Dietary Trends - Instinctive Eating

With every new year that comes around, each month and in some cases even weekly, there seems to be a new buzz slogan, buzz concept or buzz sales pitch being spruiked to the world on behalf of the fitness industry. We have been through low fat, low sugar, low calories, flexible dieting, high fat and many more dietary revolutions, but it seems we have hit yet another new buzz concept.

And this one really pushes my buttons.

It amalgamates the potential positivity of making dietary change for the benefit of physical and mental health, with the notion that making those changes may, in fact, be negative.

Let me clear that up a little. There seems to be a new trend of coaches coming out that are focused on pushing the idea that any form of restrictive eating, whether it be for positive reasons or not, is in fact disordered eating.

And this is where the frustration begins.

You see, disordered eating patterns are a REAL PROBLEM. They consume the dieter’s mindset, they impact their social health, their mental health and for the most part, their physical health as well.

In fact, our resident disordered eating specialist Eleni Psillakis knows this all too well herself as both an award-winning speaker on creating awareness on the issue of disordered eating, as well as recovering from an eating disorder herself.

Eating Disorders are a PROBLEM.

BUT… does having a goal, that requires some form of environmental, physiological or psychological restriction mean your thought process is by definition a disordered thought process?

Absolutely not! But… to clarify, that needs some context.

You see, having a goal is a positive thing. And when that goal is one of a physical nature, whether it be specifically for a physique contest or to improve your appearance and or your internal health, at some point in time within that phase, some restriction is necessary.

Now, that could be a restriction in calories, a restriction in food type due to personal preference or even a restriction in the amount of time you go out and eat with friends in the last few weeks of a contest preparation, where food consumption accuracy becomes more important.

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If you are restricting because you have a poor relationship with food, see food as good and bad, have a poor relationship with your body, whereby what you see is not reality or you eat due to psychological hardship such as emotion, stress, a feeling of need or a sense of emotional fulfilment that is missing when you don’t have food, then you need to take a step back from dieting.

These are signs of disordered eating and it's important you acknowledge them so you can speak with someone educated in the field of food psychology.

The argument that instinctive eating is the only form of eating that is not disordered, quite frankly is just as toxic as the mindset of a person eating out of guilt, emotion and psychological hardship.

By definition, to be instinctive is to do something without conscious thought.

Which is where I have a problem with the current trend pushing this concept.

The reality is, those who currently eat instinctively, with success both physically and mentally, 99% of the time they have a previous history of learned nutrition through research or perhaps even went through a phase of disordered eating themselves.

In doing so, it is this learned knowledge that is then subconsciously providing them with a constant feedback system of food consumption, restriction, ad libitum eating and dietary balance.

And if they think these learned behaviours don’t impact their ability to eat and maintain a healthy physical and mental relationship with food today, well to me, that is concerning.

Red flags go off anytime I see someone promoting a single-minded solution to a multi-faceted problem that requires a holistic approach.

If only it was that simple.

The fact of the matter is, we have a nation that is currently unrestricted in food types, quantity and availability, of which more than 50% of the country is now considered obese. And while it may sound exciting to the layperson that they need to get back to their roots and eat instinctively, it is that exact reason why weight management is a problem to begin with.

Our country lacks food education and no longer has any clue as to what instinctiveness even is when it comes to how to control the macro and micronutrient intake.

So before we judge those who are attempting to make positive change through food education, a little dietary restriction and some exercise based rules and goals, perhaps we need to consider the positives of this change instead of attempting to make it a negative.

Is the end goal to have someone ‘off a diet’ and eating consciously instinctive (that’s an oxymoron I know) throughout everyday life?

Absolutely!

But should we put a negative spin on what is actually an attempt of positive change?

Hell NO we shouldn’t!

Having a goal, making a conscious choice to improve your environment and attempting to improve your lifestyle is not a bad thing.

Goals are a good thing, whereas a negative mindset is not.

The trick is to find the balance.