Are you tired of traditional dieting that always leaves you feeling confused, frustrated, and hungry? Eating healthier doesn’t have to be so hard. Intuitive eating can help you eat healthier with “gentle nutrition”, while encouraging you to follow your hunger and fullness cues, so you’ll never feel deprived again. Not sure what to cook while eating intuitively? We have some great intuitive eating recipes that will make meal planning and intuitive eating feel totally effortless.
What is intuitive eating?
The intuitive eating principles are designed to help you nourish a healthier relationship with food by ending the dieting cycle. The core principles of intuitive eating involve rejecting the dieting mentality, honoring your hunger and fullness, making peace with food, coping with your emotions without using food, and respecting your body.
Intuitive eating was first introduced in the 1990’s by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. Since then, intuitive eating has gained popularity as a non-diet approach to healthy, mindful eating.
Gentle nutrition
Gentle nutrition is the final guiding principle of the intuitive eating process. Gentle nutrition focuses on how to honor your physical health with food so you can balance your diet with foods that both taste good AND feel good in your body. Instead of eliminating foods, gentle nutrition aims to add nutrition to your daily intake.
For example, when preparing intuitive eating recipes for the day, you might choose to make your breakfast smoothie with greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt, because protein keeps you fuller longer. Or you might choose to blend some broccoli into your mac and cheese at dinner because eating enough fiber feels good and keeps you regular.
Gentle nutrition acknowledges that healthy eating is important, but that it is far from black and white. Instead of using ‘healthy’ to describe specific foods that are ‘safe’ to our health, gentle nutrition defines ‘healthy’ as eating a variety of foods while encouraging a healthy relationship with all foods.
Consistency, adequacy, balance, and variety
Many people worry that intuitive eating and gentle nutrition lack the structure they crave around food. It sounds great in theory, but how do you start practicing intuitive eating at home without any rules?!
Eating intuitively AND healthfully doesn’t have to be a free-for-all. I find the concepts of consistency, adequacy, balance, and variety helpful when thinking about when, what, and how much to eat:
Consistency
Eat regularly to prevent extreme hunger, which can lead to feeling out of control with food. I recommend trying to eat at least every 4 hours during the day.
Adequacy
Ensure meals and snacks are substantial enough to provide energy AND satisfaction. This is where I tell my clients to “Go with your gut!” Tapping into your hunger and fullness cues can help guide decisions about how much to eat.
Balance
Include proteins, carbs, fats, and fiber-rich foods in meals to support fullness and energy levels. Leaving out food groups can leave you feeling, low-energy, dissatisfied, and vulnerable to cravings.
Variety
Explore different foods to avoid boredom and get a range of nutrients without rigid food rules. If you’re eating the same things all the time, no matter how tasty at first, you will eventually become bored and start seeking satisfaction outside of your planned meals (i.e mindless nighttime snacking).
Intuitive eating recipes
The perfect intuitive eating recipes pack a nutrient dense punch, while also satisfying your cravings for flavor and texture. The best part about intuitive eating is that no foods are off-limits– meaning you can incorporate fun foods like chips and dip or brownies into your regular eating routine completely without guilt.
Let’s take a look at this sample 3 day intuitive eating meal plan that incorporates a variety of intuitive eating recipes:
How do these intuitive eating recipes align with our goals of consistency, adequacy, balance, and variety? Let’s walk through it together…
Consistency is achieved by eating regular meals and snacks spaced evenly throughout the day. Preparing recipes like muffin tin eggs, energy bites, or stuffed bell peppers in advance in large batches ensures that you have food available when it’s time to eat.
Adequacy is achieved by choosing recipes packed with nutrients and energy. You won’t go hungry after having a hearty bowl of overnight oats for breakfast, or a tender sirloin steak salad for lunch!
Balance is achieved by making sure each meal includes protein, carbs, fat, and fiber. When snacks have at least a carb and a protein or a carb and a fat, they tend to be more satisfying!
And finally, variety is achieved by planning lots of different meals and snacks for the week. I chose recipes that incorporate lots of different ingredients, like chicken, steak, fish, and beans, as well as recipes that feature lots of different flavors and textures.
Variety is also achieved by incorporating lots of pleasure dense foods along with nutrient dense foods. Eating food that tastes good and brings you joy is JUST AS IMPORTANT as eating food that fuels and nourishes your body. That’s what intuitive eating is all about!!!
More intuitive eating recipes
For more intuitive eating recipes, check out all of these delicious and nutritious ideas from our very own culinary dietitians.
And just as a friendly reminder– any recipe can be an intuitive eating recipe, as long as it helps you achieve consistent, adequate, balanced, and JOYFUL eating.
Kristin Jenkins is a dietitian nutritionist based in Maryland. She has been involved in the field of eating disorders and disordered eating for over 6 years and brings both personal and professional experience to her work serving clients who struggle with their relationship with food and their bodies.
