Fresh Focus Podcast EP#93
Title: Application of Intuitive Eating
Host name and Credentials: Erin Gobeille, MS, RDN
Facility: VA Portland Medical Center
Guests and Contributors:
Audrey Perkins, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Clinical Outpatient Nutrition at VA Puget Sound in Seattle, WA.
Christina Johnson, MS, RD, Outpatient Dietitian at the VA Portland Medical center in Oregon

Transcript:
Erin: Welcome to the Fresh Focus Podcast, I’m Erin, a registered dietitian at the Portland VA Health Care System and I am excited to be your host for this series all about Intuitive Eating! Throughout this series we have covered what intuitive eating is, answered some frequently asked questions and discussed some commonly held myths. In this last episode of the series I am going to talk about some actionable ways implement or to start applying intuitive eating and the broader concepts we have talked about previously the episodes. We can start by identifying any food rules or restrictions that you may have. To identify these food rules start by looking at what your current relationship to food is and how that's been impacted by previous experiences or dieting history.

It's hard to start implementing changes with intuitive eating if we're not even aware of our current relationship with food especially when many of us don’t realize that we have food rules or restrictions that are negatively impacting your relationship with food. Notice when strong emotions come up around meals or eating. From there you can work backwards and unpack what the thought is or where it came from. Is it from a previous diet instilled believe from childhood etc.

Being a little more mindful day to day is a good first step because it doesn't require you to actually make any changes to you're eating or how you approach food.

Don’t be afraid to get curious about the feelings associated with your food.

It really is starting to get curious and building from there. Once you've started to get curious and looked at your past dieting history and you feel ready to start making changes to your eating. Another step to beginning to apply IE is to get to know your hunger and fullness by listening to those cues in your body.
A great tool to use is the hunger and fullness scale picture a scale between 1 -10 with 1 being starving and 10 being uncomfortably full. Ask yourself what does a 1 feel like for me? What does a 5 feel like for me? Maybe a 10. Everyone’s hunger and fullness is going to feel different so take time to consider what it looks like for you. Check in with this feeling by taking pauses throughout the day to see where you are on the scale. Even when you may not have hunger and fullness cues continue to take pauses throughout the day to check in will help you become more in touch with those little signs of hunger. In the previous 2 steps I briefly mention that mindfulness component and we have talked about that in our previous episodes. One way to incorporate mindful eating as part of your IE is to begin to tune into all your senses and your environment.

When hungry eat something that is satisfying. Being mindful of how you feel before during and after eating. When you eat foods consider these factors to determine if the food is satisfying to you. Such as taste, texture, aroma, appearance, temperature, the volume or the filling capacity. This week try to find a calm environment where you can really pay attention to your eating step away from your phone, computer, tv, your work whatever it is that is maybe keeping you from being present while eating and try eating a meal without distractions checking in every few bites to see where your fullness is at if there is food left on the plate when you are feeling full it can sometimes feel difficult to stop because of that clean plate mentality or because the food tastes so good. Take note of what thoughts come up when you know you are full, but you are tempted to finish what is on your plate.

We can also use this to consider our environment that we're choosing to eat in and how that environment sets us up when it comes to the satisfaction we get from our meals. Ideally, we would be able to choose comfortable environments with pleasing surroundings or even place settings such as-eating with a table cloth or fun silverware or pretty colored dishes and dishware to make our eating experience a little bit more pleasant.

My fourth tip on incorporating more intuitive eating is to set yourself up for ease of access and availability of food to keep your body regularly nourished. Usually access to food in a variety of contexts can be a big barrier for people to eat enough or to have that enjoyable eating experiences. If food insecurity is a concern, it can be more challenging to follow all the principles of IE but not impossible. I want to acknowledge the added challenge that comes with incorporating IE into daily life with that limited food access. It is important to eat consistently throughout the day and as adults sometimes we don't always have that availability or the time to stop and take an actual food break. But it is important that we have a general pattern to try and nourish yourself at least three meals and maybe a couple snacks throughout the day when possible.

Having consistent access to food is the highest priority don’t be afraid to use different frozen or convenience items if they help keep you nourished. When food resources are not a barrier part of setting yourself up for having easier access involves some type of meal planning or scheduling. Meal planning can be as simple as on this day every week I am going to go out and grocery shop for myself or it can be more involved and incorporate meal prepping and preparing our lunches for the week ahead of time. Having some type of plan that you can commit to when it comes to getting your food and making sure its consistently available is a part of this.

For example, if you are someone who works away from home packing food or keeping food in your office or place of work can be more limiting than always having your full kitchen available to you. So being mindful and flexible with meal planning and be sure to check back in with yourself even every morning saying you know I planned this the other day does it still sound good to me, yeah it does so I think I’m going to take that but maybe I’ll pack a few extra things so I can give myself some extra options even if I may or may not eat them. Part of the meal planning process is knowing there are certain activities during the week that pop up that are unplanned so planning for multiple options helps allow for that flexibility. This step is also a reminder that planning can be a part of intuitive eating. It can be easy to get hung up on only listening to your hunger and fullness however it is just as important to make planning in a way that works best for you also a part of IE to make sure that you are eating enough. Something that can be challenging if we are too focused on only listening to our hunger and fullness. Now you are ready to begin.

To get started, remember, to be curious be in tune with your hunger and fullness find a calming environment to eat in and increase your options and access to food. If you are looking for more resources or tools to help with these steps or throughout your IE journey, make sure to ask if your VA has an intuitive eating program if its available to you purchasing the IE workbook and starting to read through it is a great option for additional tools and guidance. If you have been listening to the previous episodes on intuitive eating and are curious to try it out, I think we have laid out some great ways to get started.
Thank you again to Audrey and Christina for joining us in previous episodes throughout this intuitive eating series and sharing your expertise. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you have any questions or need personal recommendations, feel free to contact your local VA dietitian or ask if your VA has an intuitive eating program. Thanks for listening!