When you hear the term “Intuitive Eating,” you might think it’s a modern trend, but it’s actually been around since 1995. Developed by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, intuitive eating (IE) is about getting back to the basics – listening to your body’s internal hunger and satiety cues rather than letting external influences like emotions, stress, or societal pressures guide your eating.

Now, let’s look deeper into this approach and explore how intuitive eating can help shift workers build a healthy, sustainable relationship with food.

What is Intuitive Eating?

At its core, intuitive eating is an "adaptive eating style." It promotes a positive relationship with food by tuning into your body’s needs instead of being driven by rigid diets, emotional eating, or cultural expectations about how you should eat. It’s not just about eating when you're hungry; it's about respecting your body’s natural cues and honouring them with flexibility and compassion.

Intuitive eating is built on several key principles:

1. Listen to Physical Hunger and Satiety Cues: Eat when you’re physically hungry and stop when you’re satisfied. Sounds simple, right? But in our fast-paced world, it's easy to eat based on habit, time, or emotion rather than actual physical needs.

2. Unconditional Permission to Eat: No foods are off-limits. By giving yourself the freedom to eat what you crave, you take away the guilt and the cycle of restriction and overeating.

3. Food Choices for Health and Satisfaction: Make choices that satisfy both your taste buds and your body's nutritional needs. Eating should be enjoyable, not something to dread or obsess over.

4. Respect for Your Body: Appreciate your body for what it can do, not how it looks. Exercise because it feels good, not just as a means of weight loss or calorie burning.

Breaking Down the Principles of Intuitive Eating

Researcher Tracy Tylka simplified intuitive eating into four domains through the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2). These domains help measure how well someone practices intuitive eating:

1. Unconditional Permission to Eat: This is the foundation of IE. When we stop labelling foods as "good" or "bad," we naturally find balance without feeling deprived.

2. Eating for Physical Cues, Not Emotional Ones: Emotional eating often leads to guilt and further unhealthy behaviours. Learning to separate physical hunger from emotional needs helps you develop a more balanced relationship with food.

3. Reliance on Hunger and Satiety Cues: This encourages listening to your body’s signals to eat when hungry and stop when full, something many of us lose touch with over time.

4. Body-Food Choice Congruence: Choose foods that not only satisfy your hunger but also nourish and fuel your body. It’s about finding harmony between what tastes good and what your body needs.

The Acceptance Model of Intuitive Eating

Many people think intuitive eating is just about diet, but it’s actually much more holistic. A major part of this approach is self-acceptance and body respect.

Tylka’s research introduced the Acceptance Model of Intuitive Eating (AMIE). This model highlights that when individuals feel accepted by others, especially for their body, they’re more likely to accept themselves. This shift reduces the focus on appearance and encourages appreciation for what the body can do rather than how it looks.

For shift workers, this can be especially important. In jobs where physical and emotional demands are high, it's easy to get caught up in negative body image and unhealthy coping mechanisms like stress-eating or restrictive dieting. But when you shift the focus to appreciating how your body helps you perform in your job – getting through long, tough shifts and adapting to irregular sleep patterns – it’s easier to respect and care for it.

How Does the Acceptance Model Work?

AMIE shows that body acceptance from others leads to more focus on body function, which, in turn, fosters greater body appreciation. This shift in mindset supports more intuitive eating because you’re less driven by emotions or external expectations. You begin to eat based on your body’s physical needs rather than trying to control your appearance through food choices.

Interestingly, studies show that while body acceptance from others is important, unconditional acceptance doesn’t always significantly affect intuitive eating. However, specific body-focused acceptance (feeling accepted for how your body looks and functions) plays a huge role in developing a healthier relationship with food.

For shift workers, this means creating an environment where you feel accepted and supported, both at work and in your personal life. Whether through peers, family, or a professional coach, having a support system that encourages body acceptance can directly influence your ability to embrace intuitive eating.

Evidence Supporting the Acceptance Model of Intuitive Eating

Research supports the idea that body acceptance influences how well someone practices intuitive eating. A systematic review by Linardon et al. found that the acceptance model accounted for 29% of the variation in intuitive eating scores. This means that body appreciation and focusing on what your body can do – rather than how it looks – significantly increases your ability to eat intuitively.

For women, the model accounted for an even higher percentage (32%), which suggests that body objectification and societal pressures can be larger barriers to intuitive eating. The more we can reduce self-objectification, the better we can foster a healthier relationship with food.

In practice, this means working on accepting your body for what it is today, not what you wish it would be or how it compares to others. As shift workers, where long hours and stress can make self-care challenging, this mindset is key to finding balance.

Real-World Application for Shift Workers

For shift workers who deal with irregular schedules, fatigue, and high levels of stress, it can be challenging to practice intuitive eating. However, making this mindset shift can be a game-changer for your health and well-being. Here’s how:

1. Remove the Guilt Around Food Choices: Shift workers often eat on the go or during non-traditional hours, which can lead to guilt around food choices. Giving yourself permission to eat without labelling foods as "bad" can help reduce stress and foster a more positive relationship with food.

2. Listen to Your Body: After a long shift, you may be emotionally drained and tempted to eat for comfort rather than hunger. Check in with your body – are you physically hungry, or are you looking for a way to unwind? If it’s emotional, find other ways to decompress, like a hot shower, light exercise, or meditation.

3. Appreciate Your Body’s Function: Your body gets you through some tough shifts – acknowledge that. Respecting and nurturing your body, rather than focusing on how it looks, can help shift your mindset and support intuitive eating.

4. Work with Your Schedule: Your eating times might not look like everyone else's, and that’s okay. Rather than sticking to rigid meal times, tune in to when your body is hungry or needs fuel. It’s about flexibility and responding to your needs.

Final Thoughts

Intuitive eating isn’t just about food; it’s about respecting your body, appreciating what it does for you, and letting go of societal pressures around diet and appearance. For shift workers, this approach can be empowering, helping you build a sustainable relationship with food that supports both your physical and mental well-being.

By embracing the principles of intuitive eating, you can thrive through your shifts, feel more energised, and find balance both on and off the job.

About Roger Sutherland

As a coach and advocate for shift workers, my goal is to provide practical, evidence-based strategies that empower individuals to thrive in their roles. By understanding and addressing the challenges of shift work sleep disorder, shift workers can achieve better health outcomes and lead more fulfilling lives both on and off the job.

Note:

• I also run Nutrition, Health & Wellbeing Seminars for shift working environments.