Merging Weight Loss and Intuitive Eating

freedom from dieting • health and "Health at Every Size" • eat and move with joy

May 12, 2025

my garden from last summer with kale and violas

Intuitive Eating is Freedom from Dieting

When I became certified as a lay facilitator of Intuitive Eating by the co-founders Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 2020, I vowed to never mention weight loss when educating people about Intuitive Eating. I understand why. I've lived through 25 years of compulsive dieting and it feels like a miracle to be free from it. My eating disorder was caused and exacerbated by dieting and body objectification. Intuitive Eating helped me put the negative stuff in the past and restore my joyful relationship with food.

Several years into my no-diet journey and a few years into practicing Intuitive Eating, I came to a point when I wanted to feel better in my body. I asked myself what are you willing to do about it? No way would I revert to my old disordered ways. I wanted to move forward, not backward.

Contrary to the naysayers, Intuitive Eating isn't just about eating whatever you want; it's about living into a peaceful and positive relationship with food and body which includes interoception, nutrition, and movement.

To enhance the experience, I’ll add: stress reduction, sleep improvement, mindfulness, and cooking.

Health and the “Health at Every Size” (HAES) Philosophy

When the philosophy of "Health at Every Size” emerged, many supporters of Intuitive Eating, including the founders and the most current edition of their book, Intuitive Eating; A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach (2020), aligned with its rallying cry against judgment and reaction to the poor long term results of traditional approaches to weight management. Studies show a correlation between weight loss dieting and a body composition shift towards more fat, less muscle which leads to weight gain over time—the exact opposite of the desired result. Talk about demoralizing!

This translated to the view that weight loss dieting was neither a practical or positive pursuit and set up the war between HAES/anti-diet activists and people “doing something” about the obesity crisis. As is usually the case, the answer lies not with either extreme but rather, a more nuanced approach.

Obsessing over calories, macros, points, good/bad foods, and the number on the scale pits mental health against physical. The issue is that our bodies are WHOLE—mind and gut, heart and soul. When we pursue one aspect of health at the expense of another, we end up in the same place we started: unwell.

In eating disorder recovery, focusing on weight is a symptom that a person is still controlled by external standards versus a more mentally healthy sense of personal embodiment. There was a time during my recovery that I felt it was somehow wrong for me to want to change my body. Perhaps it was when I was still undoing the damage of my past, but there came a point when I could pursue weight loss in a new way that didn’t put my well-being at risk. (For more background on HAES, see this American Journal of Public Health article.)

While it is true that you can’t always judge a person’s health by looking at them, extra weight is a risk factor for metabolic and cardiovascular disease. The cause of many of our health crises, both mental and physical, is rooted in our relationship with food. A negative relationship with food fuels mindless eating, overeating, undereating—all of it! Regardless of body size, if eating is guilt-ridden, anxiety provoking, and stressful, it is disordered. Intuitive Eating can help people move beyond this negativity and into a peaceful relationship with food; this should be step one towards better health for everyone.

Eat and Move with Joy

For me, getting to a joyful relationship with food and body had two phases:

Peace of Mind…this happened as a result of my decision to stop dieting and live into my "comfortable body”; Intuitive Eating helped me stop the battle against my body and connect more deeply.
Feeling My Best…this happened when I noticed that I didn't feel my best in my body and I decided to do something about it without jeopardizing #1

Along this path of curiosity and kindness, I did not weigh myself. Learning to listen to my body and develop an even stronger sense of interoception was critical and I needed to separate from all forms of external standards including the scale.

A sense of in-the-moment decision making entered my eating—am I hungry? What do I feel like eating? What shall I choose from the bakery case or deli case or home kitchen to satisfy this hunger? Spontaneity felt wonderfully different from all the planning in advance and angst that arose if I didn’t follow through perfectly.

When eating became enjoyable and guilt-free I thought I was home free. Then came the day I tried on the white dress. If it goes over my hips and thighs, I’m good to go, I thought, and it did! I called my daughter into my room to zip up the back. She tried but was quiet. What’s going on? I thought. I turned to check the mirror for what was wrong with the zipper and was horrified to see that it was inches from closing around my torso. I wanted to cry. See! It doesn't work! Back on Weight Watchers for you! But my daughter was standing right there; I forced self-compassion instead. What could have been a giant step backwards became a step forward…for both of us.

The white dress incident led me to Intuitive Eating and a deeper sense of embodiment that I now know is essential to health. Everyone can benefit, that’s my thinking. Heal your mind first, then pursue feeling better in your body.

Four Dressings for Salads and Bowls

Good dressings and dips help me eat more vegetables and eating more vegetables and stuff-that-grows does help me feel my best.

When deciding on a dressing, think about texture in addition to flavor. Do you want a creamy ranch to dress crisp greens (and perhaps dunk pizza crust)? Or a barely there vinaigrette to unify chopped cucumber, tomato, and perhaps some feta? Keep in mind that you can change a thicker dressing into a drizzle by adding water, a tablespoon or two at a time, until you reach the consistency you’re looking for. When choosing oils for home cooking, I recommend those high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil and avocado oil.

FRENCH VINAIGRETTE

Makes ¾ cup

Before you know it, you’ll be whisking up just the right amount of vinaigrette right in your salad bowl. Even so, there are times when it’s nice to have a bigger jar of it ready to use. Enjoy on leafy salads (drizzle a tablespoon at a time so you don’t drown your greens), French lentils, bean salads, and my favorite for summer, bread salad with fresh tomatoes—see my blog, ripefoodandwine.com, and search “Panzanella.”

To make honey mustard dressing, simply add a teaspoon of honey to this vinaigrette. If you want shallot dressing, add some minced shallots. For citrus, swap out some (or all) of the vinegar for freshly squeezed lemon, orange, or tangerine.

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (Edmond Fallot brand)
½ teaspoon fleur de sel, flake salt, or kosher
salt
Several grinds of fresh black pepper
4 tablespoons wine vinegar (red or white; Banyuls and Champagne are especially nice)
8 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk together the Dijon, salt, pepper, andvinegar. While continuing to whisk, add the olive oil in a thin stream. If the dressing is too tart for your liking, add 1–2 additional tablespoons of olive oil.

GARDEN RANCH DRESSING

Makes 2 cups

A fresh green salad with ranch dressing is a great partner for anything off the grill as well as for takeout favorites like ribs, fried chicken, and pizza. The key is a base of chives or green onions, but after that, use whatever fresh herbs you have available:parsley, mint, basil, tarragon, dill, or a small amount of thyme.

½ cup buttermilk
½ cup mayonnaise (Best Foods or Just Mayo plant-based brand)
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chives or green onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Italian parsley
2 tablespoons basil, mint, or tarragon
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice or white wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Several grinds of fresh black pepper

Whisk together all dressing ingredients. For best flavor, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to marry the flavors. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

AVOCADO LIME DRESSING

Makes ¾ cup

Serve this dressing with a green salad or sticks of jicama on taco night or drizzle over a black bean bowl with shredded cabbage and some crunchies like sliced radishes and snap peas. The high proportion of lime keeps this dressing bright and green for several days. In fact, this dressing is a great life-extender for avocado on the verge of its “mature stage.”

1 small avocado (or ½ large)
12 sprigs cilantro
Juice from 1 lime, should yield 2–3 tablespoons
4 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons olive oil or high-oleic safflower oil (Oil Barn)
1 clove garlic, sliced
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Whir all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate.

CASHEW TAMARI DRESSING

Makes ¾ cup

This cashew dressing is just what you need for your “Buddha bowls.” Start with some cooked rice, add a quick sauté of pea shoots or braising greens, then top with roasted sweet potato, shredded carrots, nuts or seeds, whatever you like! Keep the following in your cold storage to add some variety: Hodo Thai Curry Nuggets (I add them to the sautéed greens to heat them through) and Annie Chun mini wontons (cook according to package directions).

½ cup raw cashews
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (Bragg)
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil or high-oleic
safflower oil (Oil Barn)
1 clove garlic, sliced

Lots of freshly ground black pepper Whir all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate.

Smooth Sailing, Fix Your Food Relationship in 2025!

So this is week 19 of Smooth Sailing. We’ve covered the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating, and I post every Monday to share my perspective on how to set yourself free from diet-thinking and live a more connected life. Please subscribe and share. Thank you so much for being here.

Here’s a recap since the beginning of January:

About Love & Cookies, homepage

Fix Your Food Relationship

Week 1: Food Addict? Or Something Else?

Week 2: Health and Happiness

Week 3: Sugar “Addiction” and Primal Eating

Week 4: One is Never Enough…because None are Allowed

Week 5: Nutrition is a Thing

Week 6: Allow Yourself to Receive

Week 7: Think About Food Less + Enjoy it More

Week 8: Say Yes to No

Week 9: Your Natural Healthy Weight