Why I No Longer Subscribe to the Culture of Intuitive Eating (especially from a mental health perspective)

It is physiologically impossible to intuitively eat food that has been designed to hijack your brain chemicals.

It’s not your fault that you can’t stop eating processed foods like chips, gummy candy, cereal, cookies, and frozen treats. These foods have been chemically altered to have the perfect combination of sugar, salt, and fat to tease your flavor palate but never truly satisfy you.

Studies show that adults and children will choose highly processed foods even when satiated. Children who have regular access to highly processed foods experience an increased willingness to gain access to these foods for positive reinforcement (that drug-like, addicting effect).

I never have to tell anyone to eat carbohydrates. Carbs are our go-to fuel source when we’re stressed and overwhelmed. We have a very profitable food industry that is literally banking on your innate need for comfort when you’re down. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s how you were created.

I hear a lot of backlash against diet culture being profitable, and it’s a valid statement. Dieting via caloric restriction is harmful for the body and long-term is only five percent successful for weight loss. It makes a large profit, because people feel so stuck and want a sense of control from their eating patterns. However, the diet industry has nothing on big food companies, who profit off of the root cause issues that make us feel horrible about ourselves.

In fact, if I was a conspiracy theorist I’d wonder if big food and diet culture were in cahoots, so they could ping pong back and forth to make us sick and crazy.

When I subscribed to the anti-diet culture of “intuitive eating,” I felt guilty for wanting to add vegetables to my meal like cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash, or chopped spinach. I was told that by wanting to eat more vegetables to feel better, I was actually caving in to a diet culture mentality.

Yes, there are registered dietitians actually telling people this. There are registered dietitians shaming social media influencers who are adding more whole foods to their diet and making fun of them, insisting that pizza is a healthy food, and that even fast food is good for you.

While caloric restriction and low-calorie, sugar-free diet foods absolutely can deplete nutrients, leading to binge-eating behaviors and poor mental health, so are the overly processed foods people are consuming for more than 70% of their daily nutrition.

Highly processed foods deplete the very nutrients we need for mental health – nutrients that form neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA, and dopamine.

According to a recent investigative report done by the nonprofit group Moms Across America, fast food is extremely deficient of nutrients we need for mental health. To illustrate, the report says that “For an adult woman to meet USDA recommended daily intake of 14 mg of Vitamin B3 she would need to consume 333 Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches.” These foods are calorically dense, but nutrient poor. This is scary news, considering 36% of Americans eat fast food every day.

Your body needs consistent availability of nutrients to feel safe. Your body won’t feel safe with nutrient-poor processed foods. You’ll always crave more, in order to gain nutrients back! Furthermore, your body will not receive safety or be able to find a healthy nervous system state if you’re playing ping pong with big food and diet culture.

Your body will not heal in a fight or flight game with standard American food culture and a growing variety of shelf-stable processed Frankenfoods.

Your body needs safety to heal and function at optimal health. What makes your body feel safe?

• Learning to partner with your body, to see that your body is working hard for you, even when the symptoms may be unpleasant.
• Taking time to dig into the root causes that have you seeking these hyperpalatable foods – maybe it’s a serotonin issue, or dysregulated dopamine, a B6 deficiency, other nutrient imbalances, trauma, chronic stress, inflammation, microbial overgrowths, etc.
• Getting essential nutrients through a wide variety of whole foods and filling up on colorful, delicious meals. 
• Breathing through your nose as you eat, because that oxygen helps you break food down. 
• Chewing more. It’s the only thing you can control when it comes to how your body digests. 
• Mindfully engaging in the world around you, being present in the body you have right now, without shame or judgment toward it. 

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Have a happy and holistic Halloween!