Everyone loves a good before/after comparison. It’s part of how diet culture grabs us; they shock us with amazing “results” and make you think: I want that! Intuitive eating also has amazing results, they just might not be what you are conditioned to look for from healthy habits. Let’s dive into the before and after of an intuitive eater.

What intuitive eating IS

Intuitive Eating (IE) is getting back to your inner intuition and knowledge when it comes to food, eating, and connecting to your body. It is an approach to food and health built around ten principles. These principles include honoring your hunger, having unconditional permission to eat any and all foods, eating satisfying foods, listening to cravings, and more. There is a lot more to cover in a full explanation of intuitive eating, but you can read my blog post about it and check out the OG book from your local library, or buy a copy here.

What intuitive eating is NOT

Intuitive eating is not a diet or a weight loss plan. It is not a weight management practice, either. It should *never* be promoted using before and after photos of someone having lost weight. If you see an account or business promoting intuitive eating alongside weight loss or weight management, run in the other direction. They may be genuinely trying to practice intuitive eating, but it will never be helpful for you to learn about intuitive eating from someone who is celebrating weight loss and touting it as a promised outcome of IE. 

Physical health before and after

How might your physical health change with intuitive eating? Obviously, those of us healthcare providers that promote intuitive eating believe that it has the potential to make you physically healthier, so let’s talk about it. 

Mental health before and after

If you’re just getting started on your intuitive eating journey (or heck, maybe you’re here because you’re just curious to learn what it is) I am so excited for you to experience what’s to come. The mental health benefits from giving up chronic dieting, working on body acceptance, and embracing intuitive eating are *chef’s kiss.* 

Social health before and after

Intuitive eating will not only impact your mental and physical health, but your social health, too. Over time, you may begin to realize how much dieting was truly affecting almost every aspect of your life, from friendships to work to hobbies and more. 

Belonging before and after

One of the changes in your life that you should be prepared for is the loss that comes with no longer being able to bond or connect with others over dieting, body critiquing or food shame stories. The good news is that there is a beautiful, diverse community of fat-positive, anti-diet, intuitive eaters ready to welcome you with open arms. 

It’s ok to grieve the loss of that connection point. It’s a shame that our culture has made connecting over body shaming, diet talk and weight loss advice so common and expected. But one thing you can do to prepare is to come up with some go-to phrases that you’ll use when these types of conversations come up. Here’s a few options:

• I’m working on accepting my body, do you mind if we don’t talk about weight loss?

• I’ve recently quit dieting and have been learning about intuitive eating. If you’re interested I can send you some of my favorite IG follows. Is it OK if we don’t talk about diets right now? 

• I’m recovering from disordered eating. Can we change the topic?

A few other before and after pics:

Do you notice a trend here? It’s not the food that has to change. It’s not the exercise that has to change. It’s not the weight that has to change. It’s how you feel about the thing that changes. 

You can eat a hamburger on a diet and you can eat one while practicing intuitive eating. 

Dieting, you may feel guilty. You may compensate the next day by having only salad. You may go for an extra run to make up for it. You may have stressed all day long about what you were going to order that day. You may have spent the whole dinner conversation talking about how bad you were for eating that hamburger and fries.

Eating a hamburger as an intuitive eater means you just… eat the hamburger. You process any feelings that come up with compassion and curiosity, but no judgment. You move on! It was never the hamburger that was the problem, it was the diet approach. It was the focus on weight loss. It was the morality associated with food. 

As you embrace intuitive eating, you will hopefully notice that a lot of things change, and I would expect most of them to be positive! Your body *may* change. It may gain weight, it may lose weight, or its weight may not change. You may have some feelings associated with that that you can process with a therapist or dietitian. 

If you come to intuitive eating desperate for a new diet to try, you’ll be disappointed. Come ready to try a completely new approach to health, food, body acceptance and diversity of bodies.  Got more questions? I’d love to chat with you.