Resource Review: Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

Hey everyone,

Welcome to week two of my resource review series – Tuesday Reviewsday. If you missed week one, check out my first book review on a resource about mental health treatment for chronic pain here.

This week I’ll be reviewing a book that has been incredibly influential in my life and practice, “Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.

Supporting my clients to nurture themselves, reduce stress, and find pleasure in their lives is an essential part of my practice. This includes creating sustainable exercise habits, nourishing the body, and shifting the way that people talk about themselves.

Supporting clients to nourish their bodies, experience restful sleep, and gently move their bodies each day is the foundation upon which mental health is built. And yet, the relationship between food, exercise, and self image can be fraught in many people’s lives. Increasingly in my practice I’ve seen that challenges around body image have increased, and this is highlighted in mental health data which shows that disordered eating has skyrocketed during the pandemic.

With restrictions loosened and in-person activities resumed, I think of this time as a crucial reset period – an opportunity to begin to reintegrate into the community, which can include sharing food and group exercise.

This is why I’m so enthusiastic about sharing the concepts of Intuitive Eating, found in Tribole and Resch’s book, and sharing the principles of intuitive eating with you today.

*A note: If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, please scroll to the bottom of this page for more information about getting support.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

About the authors:

Tribole and Resch are a pair of nutrition therapists in private practice in California, with expertise in supporting clients with disordered eating and body image.

The first edition of Intuitive Eating was published in 1995, and has since been updated to the fourth edition, published in 2020. The latest edition features a review of studies showing the benefits of the intuitive eating model.

Intuitive Eating Summarized:

Here is a summary of the basic tenants of the intuitive eating model:

-        The main purpose of the model is to cultivate a healthy relationship between food, mind, and body.

-        The model encourages people to eat for physical reasons (hunger) rather than emotional reasons.

-        Learning to become aware of hunger and satiety cues involves developing interoceptive awareness, the ability to feel and interpret body sensations.

-        Weight loss is removed as a central aspect of wellbeing.

-        Diets don’t work – restricting food ultimately leads to food obsession, overeating, and weight fluctuations over time.

-        People are encouraged to have unconditional “permission” to eat whatever they want.

-        Moving the body is an essential part of health and wellbeing.

-        Connection to others is a crucial factor to supporting positive mental health.

Under the umbrella of intuitive eating, the authors outline ten principles, which I’ve summarized below.

Principle: reject diet mentality

Rejecting the diet mentality means letting go of an attachment to a number on a scale as being reflective of health or self-worth.

 The authors argue that there is no “success” or “failure” when it comes to eating or weight. The number on a scale tells you nothing about what is being weighed in the same way that weighing a steak won’t tell you how lean the meat is. An obsession with the number on a scale or your size only keeps you focused on weight as a primary marker of health and wellbeing, which it isn’t.  

When you’re on a diet, certain foods are promoted as being either “good” or “bad”, which leads people to feel guilty if they eat outside of what is prescribed. And you know what helps with feeling guilty? Often, it’s eating food that’s not prescribed in that diet. The book recommends letting go of any guilt around food, and I can’t think of a more liberating perspective.

Another crucial takeaway I got from this section of the book includes the research on how being told what to do can trigger a rebellious reaction. Imposing rigid diet rules and being “told” what to eat ultimately leads to a rebellion against those rules, leading to overeating and, ultimately, weight fluctuation.

This reminds me of a notion highlighted in Gabor Mate’s book “Scattered Minds” called “counter-will”. Being told what we “have” to do ultimately leads to a psychological process around resisting what is demanded of us.

In my practice, I remind my clients that they are adults and that they can ultimately do whatever works best for them. When it comes to creating a self-care plan, instead of saying they should engage in self-care, I remind clients that they deserve to feel amazing, and offer some suggestions on how they may attain that goal. These ways include:

-        Reducing guilt around any “negative” coping strategy (this can include teaching clients how to enjoy “junk” food with no guilt)

-        Nourishing the body with healthy food

-        Moving the body in a way that feels good

Together we “collect data” on what clients are doing to cope, track how they feel, and give people full “permission” to cope however they see fit.  

Principle: honor your hunger

The model of intuitive eating suggests that you keep your body biologically fed and respond to hunger cues by eating. The book highlights what happens psychologically and physiologically when the body is deprived of food.

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment is a fascinating study from the 1940s which found that when people are deprived of food, there is a psychological effect that makes people food obsessed.

Furthermore, when food is reintroduced and freely available, the fear of hunger remains and overeating persists.

This shows us that food insecurity or scarcity is a form of trauma, and that the impact can remain long after food becomes more readily available.  The “willpower” to avoid binging cannot be overcome by the biological drive to eat after starvation (or dieting).

The authors explain how to begin to listen to your hunger – you may notice a change of feel in the mouth, a gurgling or gnawing in the stomach, light-headedness, concertation challenges, irritability, feeling faint, or other signals. The authors recommend rating hunger from 0-10, and eating based on hunger cues. When a busy day does not permit eating exactly when hungry, the authors recommend planning ahead and making sure to not go longer than five hours without eating.

It is important to note that for some people, becoming aware of hunger cues has been suppressed, and that working with an experienced health professional may be necessary to begin to learn how to listen and respond to bodily cues.

Principle: make peace with food

Recall that being restrictive of anything in life sets us up for holding that thing to be extra special, which makes us covet it even more. Removing deprivation diminishes alluring quality of foods and instead puts this food in a rational perspective.

If you give yourself permission to eat any food, you may find that you don’t have to binge on that food. Remember – you are an adult that can eat whatever you want at any time, so you don’t have to eat any food as if it’s the last time you’re going to have it.

If you really listen to your body about whether you’re enjoying food, you’ll stop when you’ve gotten satisfaction from it. This means that you may find that the first cookie you eat is delicious, but the tenth cookie isn’t.  The habituation effect (coined by psychologist Daniel Gilbert) describes that wonderful things are especially wonderful the first time they happen, but wonderfulness naturally wanes with repetition.

Principle: challenge the food police

This part of the book outlines how different “parts” of our personality structure may have developed that automatically hold beliefs or say things to ourselves about food and our bodies. The voices that we hear internally are instilled by our society and family, and learning a new language of how to relate to the self can be cultivated in adulthood.

The authors outline that the “food police” is a “part” of the personality that most people who grew up in a diet culture have. The food police judges actions, is cruel, and harshly reinforces societal beliefs.

This part of the book made me so happy, because it aligns perfectly with the type of therapy I practice called Ego State Therapy. I’ve found across the body image literature that ego state therapy is widely employed. Learning to listen to the “ego state” of the “food police” can help us grow the part of the personality that is able to compassionately counter the harsh statements that the inner food critic may say to us.

Principle: cope with your emotions with kindness.

Because a principle of intuitive eating is to eat when you’re hungry, the perspective discourages eating to manage difficult emotions.

Emotions that may trigger people to eat include the following:

-        Boredom and procrastination

-        Bribery and reward

-        Excitement

-        Soothing

-        Love and romance

-        Frustration, anger, and rage

-        Stress, anxiety

-        Desire for connection

-        Letting go of control

A central tenant of therapy is learning to identify how you’re feeling, and what you may need based on that. Learning how to manage difficult emotions in therapy can support in a reduction of addictive behaviors including eating, shopping, substance use, and working, to name a few.

Principle: respect your body

One of the most useful concepts I’ve gotten from this book is that everyone has a genetic blueprint related to body shape, size, and weight. In the same way that you wouldn’t expect to fit a size 9 foot in a size 6 shoe, you can’t expect to unrealistically change your body.

This notion can be difficult for some people to accept. For some, it ca be letting go of a lifelong dream.  We cannot choose our weight, and saying goodbye to this fantasy can ultimately bring peace, contentment, and the energy to focus on other things.

The main point here is that you are deserving of care and respect no matter what size your body is. Respecting your body means taking care of your health and mental health. This includes eating to nourish your body and moving your body in a way that promotes wellbeing.

A favorite concept from this chapter is the following: you don’t have to like every part of your body, but you do have to respect it. This means treating your body with dignity and meeting its basic needs.

And my favorite line of this chapter: your body is an instrument, not an ornament.

Principle: movement – feel the difference

Simply put, moving your body can be fun.

The authors argue that what takes the fun out of movement is that folks associate exercise exclusively with the desire to lose weight, and abuse their bodies in exercise which can lead to injuries.

Exercise is a lifelong commitment that has to be sustainable and fun in order to be a part of your life.

Furthermore, if you begin to exercise while on a diet, it’s likely that energy and caloric intake is too low, especially if carbohydrates are inadequate (as carbs are the preferred fuel for exercise). If there has been significant food restriction, you may have to work with your health care team to discuss how to reintroduce food into your life in order to support a safe movement practice.

When you focus on how exercise feels rather than counting calories burned, you can begin to enjoy movement and how it makes you feel.

Noticing how the body feels during exercise is also an amazing way to build interoceptive awareness – if you recall, this is the skill of learning to attune to bodily sensations (including hunger and satiety cues).

If you need support with figuring out an approach to exercise, the book recommends framing exercise in this way. Exercise should:

-        Enhance the mind/body connection and coordination and not confuse or dysregulate it

-        Alleviate mental and physical stress and not amplify it

-        Provide genuine enjoyment and should not be used for punitive reasons

-        Rejuvenate, not deplete

Principle: honor your health

The authors write “we will not be healthy until we learn to love food with a relaxed, generous, unashamed emotion”. They argue that sometimes it’s not the food that people are eating that makes them sick, it’s the chronic worry around food and bodies that actually contributes to social isolation and stress-related diseases.

Stress produces a biochemical assault in our bodies which is harmful to our health.

A fascinating concept in this book can be found in the “French paradox”.  Consider this – the French on average have a longer life expectancy, take less medication, and have lower instances of heart disease than Americans, while at the same time having the highest per-capita dairy consumption (think: butter and cheese) than any industrial nation.  The French also have lower rates of eating disorders than Americans and engage in less dieting.

The authors argue that this is because in France, food is seen as pleasure, not poison. The French pay more attention to the sensory quality of food, eat for a longer period of time, and eat less, creating a more satisfying food experience. This is similar to the Japanese principle of finding pleasure in food, which is highlighted as an essential health component in dietary recommendations.

 More enjoyment means less stress, better digestion, less shame, and more connection with community.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take into account any health recommendations. Of course there’s a nutritional difference between an apple and apple pie. However, having a healthy relationship with food means you’re not morally superior for choosing one or the other, and that your body may find itself enjoying the apple as much as the apple pie if you truly listen.

The authors recommend that there are food suggestions that support a healthy diet, and these suggestions include eating enough plant food, grains, fish, and protein. It’s also important to get enough fat to support brain health, which can be found in olive oil, nuts, and seeds. Reducing processed food can also be useful in limiting sugar and sodium intake.

It’s also important to note that there’s a place for play food, formerly known as junk food. There is value in this kind of food, and a time and place when it hits just the spot and can promote health and wellbeing. If you truly listen to your body, there’s a chance that you won’t overeat on play food – eating chocolate all day long would lead to nausea, heaviness, dullness. You’ll notice that it doesn’t ultimately take a lot of play food to satisfy if you pay attention to bodily cues.

So there you have it! Overall I thought this book was an incredible paradigm shift, and has helped me support my clients to lead happier lives in their bodies just as they are.

Thanks for reading along and have a wonderful day!

*A note:

Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses that can have severe physical and emotional consequences. Treating eating disorders requires a multidisciplinary team approach from trained health professionals. If you or a loved one is suffering, help can be found. Within Canada, please visit the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) at www.nedic.ca or call toll free at 1-866-633-4220