TEMPLE, Texas — Over the last few weeks, we've been taking a closer look at our society's obsession with diets. We've talked about why diets don't work. We've explored the system of beliefs around thinness known as diet culture and we've looked at how damaging negative body image can be as well as ways to start healing it.
But what do you do if you decide to stop dieting?
For 6 News Anchor Leslie Draffin, that answer was intuitive eating an anti-diet method used to make peace with food.
In this week's Your Best Life, Draffin talks with three intuitive eating experts, including one of the women who wrote the book on this revolutionary idea, about how to get started.
In July 2021, after 20 years of eating disorders and restriction, Draffin stopped dieting and began taking an intuitive eating approach.
"When you step away from dieting really then we can put the focus we can take the focus off of weight and put it back on reconnecting with your body, " said registered dietician and certified intuitive eating counselor Alissa Rumsey.
She says intuitive eating is an anti-diet form of self-care that focuses on tuning in to your own body's cues.
"The anti-diet movement is a movement that takes the focus off of weight when it comes to health so it really encourages overall health and well being," said Rumsey. "Rather than a focus on weight or size reduction, it's also a movement that holds that all human beings are worthy of respect no matter what size of their body no matter if they're healthy or not."
Intuitive eating involves making peace with all foods, tapping into your own feelings of hunger and fullness and letting go of dieting. Registered Dietitian and body positive advocate Dalina Soto, uses intuitive eating approaches with her clients.
“We are taught all these like negative ways of thinking about our body and our food like everything is so fear based," Soto says. So she teaches her clients to think about behaviors they can change rather than focusing on weight.
"Instead of trying to completely say screw diets, which can be very scary with reading that and think of like, okay, how can I work on my health today? " said Soto. "Can I sleep better? Can I have more water can I add some fruits and vegetables? Can I exercise today and move my body in a way that feels good and comfortable to me? And the more that you can do this, the easier it's going to be," she continued.
Elyse Resch and her partner, Evelyn Tribole, wrote the book on Intuitive Eating almost three decades ago. She says it’s the ultimate anti-diet. "Anti-diet it's an actual revolutionary movement against the oppression of dieting," said Resch.
Resch is a nutrition therapist and eating disorder specialist who's been in private practice in California for almost 40 years. She says intuitive eating includes 10 different principles, but the most important one is rejecting diet mentality.
"That's really sitting down with yourself and recognizing that any attempt you've made in the past, to shrink your body to change your body has typically resulted in failure and feeling really bad about yourself," said Resch. "So it's the acceptance of radical acceptance, that diets don't work restriction only can lead to rebound, overeating or binging sometimes, and to be at that place where you say I never want to go on a diet again," she continued.
Then Resch says, focus on finding satisfaction in the foods you eat, let yourself eat when you feel hungry, choose foods that make you feel good and don't ignore your emotions. And if you’re wondering things like won't I just lose control if I stop dieting? or won't I go off the rails if I eat all these foods?. Resch and Rumsey say don’t worry because these are some of their most asked questions.
"What happens is whatever that is that used to be forbidden it kind of takes an ordinary place in your life and it doesn't hold that excitement that comes with forbiddeness," Resch explained.
"When we allow ourselves to be around these foods and to eat them when we want them, they lose their power over us," said Rumsey. "And so we're then really able to tune into our body and think okay, do I want this because I'm reacting to this restriction of like, when will I be able to eat this again? Or do I know that this is abundant and I can have it when I want it and then you're really able to tell if that's something you want or not.
Finally, these women say when doing this work, find people to support you either a therapist, friends, family members or an online group.
"Find a community of people that are supporting Health at Every Size, intuitive eating and that they're kind of filtering out that group of people that are so bonded by diet culture,” said Resch.
Also Rumsey says remember, the anti-diet movement and intuitive eating do not mean anti-weight loss, anti-health or anti-people who diets. Instead, they mean anti-oppressive diet culture, which makes people feel "less than" and keeps us small and hidden.
If you or someone you love is suffering from disordered eating, you can contact the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.