Registered Dietitian, Brittany Bauer, shares how intuitive eaters have a balanced approach to food without a structured meal plan.
When you hear the words Intuitive Eating, do you feel overwhelmed with the thought, “what am I going to eat if I don’t have a meal plan?”
So often, I hear people express their fear that they will overeat or not know what to eat if they aren’t following a diet. Maybe you are used to a structured eating plan, and the thought of figuring out what to eat throughout the day without that is overwhelming. Let me say I hear you, and you are not alone!
Relearning to listen to your body after years of being told you can’t trust your body is not an easy journey! But let me encourage you that it is not impossible! You may be asking, “what does an intuitive eater eat, and what does that look like for me?”
Eating to Feel Good
Christ-centered intuitive eaters eat to feel good in their bodies, minds, and spirits.
They see all foods God created as good and all as permissible (unless there is a food allergy, of course). However, one of the myths about Intuitive Eating is that you eat whatever you want, whenever you want, without listening to what your body needs. This is not true of Intuitive Eating.
As an intuitive eater, you learn to eat foods that bring you satisfaction (think taste, smell, appearance, temperature, texture, etc.) as well as make your body feel good.
Intuitive Eating is multifaceted and involves listening to hunger and fullness, emotional needs, respecting your body, and eating without judgments about yourself or your food.
Most importantly, it’s about trusting the Holy Spirit and trusting that God made your body able to communicate its needs. Gentle nutrition and gentle movement are tools, not rules. No food is good or bad when you choose to eat it. However, foods have different nutrient densities, and you may notice that certain amounts and types of foods may make you feel different than others.
Intuitive eaters use these principles to help them know what to eat!
From Brownies to Salad
Let’s look at two examples.
One afternoon, you crave a brownie. The choice to eat the brownie isn’t bad. But, before digging into the brownie dish, you remember that you ate three brownies in the past because of the all-or-nothing mentality, and you felt sick and uncomfortably full. Then you were hungry again shortly after in the next hour. You didn’t enjoy how you felt in this scenario.
Therefore, this time, you listen to how your body is feeling at the moment.
Are you ravenously hungry because you skipped a meal, or are you looking for that delicious taste to finish your meal? So, you start with one brownie and notice that you are satisfied with the taste, texture, and level of fullness. You know you can always have more, so you realize you are content after one.
The next day, you crave a salad.
In the past, when you ate the salad out of a “should” mentality, you noticed that you were full quickly and then hungry shortly after you ate. You never felt satisfied when you ate the carbless, dressing-free salad.
After observing this, you add more protein, carbohydrates, and your favorite salad dressing to your salad this time. Now, you have a more balanced dish that provides more sustaining energy from carbohydrates and protein. This time, you feel fully satisfied after eating, and your energy is sustained more throughout the day.
These are examples of how intuitive eaters eat all foods but make their food choices based on what is best for their bodies at each moment. It is not based on fear, guilt, shame, or judgment. They are in tune with what their body needs and wants and respect how food affects them.
Learning to trust that God made your body desire a variety of foods to balance your intake throughout the weeks and months will take a lot of pressure off needing to make the “perfect” decision on what to eat.
If you found this helpful, please share it with someone you know! I’d love to hear what you are eating as an intuitive eater and how you are learning to become an intuitive eater!
Brittany Bauer is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and Revelation Wellness Platoon 26 Graduate. She loves helping women overcome guilt, shame, fear, and frustration around food by teaching them Christ Centered Intuitive Eating and helping them find their confident identity in Christ, and teaching them the loving heart of the Father. She lives in Montana with her husband and three cats and loves adventure and serving on medical missions. You can find out more about her on www.myrevnutrition.com.
A Wholehearted Approach to Eating
The point of Intuitive Eating isn’t just about a new way to eat.
If you’ve been in diet culture for most of your life, Intuitive Eating can be a way to surrender your food choices and body image to the goodness of God. Because God cares about the whole you.
You don’t need to look at the world’s prescription for the perfect body anymore. Instead, you can trust God has made your body with specific needs that can be met with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Food doesn’t have to be the boss of you anymore. Tune into God’s voice and find food freedom!
Learn more about Intuitive Eating:
