Intuitive Eating: Where to begin?
As an “inner journey of discovery,” the pursuit of Intuitive Eating may sound overly spiritual, abstract, intangible or difficult to measure.
Luckily, there’s been at least 220 research studies conducted since 2006, highlighting the health benefits of Intuitive Eating, including “increased well-being, lower risk of eating disorders, and improved biomarkers, such as blood sugar and cholesterol” (Tribole & Resch, 2025).
Of course, there’s the added benefit of creating a long-term trusting relationship with your food, and grounding yourself as the expert of your own body.
So, how do you begin the process of becoming an Intuitive Eater (if you’re not one already)?
You start by noticing the messages from your body.
We spend countless hours in our head. Listening, reacting and responding to the slew of chatter. The mental popcorn. It just doesn’t stop.
Meanwhile, your body is trying to get your attention.
Hey, I need to pee.
I haven’t been fed yet. What’s taking so long?
HEYYY. I said, I haven’t been fed!
OK {sulks}. I guess I’m not that important.
Woah, chill - not so fast. I can’t digest that quickly and your meeting can wait. Oi, it can wait.
Welp. That was too much, too fast. I feel sick now.
💥💥(BTW colonization taught us to pooh-pooh our body’s sensations and emotions; prioritizing instead our intellectual, rational and educated thoughts. Just one reason you may feel disconnected from your body. More on this later).
Your body’s signals are always telling you something. Whether a headache, growling hunger pangs, dizziness, upset stomach or even irritability – there’s information in these messages and practicing Intuitive Eating starts with paying attention to them.
And this concept of paying attention has a name: interoceptive awareness.
Interoceptive awareness is your ability to perceive your body’s signals, whether loud and blaring, or soft and subtle.
As it turns out, studies have shown that Intuitive Eaters have greater interoceptive awareness than their non-Intuitive Eating counterparts (Herbert et al., 2013). If you meditate, your interoceptive awareness is likely pretty solid as well.
So, becoming an Intuitive Eater involves both: tuning IN to your interoceptive awareness frequency, while tuning OUT any static or interference (things like diet culture, unwanted opinions, self-doubt, etc).
Want to test your baseline interoceptive awareness?
I made you a super short video to walk you thru it.
Watch the video - and share what you noticed in the comments!
Love, xo-
Mux
PS: If you’re curious how interoceptive awareness plays out in your day-to-day, my friend Jen Walthers (meditation teacher and researcher) explains more in this 2022 recorded conversation. We dive into the topic around the 12:58 mark.