What Are The Benefits of Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to eating and it comes with many health benefits. Rather than losing weight and being strict with what food you eat or don’t eat, this practice encourages you to listen to your body’s internal cues, which leads to a better relationship with food and overall well-being.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of intuitive eating.

You Develop a Positive Body Image and Self-Esteem

One of the principles of intuitive eating is honoring your hunger. It means listening to your body when it’s either hungry or full. You feed yourself adequately and you know when to stop.

People who eat intuitively have a more positive body image because they no longer feel guilty about eating, and appreciate their body more.

You become nicer to yourself because you don’t beat yourself up for eating what you have been taught not to in other diets. Instead, you focus on self-care and recognizing your body’s cues for when you feel hungry or full.

This can lead to better self-esteem. As you develop a better body image, let go of the guilt, and dismiss judgment from others, your self-confidence increases. You learn to trust your body and know that the food you eat doesn’t define you.

You Improve Your Relationship with Food

Intuitive eating tells you to break free from the restrictive diet culture. You can challenge the food police in your head and among the people around you.

Intuitive eating tells you that you can eat a wide range of food that you want without feeling guilty. Initially, you might overeat the food you’ve been deprived of, but intuitive eating will make that food a normal part of your food list and lose its “special” label.

When you eat intuitively, you become more attuned to what food you like or dislike. Intuitive eating allows you to explore food, which could lead to discoveries of a bunch of food that will make you feel satiated.

Food tastes better, and you enjoy the tastes even more because you soon realize that you don’t have to worry about counting the calories. You can focus more on how it tastes and makes you feel.

You Have Better Emotional Health

Another principle of intuitive eating is coping with your emotions through different methods, and not just coping with food. While food can often make you feel better, the problem is when you become too reliant on it, which leads to binge eating or overeating.

When you eat intuitively, you become conscious of how food can be helpful to you, but you find other ways to manage your emotions and reduce your stress. You become more mindful of your emotions and how to handle them.

Intuitive eating also helps you to feel good emotionally, as all the guilt and judgment of the diet culture are gone. You eat based on how you need to fuel your body, which ultimately helps improve your mood.

As eating intuitively boosts your body image and appreciation and you find food more enjoyable to eat, you become more satisfied with yourself and life.

You Feel More Energized

As you become more aware of your body’s cues, you’ll feel more energized. This newfound energy helps you find enjoyment in moving your body, and wanting to get up and move.

When you let go of the negative thinking that you have to exercise to lose weight, and instead listen to your body when it wants to get active, you will actually enjoy exercising. You don’t have to feel guilty when you take a day off from exercising.

In Summary

Intuitive eating can benefit you in many ways, but it may not be for everyone. It’s not as easy to practice as it sounds, especially in the beginning. So if you are looking for weight loss results, this eating approach may not be for you. However, if you are after a healthier, more energized body, no matter what the scale says, intuitive eating may be worth it for you.