likely to lead to obsession or rebellious eating.
20. Avoid Weighing for Body Image
If you struggle with eating or body image, avoid weighing yourself as it is often unhelpful and triggering, since intuitive eating focuses on internal cues, not external numbers.
21. Replace Scale with Self-Compassion
If you own a scale, write ’listen to your body, sweetheart’ on a piece of paper and tape it over the scale as a reminder to prioritize inner wisdom and self-kindness over external measurements.
22. Use Tracking Apps Cautiously
If you have a history of body shame or disordered eating, be cautious with tracking apps, as they cannot tell you what your body truly needs for movement or rest; rely on your internal knowing instead.
23. Buy What Sounds Good
When shopping for food, choose items that genuinely sound good to you, rather than adhering to restrictive diet rules, to foster a non-restrictive and satisfying eating experience.
24. Be Kind, Willing to Discover
Be willing to release the ‘diet riot rollercoaster’ of restricting and binging, accepting uncertainty about body changes, and commit to being kind to yourself throughout the process.
25. Apply Intention and Attention
Approach intuitive eating with intention and mindful attention, understanding that like any new skill, it requires desire, a clear path, consistent practice, and patience to master.
26. Commit to Practice, Patience
Understand that intuitive eating requires significant work, consistent practice, and patience, as it represents a fundamental shift from conventional eating approaches.
27. Re-evaluate Values, Seek New Way
Regularly assess your values and ask if the time and energy spent controlling or rebelling against eating and body size is truly serving you, and be open to finding an alternative approach.
28. Watch for Diet Mentality
Be vigilant for the subtle ‘diet mentality’ statements (e.g., perfectionism, ‘I blew it,’ ‘I shouldn’t have that’) that can creep into intuitive eating, and continuously renew your commitment to peace over control.
29. Embrace Imperfection, Stay Awake
Release the need for perfection in intuitive eating, as it is not about flawless adherence but about continuous willingness to look inward, stay awake, and learn from your body’s signals.
30. Renew Commitment to Peace
Regularly renew your commitment to the underlying reason for pursuing intuitive eating, which is to find peace with food and your body, rather than continuing the battle.
31. Invest Time in Listening
Dedicate time to truly listen to your body’s signals, as this investment will yield lasting benefits without the negative ‘blowback’ often associated with restrictive diets.
32. Seek Freedom and Liberation
Embrace intuitive eating to gain freedom from food obsession, liberate yourself from memorizing rules or calculating intake, and experience a profound sense of wellness and peace.
33. Unlearn Brainwashing
Actively work to ‘wash your brain’ of deeply ingrained beliefs and programs that equate a certain body size with happiness and health, recognizing these as societal brainwashing.
34. Stand Against Harmful Messages
Take a firm stand against the pervasive media, diet, and fitness industry messages that promote body perfectionism and fat phobia, rather than turning against your own body.
5 Key Quotes
The diet industry is the only industry I know of that continues to grow despite a huge failure rate, but people still believe in them.
Andrea Wachter
I wanted peace of mind and wellness more than I wanted to be a certain number or a certain size.
Andrea Wachter
If diets worked, they would have worked by now.
Andrea Wachter
It's not respectful to restrict and eat things you don't even like and it's not respectful to stuff ourselves. It's just to tune into the kind voice inside.
Andrea Wachter
It brings freedom. There is so much more free time if you're not obsessing on your food or your body.
Andrea Wachter
2 Protocols
Developing an Intuitive Relationship with Food
Andrea Wachter- Diminish shame by understanding that problematic eating stems from faulty programming, not personal failing.
- Learn to identify and deal with your feelings.
- Become aware of unkind thoughts and consider challenging and upgrading them.
- Continually examine your values to see if current efforts to control eating and body size are working, or if you desire a different path.
- Commit to practice, patience, and a willingness to undergo a 'huge do-over' from previous approaches.
Making Food Choices with Intuitive Eating
Andrea Wachter- Ask yourself: 'How would I feed someone I love who doesn't diet or riot?'
- Ask yourself: 'What feels the most loving for your body right now?'
- Ask yourself: 'What feels the most respectful for your body right now?'
- Distinguish between the inner dieter voice, the rioter voice, and your body's wisdom to connect with what feels loving, respectful, non-restrictive, and delicious.