A common concern I get: “If I’m doing intuitive eating, does that mean I shouldn’t try to eat healthy or try not to care about nutrition?”
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: It’s complicated.
Why People Think Intuitive Eating Means Ignoring Nutrition
If you’ve spent any time on social media in the “anti-diet” space or learning about intuitive eating, you’ve probably seen lots of confusing posts about how great processed foods are, how you should eat as many cookies as you want, and how restriction in any form will keep you stuck in dieting hell.
This messaging exists for a reason. It’s true – partially.
But it is certainly confusing when it’s not part of a nuanced and frankly, lengthy conversation about how complicated humans’ relationships with food can be. If you’re one of those people with a complicated relationship with food, I’m sure you know what I mean.
For people coming out of diet culture or in eating disorder recovery, nutrition talk can be actively harmful. Being intentional about “eating healthy” can feel like restriction in disguise. It can trigger old patterns and make things worse. It can make you want to binge or go into an shame or anxiety spiral.
This isn’t a personal failing or some kind of weakness. This is a normal stage of healing.
So yes, some people genuinely need a break from nutrition information – maybe for a while, maybe for a long while. Listening to the voice that’s telling you that you need to not care about “good nutrition” for a while is actually wisdom, not avoidance.
I’d like to try to explain what I mean by this so you can have a more accurate, nuanced view of what kind and amount of nutrition information is healthy and helpful for you. Plus, what an instagram post will never be able to capture.
Why Ignoring Nutrition Information Sometimes Makes Sense (At First)
Some annoying truths: so much nutrition information out there is genuinely triggering when you’re healing from diet culture. You want to be able to separate click bait from real nutrition advice.
The stuff you might need to ignore looks like: “You have to eat X grams of protein per day to be healthy.” “Eat this exact macro split.” “No eating after 7 or you’ll ruin your metabolism”. It’s extreme and can create alarm and anxiety. It’s black and white. It’s just click bait masquerading as health advice.
And then there are all the super thin people talking about what they eat, how they stay healthy, what works for them. Even when they mean well, it can feel impossible to trust that information when you’re still working through your own shit.
So yes, you might need to tune all of that out for a while.
This is where getting real help with intuitive eating – whether working with someone one-on-one or doing a structured program like my Love Food Again course – can be genuinely life-changing.
Because proper nutrition and intuitive eating education doesn’t just tell you to “eat whatever you want” and leave you there. It teaches you how to move through the process without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The Actual Healing Process
If you are wanting to heal your relationship with food by trying out intuitive eating, or just ditching dieting, you may need to do some steps before you can tune back in to new info about the food pyramid (sigh), or optimizing your post-workout snack.
First, you have to unearth the messy bits. That means looking at the thought patterns keeping you stuck in avoidance or hyper-vigilance around food and exercise.
You have to take time to learn to be kind and patient with yourself by learning to be with your emotions instead of using food to manage them (or using restriction to avoid them).
You might need to release the grip on your weight and let your body heal by actually eating enough. You may need to unpack and process how challenging food was growing up, or how a family member or friend thought your body needed to be different than it was. You’ll need to talk about how this affected you, and is maybe still affecting you.
A lot of folks end up in an extended rebellion period, where they have a really hard time stopping when their full or finding ways to cope with their feelings without food. It can be a lot.
If you want to have peace with food and eat well, you probably need to let yourself eat the things you love and work toward trust in yourself. In time, if you keep up the mindfulness and stay on the path toward liberation, you’ll land right where you need to be.
I like to call this place, when you’re ready to make some changes to the actual nutrition in your diet “nutrition intention.”
Sometimes it’s subtle. You just have a feeling that a savory, protein-packed breakfast is going to make you feel better so you do the work of waking up 5 minutes earlier to cook the egg. Or sometimes you just have a conversation and come to the realization your diet has changed in a good direction without you forcing it.
You realize that you’re eating well – really well, even. You’ve found the right balance for you. Not because someone told you what to eat, but because you learned to listen to your body and trust yourself. (and yeah, maybe you had a dietitian also teach you what healthy eating really is)
And that’s why Principle 10 (Gentle Nutrition) comes at the end of the intuitive eating process.
You can’t get there by skipping the hard parts. You have to do the work first.
The Truth: You Can Reject Diet Culture AND Want to Eat Well
Both things can be true at the same time. The difference is how you approach nutrition and when.
Intuitive eating includes gentle nutrition – it’s literally Principle 10. But it comes last for a reason. You can’t think clearly about nutrition when you’re still white-knuckling food rules or in an active restrict-binge cycle.
Some people need to completely let go of nutrition talk first. Some people are ready to think about it differently. Both are ok.
How To Think About Gentle Nutrition
There’s a huge difference between diet culture’s version of “eating healthy” and actually nourishing your body.
Diet culture nutrition sounds like:
- Exact macros and portions
- Good foods vs bad foods
- Rigid meal timing
- Punishment and restriction
Gentle nutrition sounds like:
- What feels good in my body?
- What gives me energy?
- What satisfies me?
- What’s realistic for my life right now?
- What have I not had in a while that might feel good?
- Hmm… I had pasta for dinner the last two nights, maybe I’ll make something protein-forward tonight.
It’s practical. It’s flexible. And it doesn’t require perfection.
A Practical Example: How I Think About Eating Fish
Let me give you a real example of what this looks like in practice.
Fish intimidates a lot of people. It feels fancy, or delicate, or like something you need to know how to do. So people just don’t eat it.
Which is a bummer because fish is actually easy, tastes good, and your body and brain genuinely benefit from it (omega-3s are great for mood and brain function, protein keeps you satisfied).
But I’m not suggesting you force yourself to eat fish you hate, or that you’re failing if you don’t eat it twice a week like some guideline says you should.
I’m saying: if you’re curious about adding more fish to your diet, here’s an actually easy way to do it.
Enter: Frozen Shrimp
The best thing about frozen shrimp is they’re handy. They thaw in 5 to 10 minutes, so you don’t have to plan ahead.
When I started keeping them stocked, dinner went from “something I have to plan” to “something I can make because I forgot to think about dinner and I’m hungry.”
I buy the biggest raw, deveined, frozen ones with the shell still on, but you could get pre-peeled too. I hear the peel makes them taste better, plus I find it satisfying. If peeling shrimp sounds awful, buy peeled ones and do not for a second worry about it.
My Go-To Recipe: Shrimp Puttanesca Pasta
This is one of my favorite recipes because it requires almost nothing fresh. Perfect for people struggling to keep food fresh or for those nights when you sorta want to cook but don’t want to go to the store.
Shrimp Puttanesca Pasta
Serves 2 (or 1 person with happy leftovers)
Ingredients:
- 1 lb frozen, raw shrimp, thawed
- 1 lb pasta (whatever you have: spaghetti, linguine, penne)
- ¼ cup capers or olives (or both if you want extra brininess)
- 4 to 5 garlic cloves, sliced thin
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ cup good olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 to 3 cups fresh spinach (optional)
- Handful of fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh lemon juice and zest
Instructions:
Pull your shrimp out and put them in a bowl with cold water for a few minutes. Check them every few minutes until they’re thawed. Once they’re soft, peel them.
Get your water boiling for pasta. Salt it well. Once it’s going, start the sauce.
In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and chili flakes. Let it get fragrant, like 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t let it burn.
Let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Drop your pasta in the boiling water. Cook until it’s done (follow the box).
Once the pasta is cooking, throw the shrimp into the sauce. Add your capers and/or olives. Cook shrimp for 3 to 4 minutes, tossing or flipping halfway, until the shrimp turn pink.
Before you drain the pasta, scoop out about a cup of that starchy pasta water. Drain the rest, then throw the pasta in the pan with the sauce and shrimp. Add a few splashes of pasta water to help everything come together.
Toss in the butter, spinach, and most of the parsley. Stir until the butter melts, spinach wilts, and everything looks glossy. Squeeze some lemon over it – don’t be shy. Good olive oil drizzle. Top with the rest of the parsley.
Serve it warm. I like to add a simple arugula and lemon salad (lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper) but that’s just a bonus. Parmesan on top, of course.
Other Ways to Use Frozen Shrimp
Once you have them on hand, they’re incredibly versatile:
- Shrimp curry with whatever vegetables you have
- Rice bowls with shrimp, roasted green beans, and chili crisp
- Shrimp tacos with cabbage and lime
- Cold shrimp leftover the next day on some crisp greens with ranch dressing
The Bottom Line
You’re allowed to want to nourish yourself. You’re allowed to care about how your food tastes and how it makes you feel. And you’re absolutely allowed to do it as simply and conveniently as you need.
Intuitive eating doesn’t mean you stop caring about nutrition. It means you approach it from a place of care and curiosity instead of control and fear.
If you’re ready to think about gentle nutrition, start small. Pick one thing that sounds good and feels doable. Grab the frozen shrimp. Thaw it. Make pasta. Trust yourself.
About Emily
Emily Van Eck, MS, RDN specializes in Intuitive Eating, eating disorders, body image, women’s reproductive health, and healing from years of weight-bias and disordered eating. She helps people find balance, consistency, and peace with their eating habits so they can feel confident to get outta their heads and into their bodies. Emily is a registered dietitian and certified Intuitive Eating counselor with a master’s degree in nutrition science. Read more about her practice, values, and experience here.
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