My last few articles have made it pretty clear how I feel about dieting (basically, fuck that shit). However, I know my ideas aren’t mainstream. I expected adverse reactions to “Dieting Is Just Another Word For ‘Female Oppression’”, and I expected skepticism from the “Your Diet Isn't Working, And It's Not Because Of Willpower” research.

I expected these things because I am aware that when I question dieting, I question your way of life. I totally disrupt your entire concept of health. This is because most of us are caught up in some sort of weight management and we have been for the majority of our existence. Dieting has devotees as dedicated as any religion, with followers spreading their messages like 15th-century conquistadors. It’s an overlooked fact of our society that you’re most likely either trying to lose weight or trying to “maintain” your weight (because the worst possible thing in this world is to be fat, but I’ll save the discussion of fat phobia for another article).

My latest articles also beg the question: If I’m not dieting, then how am I supposed to eat?

So in this last article of my first anti-diet series, I want to introduce you to the most famous anti-diet philosophy currently out there. This approach is very counterculture to our society that is so removed from normative eating, but I’m not here to blend in, after all. Counterculture is the way I like it. I’m here to challenge the notion that quitting diets means that you’re “lazy”. I’m here to banish the idea that ditching your scale means you’re “letting yourself go.” And I can’t wait to help you get rid of that ridiculous voice in your head telling you that you can’t trust yourself around food.

Are you ready? Good. Let’s talk about intuitive eating.

According to Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resche, authors of "Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works," intuitive eating is a "nutrition philosophy based on the premise that becoming more attuned to the body's natural hunger signals is a more effective way to attain a healthy weight, rather than keeping track of the amounts of energy and fats in foods.” It is a practice based on the belief that our bodies are smart, know what they need, and will communicate those needs to us, if only we listen. So what’s so radical about all this?

We, intuitive eaters, eat what we want when we want, and we don’t pass judgment on our choices (much to the dismay of diet culture, the diet industry, and health professionals who think everyone should “watch their weight”).

Right about now you’re thinking: Eat what I want, when I want it? If I gave myself permission to eat like that I would just eat all the cookies in the world and die of obesity.

Right? Wrong. You’re scared of permission because you think you’ll then be out of control, but the reality is as soon as we allow ourselves full permission to an “off limits” food, the temptation to eat that food actually decreases (and “self-control” is no longer needed). Restricting food creates deprivation in our mind, increases the reward and pleasure centers for the off limits item, and inevitably leads to a binge.

Removing restriction means never creating that sense of deprivation and never slipping into the primal instincts that make you need more of the food you’re starved from. At first, you may eat more than you’re used to, but soon the knowledge that you can always have chocolate cake settles in and you no longer feel the need to binge on said cake when it’s available.

When I was restricting desserts, every dessert I saw was so incredibly mouth watering. But now that I’m free to eat desserts whenever I want, I crave them less often. When I do eat them, I only eat until I’m satisfied, rather than feeling like I have to eat as much as I can while it’s there. When I was restricting, I felt guilt for giving in to temptations, but I of course always gave in eventually just to “start over tomorrow,” again.

Now that I eat intuitively, I don’t spend my entire time at a party focused on resisting sugar and then shaming myself for eating too much. Instead, when I choose to eat a dessert I enjoy it completely, am satisfied sooner, and I end up eating less and digesting it better (did you know feelings of guilt and shame actually make it harder for you to digest your food?).

Intuitive eating is the idea that giving yourself permission to eat what you really want is healthier (mentally, emotionally, and physically) than restricting your diet to the things your mind thinks you should want.

Whereas dieting has taught us to police our hunger, intuitive eating puts us in connection with our hunger and fullness cues. Where dieting is about weight management, intuitive eating is about letting your body do what it’s going to do. You may lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same weight when you transition to intuitive eating because you’re allowing your body to find its weight set range-- the set of weights it is comfortable living and functioning at.

Sometimes this is above our “ideal” weight, and that is scary, but intuitive eating means trusting the fact that our body knows what it needs and remembering that “healthy” is not equivalent to “skinny”.

Your body will tell you when it needs foods dense in calories and when it needs light and airy nourishment. It will tell you when it can handle things that are harder to process and when your digestive system needs a break. It will make you crave fruit and vegetables even more than it will make you crave dessert. It will tell you when it needs an energy boost and when it’s ready to rest. Your job is simply to listen. When you feel unsure what your body is asking of you, you need only to ask yourself what you desire. Does this food look nice to you? Will it satisfy you nutritionally and hedonistically?

Now when you reach for a fruit instead of a dessert, it will be because you genuinely desired the fresh, cooling nourishment it provides, not because you have to punish yourself or somehow “earn” your desserts. The difference is that once you ban the diet mentality, you are able to make decisions from a place of self-care rather than from a place of self-control. Your physical health improves because your mental health with food is finally being taken care of.

When it comes to food, make over what’s happening in your head, not your body. To learn more about intuitive eating and weight inclusive wellness, follow the links provided. For communities of other anti-dieters supporting and encouraging each other, check out Christy Harrison’s Food Psych Podcast and The Anti-Diet Expert’s You Aint Your Weight.