Article originally appears in the April 26, 2018 issue of the SNEB eCommunicator.
I remember the first time I told my parents that I wouldn’t be joining them for dinner because I wasn’t hungry. Their reply? But it’s TIME for dinner. My approach to eating has served me well over the years – eating when hungry and eating s-l-o-w-l-y – I am usually the last person at a table to finish eating. In this article I look at Intuitive/mindful eating and body positivity and provide some resources.
Abbreviated definitions – click on links later in this article for more detail
**Intuitive eating – avoid guilt, honor hunger, eating is pleasure
**Mindful eating – use satiety cues and all the senses to guide eating
**Body positivity – body acceptance, living comfortably in your body
**Health at any Size (HAES®) – principles include but are not limited to eating based on pleasure and honors internal cues of hunger, satiety and appetite
https://www.sizediversityandhealth.org/content.asp?id=152
(I have grouped all of these together because the element they have in common is a non-diet approach.)What is the difference between mindful and intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating includes mindful eating but is broader including physical activity, rejecting dieting and body positivity.
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/the-difference-between-intuitive-eating-and-mindful-eating/
Mindful eating/intuitive eating evidence base
**Literature review found evidence for the effectiveness of mindful eating for binge eating, emotional eating and eating in response to external cues but not weight management but may prevent weight gain.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28718396
**Listing/summary of 2004 – 2016 Intuitive eating studies
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/resources/studies/
Mindful eating – overview/research
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/030413p42.shtml
Resources
**Mindful eating
Center for Mindful Eating – principles of mindful eating
https://www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/Principles-Mindful-Eating/
**Intuitive eating
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/enewsletter/enews_0116_01.shtml
**Interview w/the original intuitive eating pros
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/category/intuitive-eating/
**Online intuitive eating community
http://intuitiveeatingcommunity.org/
**Ditching the diet for intuitive eating
https://blogs.webmd.com/food-and-nutrition/2014/05/ditching-the-diet-for-intuitive-eating.html
Podcasts
**Food Psych Podcast w/Christy Harrison, registered dietitian
**Nutrition Matters w/Paige Smathers, registered dietitian nutritionist
**BodyLove Project w/Jessi Haggerty, registered dietitian
**Love, Food w/Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian
**Your Great Journey: The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution – Dr. Lynn Rossy
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/your-great-journey/id1187732864?mt=2
**The Mindful Dietitian, Fiona Sutherland, dietitian
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindful-dietitian/id1214760051?mt=2
Infographics
Make every bite a meditation (mindful eating) – American Heart Association
https://healthyforgood.heart.org/-/media/aha/h4gm/pdf-files/mindfuleating.pdf
Recommended mobile apps
**Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition magazine archive of nutritionist reviews
https://foodandnutrition.org/tag/apps/
**Top 20 mindfulness apps (includes mindful eating)