Like many of you, I’ve been thinking a lot about healthy habits. We can’t travel that path for long before thinking about our diet. I recently heard a segment on a morning talk show devoted to intuitive eating. The ideas resonated with me, so I decided to investigate it for my three-part blog series on health and wellness.
Intuitive Eating is a self-care approach to eating that brings together instinct, emotion, and thoughtful decision making. It was developed in 1995 by registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. This approach is weight-inclusive and grounded in research, supported by a validated assessment tool and more than 100 studies.
How does intuitive eating work?
Intuitive Eating is not a one-size-fits-all plan but an ongoing, personal practice shaped by ten guiding principles. These include letting go of diet culture, responding to hunger and fullness cues, making peace with food, releasing food-related guilt and rules, respecting your body, finding satisfaction in eating, caring for emotions without using food, respecting your body, moving your body regularly, and supporting health through nutrition.
The principles work in two main ways. First, they help you tune in to your body’s physical signals so both biological and emotional needs can be met. Second, they clear away mental barriers to that awareness, such as rigid rules, beliefs, and judgmental thoughts. At its heart, intuitive eating is a practice that supports both physical and mental wellbeing.
The principles of intuitive eating align with the Health at Every Size framework.
Health at Every Size, often called HAES, is an approach that focuses on health and wellbeing rather than weight. It encourages nourishing food, enjoyable movement, body respect, and self trust, without using dieting or weight loss as goals.
Research shows that traditional dieting rarely leads to lasting health and often causes harm, including weight cycling, metabolic changes, stigma, and disordered eating. In contrast, HAES-based programs support stable weight, improved health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol, increased physical activity, and better mental wellbeing, even without weight loss.
HAES recognizes that weight alone is a poor measure of health. Instead of trying to control weight, the focus shifts to sustainable habits, listening to the body’s hunger and fullness cues, finding movement that feels good, and caring for the whole person. At its core, Health at Every Size affirms that people of all sizes deserve dignity, respect, and access to compassionate, effective health care.
A place to begin
Intuitive eating is not something you master all at once. It is a practice that unfolds over time, and it begins with noticing what is happening in our bodies. Rather than trying to apply all ten principles at once, it is helpful to think about a few simple shifts.
You might start by paying attention to hunger and fullness once a day, without trying to change anything. In addition, try eating one meal each day without distractions, noticing taste, texture, and satisfaction. Also, pause regularly to ask yourself what sounds nourishing or satisfying in that moment, or how a particular food makes you feel. These small acts of awareness help set your focus.
You might also begin to think creatively about movement. Instead of focusing on exercise as something to complete or measure, consider how you already move through your day. A walk after dinner, stretching while listening to music, gardening, dancing in the kitchen, or choosing the stairs can all count. Intuitive eating and HAES both invite us to notice how movement makes us feel and to choose activities that support energy, strength, and enjoyment. When movement is woven into daily life in ways that feel doable and pleasant, it is easier to sustain.
Bringing the series full circle
This health and wellness series began with looking closely at what we consume and what surrounds us, from the impact of forever chemicals to pesticide residue on produce. Intuitive eating invites a similar kind of attentiveness, but it turns our focus inward. It asks us to notice the signals our bodies send and to respond with care rather than control.
Health is shaped by many factors, not just the foods we eat, but also our stress levels, our environment, our access to care, and the stories we tell ourselves about our bodies. Intuitive eating, grounded in the Health at Every Size framework, offers a way to pursue wellbeing that is sustainable, compassionate, and respectful. Intuitive eating does not promise a perfect relationship with food; it offers a kinder one.
Any other ideas? What healthy habits have worked well for you?
Other posts in my health and wellness series:
Other posts you may like:
- 9 life lessons from my cat
- kindness counts
- books that shaped my year
- gratitude practices
- The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar: five stars!
- the Lord’s Prayer throughout scripture
- The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: a five-star masterpiece!
- cultivate presence: start on the porch
- lovely hummingbird themed gift ideas
- The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown: five stars!
Fondly,
Crysti
