Why Intuitive Eating is Inaccessible For Individuals With Eating Disorders, And How Interoceptive Awareness Can Help

By India Ruiterman

India obtained her Psychology degree from King’s College London, specialising in eating disorders and the nervous system. Her dissertation, titled ‘Interoceptive awareness as a moderator of stress-induced eating disorder and functional gastrointestinal disorders’, focused on the link between nervous system disregulation and food-related disorders.
She has also obtained a Breathwork Instructor licence, combining breath, music and dance in her practice.

Why is intuitive eating inaccessible for individuals with eating disorders?

Intuitive eating is often touted as a panacea for diet culture. “Just listen to your body!”, it says. “Follow your instincts and you’ll lead a balanced life!”, it claims.

In order to be effective, though, the practice – which encourages tuning in to your bodily desires to make food decisions – relies upon your body being powered by a regulated nervous system.

How does the nervous system interact with eating disorders?

Your nervous system has evolved over time to prioritise your security, identifying day-to-day situations as threatening or safe. If this system is functioning as intended, it categorises situations accurately, responds accordingly, and returns to a state of balance.

In short: you can trust a well-regulated nervous system to have your best interests at heart.

But, if you have experienced chronic stress and/or traumatic events, your nervous system learns to go into overdrive, and you can find yourself living in a constant state of fight or flight, seeing threats in perfectly safe situations. This is your sympathetic system dominating your body, and it’s programmed to override any of your needs and desires in order to prioritise survival.

It triggers a cascade of physiological reactions within the body, which can manifest in many forms, whether physical, perceived or arising from internal or external stressors (Chrousos, 2009).

For individuals with eating disorders, even the physical sensation of hunger over an extended period of time – or even just the thought of eating – can trigger a stress response. This can cause a flood of neurotransmitters and hormones that send your hunger and satiety cues out of whack. In some, they may suppress appetite, whilst in others cortisol spikes from stress can cause a surge of cravings for sugary and salty foods (Charmandari et al., 2005; Michels, 2019).

In this case, your body’s natural interoception has been skewed by your nervous system’s disregulation. You may feel like following the intuitive eating advice of “listen to your body’s signals” is counter productive – the signals that you’re receiving are disordered, as they’re not rooted in a body that’s in balance.

The solution? Cultivating interoceptive awareness - the ability to hear balanced, effective communication from your body.

What is interoceptive awareness?

In the pursuit of recovery, one essential skill emerges — interoceptive awareness.

This skill involves perceiving, understanding, and responding to bodily sensations and emotional states, fostering a deep trust in your body’s communication (Mehling et al., 2012). Interoceptive awareness is crucial for identifying and connecting with sensations like hunger, satiety, and the heartbeat of anxiety or stress in real-time.

The best way to cultivate this skill during recovery is to take a moment to slow down, regulate your breathing, and ask yourself “Where in my body do I feel this sensation?”. Fundamentally, it’s a practice of noticing rather than being carried away with identifying with the feeling.

How can interoceptive awareness help me with eating disorder recovery?

Interoception in response to bodily signals is essential to build an integrated sense of self through connection to your emotions and the body, and with time you will build a deeper trust in your body’s language, and knowing its requests are keeping you safe!

People who practise IA have been proven to have more self-confidence, less disordered eating habits and a more positive relationship with food and their self-image (Hebert BM, 2013).

In addition, the practice of intuitive eating becomes more accessible once your interoceptive awareness is honed through a regulated nervous system. As the practice encourages eating exactly what and how much your body is craving, the common fear amongst individuals with EDs is that you’ll turn to pizza and donuts all day. With a regulated nervous system and increased IA, however, you may find that your body, when in balance, is smarter than you think. Your cravings hold valuable information for what your body is in need of nutritionally or emotionally, and you can trust it to communicate with you when you’ve reached satiety.

By unlocking the power and intelligence of interoceptive awareness, you can break free of dietary rules and embrace natural eating habits, as your body will quickly find an equilibrium, craving nutritionally rich foods that your body needs. Honouring your cues, your body and your emotions is the foundation of intuitive eating and can pave the way for a healthier and more satisfying life.

How can I build interoceptive awareness?

Building interoceptive awareness requires a subtle and calm approach.

Taking just 60 seconds for mindfulness techniques can create a tiny window of space for conscious decision-making amid a stressful moment. Powerful grounding techniques like physical touch and focused breathing can shift the nervous system back into a parasympathetic state.

Try lying flat on the floor, placing your hands on your body, and following your breath for 10 long, slow breaths, inhaling and exhaling for 4 counts each.

Incorporate slow, gentle yoga movements into your daily routine, with full attention to the subtle sensations of the body and breath, reinforcing the mind-body connection.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

India obtained her Psychology degree from King’s College London, specialising in eating disorders and the nervous system. Her dissertation, titled ‘Interoceptive awareness as a moderator of stress-induced eating disorder and functional gastrointestinal disorders’, focussed on the link between nervous system disregulation and food-related disorders.

She has also obtained a Breathwork Instructor licence, combining breath, music and dance in her practice.