There are a ton of misconceptions around what intuitive eating actually is because there are a few different definitions or ‘camps’ you could say as far as how intuitive eating is actually defined, for example…

When ya type ‘intuitive eating’ in the google machine it says, ‘a non-dieting approach to changing your eating habits.’ It also says that according to the national eating disorders association, ‘Intuitive eating is about trusting your body to make food choices that feel good for you, without judging yourself or the influence of diet culture.’

I’ve got a few issues with that breakdown, but before we dig into them…

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the folks that say intuitive eating is essentially a ‘see food diet,’ which isn’t to be confused with fish and seafood, but rather see food as in you visually see it and therefore ya eat it…ya crush everything in sight!

The reason why folks on this end of the spectrum take this position is because we are animals and evolutionarily speaking, we abide by something called optimal foraging strategy, which you may have heard me talk about on past episodes but in short, we are programmed to want to obtain the most amount of calories possible, while expending the least amount of energy in order to get them because we evolved for millions of years in a much different food environment than we find ourselves in currently, meaning…

Up until recently, our primary issue was not having enough food available, however now it’s exactly the opposite, we’ve got more people dying of eating too much than too little…so this camp would say that intuitive eating (optimal foraging strategy) is exactly what the problem is!

Furthermore, we’ve got an evolutionary mismatch on our hands being that we still have that internal ‘drive’ to eat more and move less, but our food environment has flipped on its head and therefore given this drive, eating intuitively gets us into trouble.

Personally, I see where both of these camps are coming from and I think that there is value on both ends of spectrum however, they’re incomplete and so let’s square these circles, I’m going to break this whole intuitive eating dealio down for ya right now!

First of all, what is intuition?

Intuition is the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.

We all know what eating means and so intuitive eating in terms of the literal definition is meant to mean, something that we all understand on a instinctual level and there’s no need for conscious reasoning in said understanding, for example…

We’re instinctively driven to want to have sex, it doesn’t require conscious effort in the slightest and so here’s where the trouble lies right…we’ve got the eating disorders association saying that folks need to take a ‘non-dieting approach to changing their habits’ and to ‘trust their bodies to make food choices that feel good, without judging themselves or letting diet culture play a role’ in their decisions.

That’s impossible on a number of levels…

Trusting your body is in fact optimal foraging strategy because like we just mentioned, we’re inherently wired to want to move less and eat more purely evolutionarily speaking, this isn’t my opinion it’s just what is.

Your choices also have to ‘feel good’ according to this definition and the question I have is, are we talking about feeling good in the sense that you maximize enjoyment as far as what you’re eating from a taste buds and palate experience or…

Are we talking about eating foods that have you feel physically good i.e. great digestion, mental clarity, awesome body composition etc…

Or is it a blend of both and if it is a blend, how do you define that right, how do we tote that line?! It’s quite vague, especially when we also layer on the fact that you can’t let judgement or diet culture play any sort of role in your choices.

That’s like saying that in order to intuitively life your life, you can’t let culture influence your choices in any way, shape or form…that’s pie in the sky stuff, it’s a fairy tale because it’s simply not possible, we are fish in water and we’re heavily influenced by our environment i.e. culture, whether we like or not.

This reminds of when folks say things like, ‘just don’t care what people think’ and it’s like…we’re wired to care what people think, that’s how we evolved cohesively in groups, not caring at all what people think makes you a sociopath…I wouldn’t recommend that as a goal!

So, when it comes to actual intuitive eating there is really only one group of individuals that do it and that group is children, they eat entirely intuitively because they eat when they’re hungry and don’t when they’re full, especially as babies and the more and more children get cultured, the more and more their food decisions are impacted…I’ve seen this first hand in my two nieces, it’s fascinating stuff!

There is a subset of folks that do eat somewhat intuitively and that subset are adults that just generally don’t care all that much about food as a whole…I always find these people super interesting because they’re just not really bothered by food all that much. They don’t get a ton of enjoyment from it and they just sort of eat whatever is around or for fuel essentially and they often even forget to eat because they’re doing things, they get busy or whatever, so these folks do tend to eat somewhat intuitively based on hunger signalling.

Now you might be thinking well…what about dieticians and nutritionists that intuitively eat, what about you Marcus, don’t you listen to your body and eat what has you feel your best? The answer is for the most part yes but, I’m not ‘really’ intuitively eating in the same way that dieticians and nutritionists don’t intuitively eat because…

We can’t snap our fingers and undo all of the knowledge and experience that we’ve had up until the present moment, for example…

I have put in tens of thousands of hours of research around nutrition, working with folks one on one, helping them reach their goals etc. and all of my knowledge and experience impacts my current food choices and so…how intuitive is that really at this point!? It’s not.

It’s not instinctive…I didn’t just come out of the womb making the food decisions that I’m making because I am no longer a child and I’m not one of those folks that’s just not interested in food…I’m super interested in food, I love it, it’s a big part of my life, so…

All of the time that I’ve invested in learning about nutrition as well as my experiences have led me to this point and the food choices that I now make as a result…that’s not intuitive, it’s mindful, intuition is a whole different ball game, meaning…

Intuitive eating in the health space as a whole isn’t intuitive, it’s learned, it’s a skill that’s developed over time and I’ll give you an example…

There are health professionals that say that they eat purely intuitively and that just shows a bit of a lack of awareness on their part because whether they know it or not, they are taking mental notes either consciously or subconsciously about what and how much they’re consuming.

They know that whole eggs have some fat and some protein in them and no carbs. They know how many calories a couple of tablespoons of oil have, just how calorie dense restaurant meals tend to be and what an actual tablespoon of peanut butter looks like…

These folks are eating very mindfully, however they don’t see it that way because mindful eating based on all of their past experience has become habitual at this point and so it doesn’t require the same amount of effort now that it did before and so they say things like…

‘Oh I just listen to my body and I stop eating when I’m full and I really like salads’ and it’s like you didn’t start there!! It has been a whole process and this is a prime example of why it’s really important that when you’re comparing yourself to other folks to be sure that you put things into perspective because it’s got to be apples to apples, for example…

If I compare myself to Lebron James in regards to basketball, I absolutely suck, I’m horrible but, if I compare myself to an average 35 year old male, I’m pretty decent, I can put the ball in the hoop.

The primary reason that I wanted to put this episode together is because…

There are folks that have 20, 30, 40, 50+ lbs to lose and they expect to just intuitively eat their way to their fat loss goals and it’s just not going to happen because they don’t have the knowledge in place and they haven’t built the skills or experience yet.

Also, a lot of fitness professionals don’t do their clients or general population folks any favours by failing to acknowledge that they didn’t land on quote unquote ‘intuitive eating,’ which is actually mindful eatingovernight because…

That’s like going from peewee football to the NFL…it’s way too big of a jump and so knowledge and experience needs to be acquired first in order to get to a place where you’re able to mindfully eat because it’s not intuitive.

Intuitively we are geared for optimal foraging strategy (move less eat more) and therefore the instinct in us says sit on the couch and order UberEATS however, we know that that isn’t going to lead to a full and healthy life and so if we truly want to thrive, here’s how to do so…

One, invest in acquiring knowledge about what healthful eating truly is and you can do that by investing time via research or you can expedite the process by getting a coach.

Secondly, you’ll need to take action and see what specific approach works best for you, your lifestyle, preferences, goals etc. and gain experience via trial and error…you can’t sit on the sidelines, you’ve gotta get in the game!

Third, show up…day after day until it becomes habitual and just a part of your lifestyle.

This 3-step process is exactly what I do with my clients. We build knowledge via experience and we put together a concrete blueprint based on the lifestyle that they want to lead, their preferences, goals etc. Then we tweak things along the way and voila, we’ve got their personalized recipe to get and maintain the body that they want!

And then lastly when you’re on the other side of this thing, you’re not going to tell folks that you just intuitively ate your way to amazing body composition and health, you’re going to acknowledge the effort and mindfulness that was required to get that point.

So the take home here is, quote unquote ‘intuitive eating’ which is actually mindful eating is a very advanced nutritional approach and you’re not just going to instinctively eat your way to your dream body if you haven’t already…

But, you can absolutely get to a point where maintaining your dream body on a day to day basis feels fairly effortless, that is entirely possible, it’s going to take work to get there, but my clients do it and I’ve done it myself!

I used to be 65 lbs heavier than I am now, I’m not one of those fitness folks that was just in shape my entire life and doesn’t actual know what folks are going through that want to lose weight and aren’t feeling comfortable in their own bodies…

I’ve been there, I get it and fortunately, you can have the body that you want and as soon as you commit, you’ve taken the first step towards it!