My Thoughts: Intuitive Eating 4th Edition

Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach

Evelyn Tribole M.S. R.D., Elyse Resch M.S. R.D. F.A.D.A. 

Books can be our ticket to another world. They have the power to transplant us into a different time, or a different place entirely. They have the potential to evoke emotions and connections so potent we blur the lines of knowing if the bonds we have formed with characters from pages are real or imagined.

Books can help weave together information in a way that makes sense not just for our intellect, but for our hearts too. They can help us feel heard and understood while splaying out the full range of what it means to be human.

In a day in age when many of us are reaching for real, evidence based information, the interplay between history, research, science, and the TRUE human experience all bound together in a couple of books, can feel like a miracle..maybe even life changing. Reading is one of my favorite past times, and it has definitely been one I have used in the last weeks during this pandemic to ground and care for myself.

Recommending and sharing books is one of my favorite past times. I grew up in a family of readers, with one of my favorite memories being curled up on a love seat, wrapped up in a story. Recommending books has also been a big part of how I support my clients. I am one of many providers and am still learning, growing, and showing up as best I can with the tools I have and continue to learn. Books help bridge the gap between my own knowledge and experience and contributing another voice of wisdom who’s had an opportunity to deep dive into a certain area of expertise.

I’m very excited to have gotten up a Products I love page on my website to continue to bring you some of my favorite and most pertinent materials that I feel will help support the food/body healing and self-discovery journey. There are books ranging from Brene Brown’s work on vulnerability, to Jes Baker heralding the importance of body liberation for women in marginalized and all body sizes through her candid writing.

I’d like to start by bringing you book reviews from the books on the Products I Love page to help give you a snippet of information to possibly spark your interest or just my own personal thoughts on what I appreciate about each book.

With that said, I would be doing you all a disservice if I didn’t start with a book that is close to my heart for many reasons.

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach was written back in 1995 by two dietitians Evelyn Tribole MS, RD, and Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA, CEDRD, and has been revised to the 4th edition coming out June 23, 2020. This book has been a literal life-changer for me. It consists of 10 science and research-based principles helping to guide the reader towards healing their relationship with food and body. It is the first book I would recommend to anyone who is tired of dieting, disordered eating, or feeling like they are in a constant fight with their bodies and the way they feed themselves. The principles can be used in whatever manner is right for you, and bring in a therapeutic mindset to digging into what is underneath our rules, fears, and tendencies towards intense self-judgment.

The book focuses on nourishing and nurturing the body rather than biological starvation. The authors systematically walk you through each of the 10 principles only to finish with nutrition at the end when it can be discussed without fixation or deprivation. It isn’t just a hunger and fullness diet, it’s a helping hand to turn inward, to reflect on what the body actually NEEDS to work the best it can, while supporting the journey of uncovering what might be underneath some of our coping skills. There is no guilting into or shaming in this book, quite the opposite. It’s more about embracing, opening ourselves up to possibilities, and testing beliefs in a way that allows us to really separate what aligns with our values and what our internal cues are saying and what no longer serves. It’s the true version of respect and self-care for the individual.

I would advise getting the newest addition when it comes out. Like all of us, Evelyn and Elise are still learning too, and have gone through their own journey of updating the book to be more inclusive and less pathologizing or fatphobic. With that said, the principles here can be used to help support anyone on any stage of their journey.

Intuitive eating helped support me on my own healing journey. I was told years ago I would always have to “deal” with my eating disorder, which I had a hard time accepting. Years later, this book helped guide me towards TRUE self-awareness and healing. It started with food, but went, and goes, so much deeper than that. We’re all on a journey, and mine is far from over, but the amount of freedom I gained from implementing what this book has to offer was more than I could have asked for. I spent way to much time fighting my own body, obsessing about food only to find myself bingeing and numbing at night, restricting and self-punishing the next morning. It was a constant fight I was so tired of fighting. It bled into so many facets of my life and wrecked any form of self-confidence I had. I feared I would forever be fighting with my body, that it and I were somehow broken and needed fixing. I believed if I ate certain foods it would MEAN something about me, that I would no longer be seen as healthy, or that I was somehow a failure. Or if I just stuck to the rules, I could be safe. This background noise is EXHAUSTING, I was always exhausted and by no means present to life.

I now not only have an understanding but an acknowledgment of how wrong and skewed my beliefs were about food and my body, YES, even as a dietitian. Nutrition is only as important as your whole view of health. All the kale in the world won’t help your relationship with food. Healing HAS to happen first before true freedom can be brought forward.

I would love to work with everyone on healing their relationship to food and their body, but I also understand that is a financial and time commitment. For my clients and those who aren’t fully ready to dive into 1-on-1 or group work, this is an awesome and foundational first start. There is a reason I got certified in Intuitive Eating to better support myself and my clients. It really is revolutionary in its capacity to intertwine REAL self-care, respect, SATISFACTION, pleasure, and rediscovering what making peace with food can look like.

-A Life Nourished LLC.