What is Intuitive Eating? Meet the duo behind the method

Once considered radical, Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole's intuitive eating method has become a cornerstone of the modern anti-diet movement.

LOS ANGELES — It's 6 p.m. on the terrace of Il Moro, a twinkly lit Italian gastropub in West Los Angeles, and Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole intuitively eat their dinner.

They start with , crusty bread, generously dipped in olive oil, then move on to the salad, branzino and penne pasta drizzled with little burrata cushions that Mrs. Resch has ordered for the table. In keeping with one of the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating: "Defy the Food Police", no woman moralizes about carbs.

"First bites of pasta are magical,” says Resch. After a few more moments, she shrugs, the attraction starting to fade. This is another principle: the less certain foods are prohibited, the less power they have over you.

Intuitive eating, as conceived by the dietitian-nutritionist duo , is the practice of letting go of restrictive diets and the goal of weight loss and encouraging people to connect with the intuition that governed their eating as toddlers. This includes satiating hunger rather than trying to suppress or thwart it; feeling satiety (and pausing in the middle of the meal to assess it); and savoring, even seeking the pleasure of food. Other principles include addressing emotional eating, emphasizing movement rather than 'militant exercise' and practicing 'gentle eating' - paying attention to moderation and balance in one's diet , but not too harshly.

"You can have whatever you want," says Resch, 77. "You can have it for the rest of your life."

The idea of ​​eating freely was bold when Ms. Resch and Ms. Tribole, 63, co- wrote "Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach" in 1995, a time when low-fat eating ruled. Twenty-eight years later, their manifesto urging people to "reject the diet mentality" and "respect" their bodies has become a cornerstone of the modern anti-diet movement, scolding keto, paleo and purifiers and granting readers - and themselves - "unconditional permission to eat."

"Intuitive Eating" has sold more than 700,000 copies since 1995, according to St. Martin's Press, which published the fourth edition in 2020. The practice has been mentioned 1.4 billion times on TikTok, along with bao buns and everything bagels proudly shared in the newspapers "What I eat in one day while eating intuitively". Demi Lovato is among celebrities who credit intuitive eating with curing eating disorders.

The practice has been embraced by wellness influencers like Nicole Berrie, owner of the New York plant. convenience store Bonberi Mart — who quotes him in the title of her new cookbook, "Body Harmony: Nourishing, Plant-Based Recipes for Intuitive Eating" — and co-opted by Gwyneth Paltrow, whose Goop Press published a guide to "intuition fasting," which Ms. Tribole and Ms. Resch said they couldn't tolerate. "I intuitively fast when I sleep," Ms. Resch joked.

There are more than 100 academic studies of intuitive eating, including a 2021 meta-analysis that found the method was positively linked to participants' body image, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. While the program does not promise better health indicators per se, some preliminary studies link intuitive eating to improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels and increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

However, few doctors ins embrace it, as traditional medicine remains staunchly in favor of weight loss for overweight people - much to the chagrin of the ou...