Mindful eating. Intuitive eating. Both approaches are used by Anti-Diet and Health at Every Size dietitians. While these two eating approaches complement each other, there are some important differences.
Intuitive eating is a framework created by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch based on their work with eating disorder recovery. They are most known for the 10 principles of intuitive eating, which center around making peace with food, rejecting the diet mentality and to learn how to develop a healthier relationship with food. Intuitive eating goes beyond the eating experience to encourage people to change their relationship with food and the body.
Mindful eating is awareness that arises from paying attention, eating with purpose, eating non-judgmentally and being in the present moment. Mindful eating encourages you to use your senses in choosing to eat food that is satisfying and nourishing to you and your body. It means you acknowledge your likes, dislikes and neutral responses to food - without judgement. Mindful eating requires you to be aware of your hunger and satiety cues to help guide your food and eating related decisions.
Regardless which approach appeals to you the most, it's important to recognize that these are not diet plans. There are no rules but instead, principles to help you develop a healthier relationship with food and your body.
In our appearance-body focused culture, it's easy to slip into unhealthy or disordered eating practices, often as a way to manipulate the look of your body or to feel a sense of control. Intuitive and mindful eating challenge rigid "diet" principles and all-or-nothing thinking.
Learning to eat more intuitively - or mindfully - can help you honor your body and mind, tune in to your body, identify hunger/satisfaction cues and free up brain space that is wastefully spending too much time overthinking calories and bad food. In turn, positive benefits include greater life satisfaction and eating/exercising with gratitude instead of guilt.
Although you may find a diet plan or off-limit food list helpful to take away the guessing, the best style of eating for you is one that you can maintain for the entirety of your life. It takes time, compassion and patience to learn how to listen, honor and respect your body with food - but it will be worth it with a healthy life well-lived. If you have been following food rules for a very long time, mindful/intuitive eating can be viewed as a path of self-discovery, helping you learn how to eat for pleasure and enjoyment while also meeting the needs of your body and mind.
A note for athletes....
A major component of mindful and intuitive eating is learning how to honor your hunger and fullness. While this sounds simple, if you have struggled with your relationship with food for some time, you may not know what hunger and satisfaction feel like. Additionally, hunger cues may be blunted after intense, hot or high volume training. Your appetite may be nonexistent when you are nervous. Only eating when you feel hungry and stopping eating when you feel full may cause you to undereat and fall short of your total energy needs. As athletes, there are instances when you need to eat even when you don't feel hungry and times when you shouldn't eat what you want to eat, when you feel hungry. For example, honoring your food cravings when you are cycling or running may lead to GI issues.
For endurance athletes, there are many times when we need to override what our body is telling us and then there are times when we need to listen. Logically, there are going to be times when you need to mechanically eat, even when your body doesn't "feel" hungry.
Fueling your body, eating foods you enjoy and nourishing your body are all acts of self-care.
Learning to eat more intuitively and mindfully can help you improve your relationship with food, your body....and athletic performance. To help you get started, here are a few tips....
- Stop dieting and treating food as the enemy. No more feeling deprived, "earning" your calories or terming foods good or bad.
- Create a flexible balance between foods you enjoy, a nutrient-dense diet and foods that fuel your training. Use rational, not rigid thinking to help with food planning.
- Be present. Plan your meals in advance. Make time to eat. Slow down when you eat. Truly enjoy the food choices that you make.
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