Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition

Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch is an eye-opening anti-diet book that should be read by anyone that has experienced the stigma that comes with not being healthy based on their size and/or feeling they have to conform to society's standards and wants relief from this burden. Fat does not equate unhealthy and thin isn't the epitome of health. However, this is deemed invalid and impossible because of diet culture, which is infuriating. The validation this book provided (through scientific studies as well as their experiences as nutritionists) was greatly appreciated - I have confirmation that I'm not crazy! :) Just go into it with an open mind. The deeper diet culture has inundated itself in your life/mind, the harder it may be for you to accept the information being given. I read Big Girl by Kelsey Miller in November 2021 that gave me a whole new perspective of Intuitive Eating. She met with a trained nutritionist and, what stuck out to me, was her being asked, would she be okay if she didn't end up losing weight. As things tend to do, this viewpoint came out while talking with my therapist, who recommended that I read Intuitive Eating for a more thorough explanation and to gain tools to help me. I read some of the negative reviews, and, while not intending to invalidate others' experiences, they all scream diet culture to me, missing the point of this book. It's not another diet plan that will help you lose weight, it's a tool to help you reject diet culture, listen to what your body needs, and respect your here and now body. It's also stated more than once if your eating is due to trauma, you'll have to work in tandem with a therapist, which is also missing from reviews. I have been at what is deemed an unhealthy weight for most of my life, but I eat very little processed foods (all of it is organic/non-GMO), everything else is organic, fresh, and homemade from scratch, which I believe is why I have no health issues associated with weight (literally every doctor and dentist I have seen has been shocked or indicated I'm not being honest when I say I don't have high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, etc. - aligning with what is said in this book: there is no escaping these preconceived notions and fatphobic judgements). My body doesn't feel sluggish (and all the other negative feelings) after eating because of how little processed food I eat. Processed foods aren't degraded in this book, I'm just stating my experience that is contrary to other reviews. I have been inundated with diet culture since I was 7 or so from my family, friends, coworkers, in-laws, and concern trolls. I was bulimic in my teens but stopped after leaving my mom's house at 17. I went on Atkins in the mid 2000s, but any other diet was calories in vs calories out. There was an undefined EDNOS that stayed with me into my early 30s when I was doing in vs out. Whenever I've lost weight (over 100 pounds at one point), I have always gained it back and more, creating that "I'm a failure" feeling, until I said F it all and gradually stopped living that way. Given this, there were times when I couldn't relate to Intuitive Eating because I've never gone on an outrageous diet plan (aside to Atkins), was able to stop my bulimia without a nutritionist or therapist, and have moved away from the dieting mindset for a couple years, but not so much so that I lost interest. Personally, one of the greatest things to come from this book was the explanation that food insecurity, especially as a child, is traumatic and can cause binges, bulimia, and the loss of hunger/fullness cues. All of this is my experience; it's nice to have the explanation as to why. I didn't even know there are cues to hunger before the ravenous feeling! I'm working with my therapist to get all of this back, but had I known earlier... I also like that it gave pointers to help parents teach/continue to support their children's natural hunger cues. Hillary Huber is one of my favorite narrators. She does not disappoint with her reading of this book. It was like a friend was telling me the things the authors were, which was comforting.

I read this book after vowing to myself that I'd never again diet. Intuitive Eating offers a new way to think about eating and one's relationship with food. I found it tremendously helpful and have begun utilizing its principles already. So far I have found that when I eating intuitively I eat less than I would otherwise and that I like more vegetables than I thought I did. I look forward to NOT having a resolution involving dieting for the new year. Although I read most of the book, I didn't read much (if any) of the chapters that don't apply to me - for instance, the chapters on raising an intuitive eater and healing from eating disorders.

I first went into this book thinking it was a mindful eating book (which I had heard is a thing you should do to lose weight). Although there is a slight similarity in that the authors recommend not eating distractedly for every meal of the day, the focus is more on listening to your body and your natural hunger cues - which is of course, easier when you aren't distracted, but really, can be done in any number of circumstances with practice! You eat when you're hungry, you stop when you're full. There are no "good" or "bad" foods, because if you tell yourself that, you'll inevitably break at some point and eat something bad and then feel guilt and shame. If you had just allowed yourself to have the "forbidden" food because it's always available and you listen to your fullness, you feel satisfied and move on. You don't over do it, not knowing when you'll allow yourself to have it again. The same goes for movement. You move your body in a way that feels good. You don't exercise to punish yourself or make up for that pizza you had last night. Again, shame and guilt can lead to a whole mess of problems and misery. Do what feels good for as long as it feels good. Just listen to your body! There are way too many fantastic points to list here, but I very highly recommend this book if you feel it's high time you stop punishing yourself, and instead, start honoring yourself!

The idea of intuitive eating requires you to really shift your thinking, which requires hard work. You need to be willing to do that work--just reading this book isn't going to solve all your problems. I'm personally really struggling to "reject the diet mentality." I find that the most difficult part of intuitive eating to accept. But I feel like intuitive eating has to be the answer to my eating and weight struggles (if I put in the work) because the book makes clear (as do my own experiences) that dieting does not work and is not good for your health. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt the book could have been organized a bit better. I felt a bit overwhelmed by all of it to begin with. But the guidelines in the appendix were helpful. Maybe if the guidelines (which are a sort of overview/summary of the principles of intuitive eating) were introduced at the beginning instead, I would have been able to have a better grasp the concepts earlier on in the book. Still, I recommend this book and will be working to implement its principles in my life.

For reference, I'm a woman in her early 30s, with a healthy BMI, who enjoys exercising, but I've been struggling with body image for 23 YEARS. I suffered from anorexia during my early teens, rebounded with binge eating through my late teens and early twenties and felt terrible. I was able to figure out how to eat to maintain a healthy size and weight from my mid-20's to the present, but at every meal or snack time I struggle with judging myself, since I indulge in sweets when I'm stressed out and that makes me spiral into stress and self-loathing. I'd seen this book be suggested on some mom forums and also some fitness forums where people exchange ideas about how to improve our eating. One person specifically stated that a nutritionist friend suggests this book to all her clients, which piqued my interest. Years later, I finally felt the urge to end the battle with food, whatever it is from. I finally got the book and I must say, it was a blessing. It spends a good amount of time at the beginning informing the reader why it is that diets don't work (biologically, emotionally), and it gives you a sense of forgiveness for why all your previous diets didn't work (not because you failed, but because diets set you up to fail, biologically). The authors shine an enormous light on diet culture, why it's alluring, exciting and captivating, but why it's also incredibly damaging to every soul out there. They made me realize how deeply ingrained these thoughts and ideas are in us, that it will actually take some practice to rewire our brains to read and recognize our internal cues rather than try to eat as little as society has told us we "should" be eating. They really seem to know the ins and outs of a dieter's mentality which I appreciated, and they always made recommendations and suggestions from a place of kindness, not judgment. I absolutely enjoyed 99% of this book, it made me feel like the blinders came off. The only chapter I'm not fully convinced by is "Chapter 16. Raising an Intuitive Eater: What Works with Kids and Teens." I think teens have the potential to be able to benefit from these principles, but I don't agree with all the advice for young children. That's just my opinion. It's still worth a read and ponder. Anyway, for the people out there that are tired of every attempted and failed diet, you're not weak, and you're not a failure. Check out this book, and start being more compassionate with yourself.

I have been working through the workbook with my dietician and that resource and this book have been a great help with adjusting my mindset while becoming healthier and lowering my A1C. Highly recommend.

I have struggled since I was in the 3rd grade with my weight. I've done the diet and exercise path (which is unsustainable for someone like me) and after plowing thru this book in a weekend, I realized I was caught up in the diet culture BS and just needed to forget everything, literally everything, and change my relationship with food. I can't thank my nutritionist who recommended this book enough. After about 2 months, my weight has continued to fall slowly and I haven't had one discussion about "dieting" or "food substitutions". I just eat what I want, listen to my body and my cravings have completely stopped. I have no idea what's going on, but my mindset about food is completely changed for the better. I'm learning to have positive relationships with eating and it is all thanks to the concepts here in this book. Technically, I'm still tracking calories for now, but more and more, I find myself eating below my target calories (set with a nutritionist) and I'm working my way towards stopping the regular counting and just enjoying what I eat. I can't recommend this enough, but if you have the chance to work with a medical professional to discuss the concepts with who is an advocate of Intuitive Eating, do it!

Like the authors, I am also a dietitian. I actually graduated with my bachelor's in dietetics/nutrition in the last 5 years, do I had the benefit of having the most up-to-date nutrition data. And guys, let me tell you, THIS IS IT. This book is heavily research-based, both using studies to present information, as well as talking about studies based on this very principle of intuitive eating. No joke, we actually learned about this book and its 10 principles in my college classes because they are that research based. The idea of this book is basically that for the past 100 or so years, the media and diet industries have been telling us what to eat, which has muted our natural ability to follow the biological cues we were born with to do so on our own. Babies and toddlers are natural at this, knowing then they're hungry, knowing when they're full, and we would all continue to do this if we didn't let media and diet culture desensitize us from this (e.g. "you shouldn't eat THAT food" or "that is too much food for someone your size" or "you need to lose weight by cutting x and buying our products"). We lose our natural ability to know how much our body eats and follow someone else instead, which only leads to guilt/shame, yo-yo dieting, and dissatisfaction with food. The principles taught in this book get you back to following your biology rather than some other person trying to make money off of you. It is so liberating and science-based! Can't get much better than that. I recommend this book to anyone who comes to me for help with a "diet." Diets don't work in the long run