Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating Comes To London

As the London Centre for Intuitive Eating opens its doors in London’s E8, Home House looks at the growing anti-diet trend with LCIE Director, Dr. Laura Thomas.

From Keto to calorie counting, paleo to 5/2, there is no shortage of fashionable diet trends to kick start a new resolution to lose weight. Yet as studies show 80% of those embarking on fad diets eventually see the weight go back on, statistical evidence is clear: diets don’t actually work for the majority of people.

Perhaps that is no surprise. Dieting is a billion-dollar industry, with much of its skilful marketing rhetoric aimed at keeping women in particular feeling insecure about their bodies. Our diet-driven culture and social media’s idealised body aesthetic has seen an explosive rise in disordered eating behaviours such as fasting, skipping meals or taking drug-based appetite suppressants (smoking, caffeine, yohimbe etc) to lose weight. In a small but significant number of cases, disordered eating can be the precursor to clinical eating disorders such as bulimia.

Dr. Laura Thomas is the UK’s leading authority on Intuitive Eating and author of two best-selling books on the subject. She is also Director of LCIE, London’s new hub for people looking to get their head together around sustainable, life-long eating habits and family nutrition, while bucking diet culture.

“Disordered eating is becoming an increasing problem in a western culture driven by social media trends to look and feel a certain way,” says Laura. “Yet disordered eating is thought to affect between 50% and 75% of women and, in a recent survey of over 1,600 adolescents, 61% of females and 28% of males reported some form of disordered eating behaviour. Mintel figures from a few years ago suggest nearly half the UK population have tried to lose weight at some point, rising to nearer 60% of women. Mix in the plethora of media attention around the next big diet craze and we are cooking up a popular culture that encourages disordered eating.”

What is Intuitive Eating?

“I like to think of Intuitive Eating as our default way of eating,” says Laura. “As babies and young children, we have a good sense of when we’re hungry, what we want to eat, and how much of it we need. We eat for pleasure; food brings us joy and we’re attuned to our bodies. Babies don’t sit in their highchairs counting calories or worrying about whether a food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They will cry for food when they are hungry, stop eating when they are full, and be happiest with foods they enjoy.

“Yet as we get older, our innate instincts around food are overridden; we are taught to clean our plates before we can get down from the table, and food becomes conditional - we have to force down broccoli to get the ice cream. We hear adults around us talk about their diets and how they hate their bodies and how they must restrict themselves to fit into narrow body and beauty ideals. Our Intuitive Eating instincts are eroded, and we lose touch with our bodies. The gears of our brains become clogged with pointless information about carbs and protein, ‘superfoods’, gluten, and juice cleanses! Intuitive Eating is a framework we can use to regain a more joyful relationship with food and attuned connection with our bodies.”

Intuitive Eating has gained a great deal of attention in the last few years thanks to the work of Laura and similar pioneers, although the concept was first developed by two registered dietitians in the 1990s. The architects of Intuitive Eating, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, developed 10 principles that helped their clients break away from what they termed ‘the tyranny of dieting’ and towards ‘food freedom’. Over the past 25 years, the scientific community has become interested in these concepts and began to study them; there’s now a burgeoning library of literature documenting the benefits of Intuitive Eating.

“Intuitive Eating can benefit both our physical and psychological wellbeing,” adds Laura. “It can help improve our mood (which makes sense because who enjoys dieting?), the way we feel about our bodies, and has been associated with higher life-satisfaction. In terms of our physical health, early studies show that it can improve markers of heart health, blood glucose regulation, and can help us break the bingerestrict cycle that so many of us become trapped in.”

London Life

Intuitive Eating isn’t a quick fix though. It can be tricky to unpack a lifetime of dieting information, calorie counting and analysing macros, and it isn’t easy to avoid the next big diet ‘fad’ extolled by the popular Sunday newspapers. Some people get the hang of eating intuitively using books and podcasts but, for others, especially those who have disordered eating or maybe even a more serious eating disorder, they may need professional support.

This is where the London Centre for Intuitive Eating comes in. Run by Dr. Laura and her team of trained nutritionists and dietitians, the Centre offers a wealth of help, support and advice on Intuitive Eating through one-to-one counselling, seminars, well-being sessions, events, and wider media outreach through podcasts and Dr. Laura’s books. Consumer courses specifically for women and those for parents looking to nurture Intuitive Eating habits in their children, are among the most popular that the Centre offers.

Alongside the consumer-focused courses, the Centre has a growing reputation for providing in depth professional courses aimed at health practitioners, dietitians and anyone involved in childcare. These are conducted on the Teachable platform and can be used as credits towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation.

Expanding on the Intuitive Eating concept, LCIE has a retail shop offering local, eco and sustainable goods and produce, as well as literature on IE from around the world. The venue also hosts a new fitness studio with classes designed to help and encourage those otherwise intimidated by regular commercial circuit fitness classes to give movement to music for fitness a go. The overriding theme is 100% inclusivity, with the LCIE open to all.

“We specialise not only in Intuitive Eating but also weight inclusive and body affirming care,” adds Dr. Laura. “Using non-diet and person-centred approaches to nutrition and health, we value the lived experience of the person in front of us and aim to create a safe and inclusive space for everyone. Our new LCIE venue is just that.”

If you would like to find out more about Intuitive Eating, the LCIE and its personal and professional courses, pop along to the LCIE at Springfield House, Tyssen Street, London E8.

www.londoncentreforintuitiveeating.co.uk

Dr. Laura is one of the experts advocating for a ‘healthier’ relationship with food

Dr. Laura’s Top Tips for Intuitive Eating 1. Be aware of diet culture, diet marketing and ‘fad’ diet trends 2. Delete food tracking apps, calorie counters and step counting 3. Be mindful of your physical sensations to hunger, fullness, and enjoyment of foods 4. Look after your body with care, not harsh diets and aggressive physical regimes 5. Dress it in a way that’s comforting, nurture your choices with delicious food 6. Join with like-minded individuals to exchange ideas and experiences 7. Seek help if you are having difficulty interpreting your body’s signals around food 8. Use the time and energy you save by rejecting diet culture to fulfil your ideals 9. Notice when you are speaking harshly about food you’ve eaten and practice being more compassionate with yourself 10. Remind yourself that foods are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’; all food provides nourishment for the body and soul