Can You Diet AND Do Intuitive Eating?
Is there such a thing as “semi-intuitive eating” for people who feel out of control with certain foods?
This post is from my previous newsletter, Food Psych Weekly.
This week’s question is from a reader named Emily, and just a Content Warning (CW) for food-stigmatizing language and the name of a popular diet in the question, and that diet name in my answer (in service of explaining why the diet is harmful to anyone trying to heal from disordered eating). Emily writes:
Thanks for all you do for your audience! I am a 55yo woman, recovered alcohol abuser (15 years sober). I abstain completely. No issues with temptation to drink, no matter what stressors exist. But: I struggle with/against disordered eating, especially around candy and baked goods. On the one hand, I believe in intuitive eating; on the other hand, my intuition regularly leads me astray, and it feels EXACTLY like when I was fighting against that little voice that wanted me to drink alcohol for most of my life.
Is there any such thing as “semi-intuitive eating” for someone who just cannot moderate with sugar? Fruit is fine, rice and sweet potato and other starches aren’t a problem. But with candy, chocolate, bread, cookies—once I start, it is very hard to stop. I engage in secret eating and some other things that are red flags for disordered eating (disheartening but not truly risky, thank goodness). I have ample supports like access to a gym, Noom, therapy, information about nutrition, the time and money to eat a variety of healthful foods, I meditate daily and I get a healthy amount of exercise. I have it all dialed in until I tell myself, “One cookie is probably fine…”
Is there a conditional intuitive eating option for former alcoholics like me? I keep hearing “you can allow yourself whatever you want, there is no bad food.” But then I mentally add, “…except for me, because I feel better when I abstain completely from candy and baked goods.”
Any info would be helpful!