Is Intuitive Eating Healthy?

Everyone has their own definitions of what being healthy or the idea of health is. Too often, diet-culture is so deeply ingrained that many believe being skinny is the epitome of health.

However, weight has nothing to do with someone’s level of health. Health is defined as the state of being in good physical and mental health, free from disease and injury. It includes maintaining a balanced diet, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep, and avoiding unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Being healthy also means taking care of your mind and spirit and developing healthy habits such as gratitude and self-care.

Let’s backtrack and define diet culture while we’re at it. Diet culture is a set of beliefs and values prioritizing thinness and an obsession with weight, dieting, and physical appearance over health and well-being. It is a culture that encourages dieting, body shaming, and fat-phobia, and is perpetuated by the media, advertising, and diet industry (which, by the way, had a market value of $142 BILLION in 2022). Diet culture reinforces the idea that thinness is a measure of worth and that one’s value is based on their weight and appearance. This type of thinking has been linked to disordered eating and eating disorders, as well as mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

So how does intuitive eating play into health, and is it actually considered healthy?

Intuitive eating is an evidence-based approach to eating focusing on reconnecting with your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals. It involves rejecting diet culture, honoring your hunger & cravings, and rejecting the notion that certain foods are “good” or “bad.” Intuitive eating involves listening to your body and giving yourself permission to eat the foods that make you feel good, both physically and emotionally. It involves cultivating a positive relationship with food and your body, and rejecting the notion that weight and health are linked.

The intuitive eating model, reinforced by hundreds of research articles, is a truly healthy approach to a lifetime of wellness. Intuitive eating forms to fit each and every individual’s life based on wants, needs, preferences, cultural or religious backgrounds, history of chronic diseases, accessibility, overall lifestyle, and much more. Because of this, the intuitive eating model fits right into the true definition of health and not the outdated and harmful definition curated by diet culture.