More About Intuitive Eating…

The beginning of Intuitive Eating is best described through asking a few questions.

Have you done a restrictive diet before?

Did it work? Like, did you achieve your goal (presumably “weight loss”)?

If so, how long did the results last?

Were you happy throughout the process while on the diet?

We pose these questions to clarify a common experience: the failure of restrictive diets. They have an 83% failure rate, with over 100+ million people in the US failing annually.

Diet culture is insidious, pervading everywhere. The best defense is fostering a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body. This enables you to listen to your body and align your lifestyle and eating habits with your values, not unrealistic body image standards.

The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

This is the root of where Intuitive Eating was born. IE is a 10 principle framework created by two amazing dietitians, 25 years ago, and it has the backing of science – over 150 clinical studies show that Intuitive Eating is effective. 400% more effective. So what is Intuitive Eating all about?

Well, the first principle of Intuitive Eating is to “Reject the Diet Mentality”. Hopefully, for those of us who’ve been through the pain, failure, and feeling like there’s something “wrong” with us for not being able to stick with a diet, this first principle brings some much relief.

IE is so much more though – it walks through how to find peace with food (principle #3), respect your body (principle #8), and to honor your hunger (principle #2).

Way and Intuitive Eating

While Way and Intuitive Eating don’t align exactly, both aim to help you listen to your body and align your eating with your life values.

Way’s name derives from the Greek word for diet, “diaita,” meaning “way of living.” Our mission is guiding you to your own way of living and eating.

Way’s Three Pathways – Find Peace With Food and Body Image

We’ve created three Pathways – Body Feels, Emotional Eats, and Mindful Shifts – to explore your relationship with food and body image. Each Pathway addresses multiple subjects but drives towards a singular purpose.

The Body Feels Pathway is designed to help you listen to your body and feel the body signals coming into your awareness. Your body is talking and it’s the most intelligent and efficient system humans have ever studied – more than any rocketship, computer, or electric car, and we’re walking around all day with it, but how often are we listening?

The sessions of the Body Feels Pathway walk through the hunger-fullness scale, fullness v satisfaction, noting where your emotions show up physically, joyful movement, and understanding the difference in perspective between movement and exercise (hint: “burning off” calories doesn’t work, but you probably knew that;)).

The Emotional Eats Pathway is structured so that you can flip the connotation of “emotional eating” – emotions are not something you need to “fight” or “stop”. Emotions influence eating – learn how to accept them, understand where they come from, and have compassion for them. Emotions are defined alongside body signals – your body is telling you something through the emotion. That’s what Way’s Sessions in this Pathway cover – Excited Eating, Gratefulness, how “Health” means “Whole” (fun fact: the root word of “Health” actually means “Whole”), and then uncovering the source of Stress Eating and Cravings.

The purpose of the Mindful Shifts Pathway is to unlearn the “perfect” body image perpetuated by diet culture, then help you reframe your body image to align with your values. Along the way we guide you through exploring Self-Talk, ask you whether you’re Judging People’s Character Based on Their Physical Appearance, the difference between Shame and Guilt, and then Uncovering Your Values before diving into the Body Image Reframing Sessions.

For those new to Intuitive Eating or seeking deeper understanding, Way welcomes you.

Join over 10,000 people on their journey. We offer Way at less than $10/month, committed to your health and happiness. Healthline named Way the 2023 Best Non-Diet App, a testament to our impact.