Support Needed for Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is an eating framework that was created in 1995 by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. This model, that is not based in anti-fatness, is the approach many have adopted in the weight-inclusive nutrition space. It is a great tool to help people have a better relationship with food, one based on nourishment rather than restriction. There are many positives found with Intuitive Eating, however not enough attention is placed on ensuring more people have the option to pursue it. There are factors that can affect a person’s ability to eat intuitively which include: socioeconomic status, race, gender, ability, literacy level, citizenship documentation, location, and more. If the goal is to help more people eat intuitively, then it should be a priority to ensure more people have the capability to do so. With full access to resources, intuitive eating can help people with their journey to be fully nourished. It is a weight-inclusive approach to eating, one that does not focus on weight-loss but rather on ensuring all needs are met in a satisfactory way. It honors that food is not just about nutrition but also about enjoyment and socializing. Through ensuring that everyone has access to the foods they need, more people can have the opportunity to become an intuitive eater.
Is it easy to become an intuitive eater? Even if you have access to foods you desire, it depends on your current relationship with food and eating but it is possible. It begins with recognizing that 99% of the messaging around food and eating that you’ve been exposed to your entire life has been molded from a capitalist and white supremacist foundation. What we have been taught about body weight and size has no basis in human health. Once you realize that the fear that has been instilled in us about food and gaining weight is actually not in our best interests, we can begin making peace with all foods and honoring our hunger. Decisions around food are made by being in tune with one’s body. Humans are born programmed to eat intuitively. However, many struggle in adulthood with intuitive eating because of the ever-present anti-fat messaging seen around food and eating. And it cannot be overlooked that many people who have made the commitment to eat intuitively are held back by their lack of access to sufficient food.
How can more support be given so that everyone has the opportunity to pursue Intuitive Eating? It needs to be accepted that food resources need to be distributed differently and shared with communities. It will be necessary to distribute mass amounts of food, regularly, to those who need it most. This must be addressed in two ways; the first way focuses on the root causes and the other focuses on addressing the immediate needs of the community. The root cause for many of the issues seen today is capitalism which was made possible through colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. Without dismantling these oppressive systems, true liberation from diet culture is not possible. Capitalism creates the incentive of the diet industry to push weight loss for their profits. White supremacy birthed anti-fat ideology in order to continue “othering” Black people from white europeans. Patriarchy positions thin white women as the “ideal” beauty standard that feeds into the male gaze and attempts to keep the bodies of women and other marginalized gender identities under total control. So, how can these oppressive systems be dismantled? Many scholars have studied and written about this and many revolutionaries have transformed their societies in countries such as Cuba, China, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Much can be learned from those brave enough to stand up against capitalist and imperialist giants like the United States.
For those within the imperial core of the west, it is my opinion that we can start dismantling capitalism, white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, and other oppressive systems like ableism through starting to build infrastructure that caters to the immediate needs of the people. We will never gain freedom by begging our oppressors for compassion but by taking it and establishing new systems that lessens the power of those currently in place. In the nutrition world, this means advocating and creating thousands of community nutrition centers that provide FREE meals and groceries to families and individuals. Every single city and town in the United States needs these. The nonprofit sector providing nutritional assistance to communities, which is of course a good thing, does not attempt to address the root causes of food insecurity and it's more like a weak bandaid on a severe cut, maybe helping a little bit but not nearly enough. They rely on donors and they (usually) see the people they are helping as charity cases rather than members of their community deserving of dignity, respect, and delicious foods not foods that are discarded by others or the cheapest foods available (that usually end up in bland meals). Community nutrition centers that are run by and for the people are what is needed in order to fully address food insecurity. In a perfect world, the community’s pooled resources would provide for and sustain these community nutrition centers. In our reality many communities are being dragged down by outrageous bills and living costs and the pooled resources from that community, aka the taxes they pay, are not being responsibly managed. This means that communities will have to put together what’s needed for these centers from their own pockets in the form of mutual aid. Mutual aid is how communities take care of each other and how we will survive these hard conditions.
