If you’re not familiar with the concept of intuitive eating, it’s basically an approach that suggests if you learn how to eat according to your body’s natural signals — to have such a connection to your own appestat and a willingness to decipher true hunger from cravings that connote something else (emotions, boredom, etc.), you will naturally gravitate towards a diet that is reflective of your body’s natural weight. And assuming the human body “knows” it does not function at its best when overweight, this means your body’s natural appetite will be for an amount of eating that will cause you to lose (or gain, if you are underweight) weight until you reach this “natural” weight for yourself. The theory behind this is that we lose touch of our built-in biological mechanisms that turn our hunger on and off through dieting and years of poor relationsips/attitudes with food, but that this can be retaught if you’re willing to work at it.
It sounds so wonderful in theory. The notion that you can reach the point where you’re always eating whatever you want (after all, if you’re truly zeroed in on your body’s natural appetite, then indeed, that’s what this means) and still maintaining a fit and healthy body…..is almost breathtakingly seductive. And to hear it explained, it MAKES so much SENSE, doesn’t it?
Here’s the problem (and you knew there was going to be a problem, didn’t you?). Actually, there are several problems.
Firstly, any notion of any accuracy to your body’s “natural” biological signals went out the door the minute society introduced one thing into the mix: processed foods. The playing field is no longer level. If somehow the only foods that were available to eat were “real” foods — fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, basic dairy (meaning, no triple-cream mocha caramel cheesecake bliss ice cream), unmilled grains (rice, oats, millet, etc.), beans, honey, tea, etc., sure, then I can see how one could make the argument that connecting to the body’s “wisdom” for our nutritional needs could be plausible.
However, this is obviously is not the case. No, instead, these foods are competing against the kind of culinary bombs that tickle the senses almost frighteningly. Let’s be honest, who of us has not taken that first bite of a delicious brownie or some other over-the-top treat and found our head practically swimming in awe-struck delight? There is simply so much MORE to the eating experience than mere biology/nutrition, there’s just no way to allow what you choose to eat to be dictated ONLY by what you “feel” your body wants. Suppose your body decides it never again wants to eat a fruit or vegetable? Some people just plain don’t like them very much (thankfully I’m not one of them). What then?
But let’s give the benefit of the doubt and allow the possibility that a person actually very much enjoys eating healthy food, even if they also enjoy the “bad stuff” as well. Why shouldn’t intuitive eating work for them, in terms of being able to eat what they want and somehow normalize their weight?
Because the other problem that I don’t think intuitive eating answers is that we are creatures of habit. For anyone who has attempted intuitive eating and claimed to not see much change in their weight (up or down), I suspect it’s because they’re probably gravitating towards the amount of calories/portions they have been accustomed to eating within recent times of attempting the intuitive eating. So while they may not gain a great deal of weight, they’re also not experiencing enough of a consistent calorie deficit to cause weight loss.
But the other problem I see with intuitive eating lies in the presumption that the body’s idea of “natural weight” bears any resemblence to what most of us would see as a fit, “optimal weight” body for ourselves. Let’s remember that the human body is designed for survival, not to look like a supermodel when in our underwear (or, speaking to my own bias, to look like a “superathlete,” be it in street clothes or naked or anywhere in between). And while I appreciate that this is a good reminder that what a person thinks of as “fit” isn’t necessarily compatable with good health….I remain unchanged in desiring a lean body. So whether intuitive eating were to bring me to a “natural weight” while being able to eat whatever I “want” or not, I’m not interested in being at the likely “natural weight” the human body probably would be inclined towards.
Thus, in my opinion, to look the way most of us want, especially in the face of the foods available and the ever-present realities of habit and routine, means we have to have some form of a structure to our eating, and we WILL have to at times override what we “want” and sometimes deny our body’s cravings. Honestly, what’s the big deal? Don’t we have to endure periods of discomfort and discipline ourselves in pretty much all areas of life? What makes having to do this with our eating such a terrible thing?
