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Intuitive Eating Principle 10: Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition


We’ve come to our final Intuitive Eating principle, and don’t worry, we didn’t forget about nutrition! After all, we are still dietitians. We believe nutrition is important! However, if we focus too much on nutrition too early, Intuitive Eating can sometimes be treated like another diet. And remember, nutrition is just one piece of our overall health and wellness. Our health can also be influenced by our social connections, sleep, stress levels, the amount of movement we get, and more.


The authors of Intuitive Eating define healthy eating as “having a healthy balance of foods and having a healthy relationship with food.” Both are important! The previous nine principles have largely focused on getting ourselves to a place where we have a healthy relationship with food and with our bodies. Now in our last principle we introduce some recommendations around nutrition.


In general, we can improve the quality of our nutrition by focusing on adding more:

  • Fruits and vegetables

  • Whole grains (oats, quinoa, farro, brown rice)

  • Quality fats (avocado, nuts/seeds, fatty fish such as salmon)

  • Protein rich foods (eggs, poultry, dairy products, beans, lean meats, soy)

When choosing foods, we can try to focus on choosing options that are less processed. Typically less processed foods will have more nutrients and less salt, sugar, or other additives. But remember, this doesn’t mean that more processed foods are “bad” or that we are a bad person for eating them. It’s just something to keep in mind as we make our food choices during the week!


We can also help keep our energy levels high throughout the day by pairing a carbohydrate rich food with a protein and/or fat containing food. This combo will fuel us and keep us more satisfied. Some example foods are listed below:


Carbohydrate Rich Foods

  • Fruit

  • Bread

  • Crackers

  • Sweet potato/potato

  • Whole grains

Protein/Fat Rich Foods

  • Nuts/nut butters

  • Cheese

  • Yogurt

  • Edamame

  • Meat/fish

And as always, if you have more specific questions about your individual lifestyle or nutrition needs, a dietitian can be a great resource. The Nourished Lifestyles team is here to support you in your nutrition journey! Reach out to us and set up a consultation with one of our Registered Dietitians today, or click this link to sign up for our 6-week online Intuitive Eating Program!


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