My First Steps Into Intuitive Eating

Over the years, I’ve grown wary of diets. I’ve always found it difficult to stick to rigid food rules — mostly because I believe that diets are not one-size-fits-all. Our bodies, minds, and lives are constantly changing. So why should our diets — or portion sizes — stay the same for everyone, all the time?

In short, I find diets impractical, restrictive, and unsustainable. My own attempts at following a couple of mainstream plans were short-lived and frustrating. And from what I’ve seen among friends and family, I’m deeply aware of the emotional toll diets can take: the guilt, the shame, the rebound cravings, and that sinking sense of failure when “willpower” inevitably slips.

So when I came across the book Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, I felt a strong pull. It felt like an invitation — to eat in a way that’s rooted in trust, awareness, and self-kindness, not in exhaustive lists of dos and don’ts.

I ordered myself a copy, and I’m still less than halfway through, but already I feel more connected — like this might actually be doable.

The foundation of Intuitive Eating rests on 10 principles — not rules — that are meant to help rebuild a healthy relationship with food, body, and mind. This approach isn’t about chasing weight loss or earning meals through exercise. It’s about coming home to your own body.

Here’s a brief look at the ten principles:

---

1. Reject the Diet Mentality
Let go of the belief that there’s a perfect diet waiting to fix you. Diet culture thrives on making us feel broken — but you’re not broken, its the system that is.

2. Honor Your Hunger
Your body’s cues are not the enemy. Feed yourself when you're hungry, with adequate energy and carbs. Ignoring hunger only leads to deeper imbalance.

3. Make Peace with Food
Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. When food is no longer forbidden, it loses its power over you.

4. Challenge the Food Police
Silence the inner voice that labels food as “good” or “bad.” Food has no moral value. You’re not “better” for eating a salad or “worse” for eating cake.

5. Feel Your Fullness
Tune in during meals. Pause and notice — are you still hungry, gently full, or comfortably satisfied?

6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
Eating should be pleasurable. When you truly enjoy what you eat, you tend to need less of it to feel satisfied.

7. Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness
Food can comfort, but it can’t fix deeper needs. Notice when you’re using food to soothe, and gently explore other forms of care too.

8. Respect Your Body
You don’t have to love every inch of your body to treat it with dignity. Accept its shape and size as it is, today.

9. Movement — Feel the Difference
Shift your focus from calorie-burning to how movement feels. Find ways to move that bring joy, release stress, and reconnect you with your body.

10. Honor Your Health — Gentle Nutrition
You can care about health and still eat intuitively. Choose foods that nourish and satisfy — without obsessing over perfection.

---

It’s a lot to take in. These principles are quite radical yet deeply personal. They ask us to unlearn just as much as they ask us to try something new.

All the same, I feel hopeful — that maybe there is another way. One that doesn’t require me to fight my body, but rather to listen to it with curiosity and care.

In the coming days, I’ll be exploring these principles one by one — slowly, gently — and sharing what each one brings up for me. This isn’t a how-to. It’s more like a conversation. With myself. With my body. And maybe with you too.

Let’s see what opens up.