With over 60 studies to support it, intuitive eating is emerging as a positive approach to eating, getting the right amount of food for your body type, and enhancing health and well being. It’s also an excellent way to raise kids in terms of food, body appreciation and decreasing eating-disorder risk.
In today’s show we have Intuitive Eating expert Elyse Resch. Elyse has been in private practice in Beverly Hills as a Nutrition Therapist for 34 years, specializing in eating disorders, Intuitive Eating, and preventative nutrition. She is the co-author of Intuitive Eating and the soon-to-be published Intuitive Eating Workbook. She has published journal articles and is nationally known for her work in helping patients break free from the diet mentality through the “Intuitive Eating” process.
In this episode, Elyse Resch shares her wisdom and the history of Intuitive Eating. She explains why it is so important to question your long-held assumptions about food, eating and weight. She details how we are all born intuitive eaters, and how easy it is to get off track. A firm believer of the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement, she shares how society’s weight and diet focus compromises health rather than heals it, and how Intuitive Eating can be the antidote.
Highlights from the Show
- How Elyse got into Intuitive Eating, which led to its first publication in 1995
- Elyse’s definition of Intuitive Eating — what it is and why it’s beneficial
- The false assumptions people make about food and eating that hold them back, and keep them stuck in the “diet mentality”
- The role dichotomous thinking (food is all good or all bad) plays in food choices, and makes eating well more difficult
- The vital role autonomy plays in food choices and well being, and why individuals rebel when being told what to eat
- The surprising reason people emotionally eat, and the easy way to stop
- Why unconditional permission to eat and a no-judgment attitude are vital components of Intuitive Eating
- The importance of divorcing weight and body shape from eating choices and other healthy habits
- How to raise intuitive eaters starting with responsive feeding in infancy
Intuitive Eating Mindset Quote
When you challenge those assumptions and really look at the truth, look at the science, look at people’s history, you are able to sit back and go Whoa, wait a minute, I’ve been working off this assumption and it’s not working for me!
Pertinent Show Links
Intuitive Eating Workbook (preorder) Intuitive Eating Website
What if We All Just Stopped Trying to Lose Weight
Download link
Duration: 42:58
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hello~ I am looking for someone to help work with our family-Our daughter is likely going to be starting growth hormones (a longer story)—-has been told that she needs to “not gain weight”–
I believe in the intuitive eating way-and am on my own journey-and would like to have someone work with us to help her return to her natural way.
Can anyone out there help with a referral?
Where do you live? Are you okay with skype interview or do you want someone local?
I am confused about how Intuitive Eating is effected by emotional eating. In this interview I heard Elysse talk about people eating for emotional reasons if they feel bad about having eaten the wrong thing, overeaten, etc. From what I understand, her solution is that people should learn that there are no wrong foods, therefore, without the guilt a person will be able to listen to their intuition and eat according to their needs.
But there are other kinds of emotional eating. There are people who use food to stuff down feelings of sadness, of overwhelm, of insecurity, of confusion, etc…much as an alcoholic would drink to not feel the pain of their emotions. So often I am keenly aware of having eaten enough, of feeling full, yet I find myself overriding that awareness because my emotions still need to be calmed. I understand that it is important to find ways to deal with emotions beside using food to calm them….but I am wondering how Intuitive Eating addresses this issue.
Thanks for the good question. Eating is complicated but often people who emotionally eat often diet and look at food as good or bad. In less serious cases of emotional eating people look for excuses to eat food they like.Once you start having a more neutral view of food and listen to hunger and fullness, people are more likely to then find other ways to deal with your emotions. But in some cases intuitive eating isn’t enough. I recommend you listen to my interview with Karen Koenig “Food and Feelings.” She offers more insight into emotional eating — and we talk about this very subject.