The concept of intuitive eating just makes sense, especially in a world of deprivation diets that leave us hungry, tired, and irritable.
But intuitive eating isn’t a silver bullet in every circumstance. Success or failure depends on what you’re fueling your body with — and with more than 73% of the US food supply inundated with processed foods, it’s almost impossible to lose weight eating the foods major corporations want you to buy.
If you’re on an intuitive eating diet and feel like you’re gaining weight, I want you to know it isn’t your fault — our broken food pyramid sets you up for failure.
That said, intuitive eating is still a viable dietary option.
And with the right shopping list and pantry pruning, I believe you can still make intuitive eating work for you.
Here’s the problem though: as a society, we are surrounded by ultra-processed food that doesn’t make us feel full. We eat what we want, inevitably gain weight, then feel we need a diet to get healthy. So if you want to ditch the diets and lose weight without counting calories, you’ll need to eat the right things.
A candid discussion about intuitive eating
The goal of intuitive eating sounds good on paper: eat what you want, when you want.
This isn’t a completely ‘out there’ concept. In fact, I’ve been eating what I want whenever I want for the past several years.
But sustainable intuitive eating is a lot more complicated in practice than in theory. Many Americans find themselves gaining weight over time or feeling more hungry throughout the day.
Why?
The answer lies in the food you eat.
Feeling hungry after you’ve eaten a donut versus feeling hungry after a steak are two different things.
Studies tell us that eating foods high in energy but low in nutritional density (like sugary cereals or processed orange juice) lead to ‘hidden hunger‘ — feeling hungry all the time while consuming an above-average amount of energy.
In other words, processed sugar and carbohydrates lower your satiety (or feeling of fullness), which leaves you hungry again just a few hours after you eat. This means your body is desperate for more nutritionally dense food, and is encouraging you to find whole, real foods that scratch the itch.
So you try to limit your calorie intake without giving up on intuitive eating. You might run to the store to try out ‘sugar-free health food’ like daily glycemic shakes or protein bars — although you still feel hungry a few hours after you eat.
Think about ‘healthy’ snacking alternatives like baked chips or rice cakes. They may have fewer calories on the label, but they also have fewer nutrients, too. Since they are very low in fat, you may eat large quantities before feeling full — meaning you might accidentally eat half the bag before realizing you’re full.
In other words: if you follow intuitive eating patterns while on the Standard American Diet (SAD), you’ll likely find yourself eating snacks every two to three hours, which may eventually cause you to gain weight over time.
But the story is different for metabolically healthy eating. We have a wealth of research pointing to the positive effects of food that comes from the ground or is fed from the ground. For example:
- Eating fatty fish and ruminant meat helps the body create a sustainable energy source, which is longer-lasting and slower-burning than simple carbohydrates.
- The body receives high-quality nutrients from foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients, which can improve chronic fatigue, remedy constant hunger pangs, and lower your precursors of cardiovascular disease.
- Weight loss is a natural byproduct of eating whole, real foods, and optimizes your body by shedding excess pounds and growing metabolically active muscle mass.
To summarize: intuitively eating on a metabolically healthy diet naturally fulfills your body’s nutritional needs. This means you intuitively eat less often and more mindfully, which gives you more freedom over what and when you eat.
How to practice intuitive eating in metabolically healthy way
Intuitive eating only works when you’re fueling your body with whole, real foods.
If you want to feel the freedom of eating whatever you want whenever you want, you need to retrain your body with new habits and dietary choices, making sure you’re fueling yourself with foods that satisfy your hunger. This leaves you feeling full for longer, reducing the cravings for snacks while also stabilizing your blood sugar and giving you prolonged energy.
I suggest:
- Increasing your protein intake. Many people do not consume enough protein per day, particularly half of all US adults 50 and over. Try replacing carbohydrate-heavy meals with protein-centric alternatives like steak or salmon.
- Stocking your pantry with low-glycemic snacks. Nuts and seeds are an excellent option, as are broccoli and celery. Some legumes, including chickpeas, provide a high-fiber and high-satiety option for snacking.
- Throw away processed snack foods that could potentially make you hungrier. Donut holes, chips, and granola bars should be the first to go. You may also want to toss out any ‘healthy’ alternatives that can cause blood sugar spikes, including rice cakes, baked chips, and veggie straws.
- Replace your cardio-heavy workouts with resistance training or weightlifting. Research tells us that prolonged cardio activities cause us to feel more tired and hungry, which can lead to overeating. Plus, weightlifting increases your body’s metabolically active tissue (muscle) and increases feelings of energy.
Remember: the feeling of fullness you get from your food has nothing to do with calories. It’s all about the quality of food you eat and the amount of nutrition you receive. By consuming metabolically healthy meals and focusing on whole, real foods, you can train your body to burn healthier fuel without feeling deprived or unsatiated.
If you’re interested in learning more about metabolically healthy diets at your own pace, you’re welcome to take my Seven Principles of Metabolic Health Course. I’ll explain the mechanisms of metabolic dysfunction, respond to some common myths, then explain the step-by-step process I used to recover my metabolic health.