Intuitive eating is an approach that involves eating based on internal hunger and fullness cues rather than external rules. It has three pillars: reliance on internal hunger and satiety cues, unconditional permission to eat, and eating for physical rather than emotional reasons. The Intuitive Eating Scale is used to assess the three pillars through a self-reported questionnaire. Promoting intuitive eating involves developing a flexible eating schedule to establish self-care practices and paying attention to hunger and fullness cues. Outcomes include the ability to normalize hunger/fullness cues and adopt a flexible diet by valuing self-care and following intuitive eating principles.

1. Intuitive Eating
● “Intuitive Eaters march to their inner hunger signals, and
eat whatever they choose without experiencing guilt or
an ethical dilemma” Tribole & Resch
● Also called non-dieting or mindful eating

2. Intuitive Eating Principles
● Reject diet mentality
● Honor your hunger
● Make peace with food
● Challenge the food
police
● Feel your fullness
● Discover satisfaction
● Cope without food
● Respect your body
● Enjoy exercise
● Honor health
Tribole 2010

3. Intuitive Reading
● Intuitive Eating
● Evelyn Tribole, MS,
RD and
● Elyse Resch MS,
RD, FADA, CEDRD

4. Three Pillars of Intuitive Eating
● Reliance on internal hunger and satiety cues
● Unconditional permission to eat
● Eating for physical, not emotional reasons
Tylka 2006 and Augustus-Horvath & Tylka 2011

5. The Intuitive Eating Scale (IES)
● IES is a Likert scale, self-reported survey used to asses
the three pillars of intuitive eating.
● Participants rate 21 statements.
● Examples:
o I have forbidden foods
o I find myself eating when I’m emotional
o I trust my body to tell me how much to eat
Tylka 2006

7. Reliance on Hunger & Satiety Cues
● Develop ability to identify
physical cue
● Normalize the physical
cue - confront the
distortion (or fear) about
the physical cue
● Respond appropriately to
cue
Roth 1989, Tribole 2010

8. Readiness for Intuitive Eating
● Patient recognizes that eating disorder is deeper than
just eating
● Patient is able to deal with new behaviors
● Patient is able to identify needs and feelings
● Patient values the importance of self-care
Tribole 2010

9. Promotion of Intuitive Eating
● Develop a flexible, scheduled eating pattern to help
establish self-care practices
● Paying attention to the range of hunger and satiety
cues, then responding appropriately
Tribole 2010

10. Outcomes of Intuitive Eating
● Ability to normalize hunger and satiety cues
● Ability to adopt a flexible diet
● Values and practices self-care
● Practices 10 intuitive eating principles
Tribole 2010