120: Intuitive Eating and Eating Disorders

A few weeks ago when I released my episode about ten principles of intuitive eating, I got a question from a listener. I really appreciate questions from you, I encourage you to contact me with questions, so this episode is in response to that question. The question was ‘Does intuitive eating have a role in the treatment of eating disorders?’. The short answer is yes, absolutely it does. Intuitive eating is an evidence-based approach to treating eating disorders. But of course, there is nuance to consider and caveats to explain, which is what I explore in this episode. I will be talking a lot about eating disorders here so I encourage you, if this is a sensitive topic for you, to prepare before we jump in.

Part of understanding eating disorders is understanding something called interoceptive awareness. Interoceptive awareness is the perception of physical sensations happening in your body: like when I talk about hunger and fullness cues. Another example would be feeling that your bladder is full and you have to pee. That is interoceptive awareness. These physical sensations are largely a right-brain phenomenon while eating disorders, centered around our food rules and restrictions and judgements, are mainly left-brain functions. So in treating eating disorders, we want to shift that left-brain focus into right-brain thinking. There are so many other facets of treating eating disorders with intuitive eating - from the characteristics of intuitive eating to how digestion works to understanding the difference between ‘not hungry’ and ‘full' - that I share with you in this episode. This is just an overview, of course, but this discussion is to show you how, with proper help, intuitive eating certainly can work in treating eating disorders. If you feel that you might need help with an eating disorder, I encourage you to contact your physician.

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

120: Intuitive Eating and Eating Disorders

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