Intuitive Eating Counselling: What It Is and How It Works
- Yasmina Louise Abbas
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
So many people spend years trapped in a cycle of constantly trying to change or fix how they eat. Whether it be due to body image issues, emotional eating, or simply forgetting to eat. It is exhausting, drains your energy and can have a real impact on your relationship with your body and yourself. In fact, you might even be completely unaware of what these habits are doing to you, how they silently disconnect you from your own physical needs.
But that is not what intuitive eating is, as developed by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.
Intuitive eating is a quiet, non-restrictive rebellion against those rigid rules and habits that feel out of control. It is a safe, compassionate space where you learn to work with your body, not against it.
Intuitive eating counselling is a method that takes all of these challenges and gives you space to explore them, so you can learn flexibility, adaptability and compassion towards yourself and finally regain your power.
At Yasmina Louise Nutrition, we take a non-diet approach to nutrition based on intuitive eating principles. We do this through open, collaborative conversations that explore how mental and emotional barriers might be affecting your relationship with food, nutrition, and your body.
Together, we look at the root causes of your challenges and work towards creating sustainable, practical, and flexible habits that fit into your real life. The aim is to help food feel more enjoyable and supportive, rather than something that constantly needs to be “fixed.”
What Intuitive Eating Counselling Is
The non-diet intuitive eating approach we use for nutrition support focuses on your relationship with food and untangles any underlying challenges you might have. It is an approach that inherently has no rules or restrictions, and it is made to be flexible and adaptable to fit any individual. It helps you understand your eating patterns and nutritional needs, teaching you how to eat in a way that feels good for your body and your life while also considering your own health goals.
It works with real life and does not focus on ideal eating habits or body types. No one is excluded based on body size with Yasmina Louise Nutrition, as we are weight-inclusive and honour all weights and neurotypes.
How It’s Different From Traditional Nutrition Support
Our services at Yasmina Louise differ from traditional nutrition support as we don’t offer meal plans or calorie counting, and we don’t promote weight loss. Everything is customised to the person and focuses on understanding behaviour rather than controlling it.
We don’t subscribe to a one-size-fits-all approach or “good vs bad” food rules. We believe that every person is unique, and while we often can relate to each other, exploring your own story is important and a valuable tool in finding peace with food and your body.
What Sessions Look Like in Practice
Our 1:1 intuitive eating and non-diet nutrition counselling sessions are designed to look at various aspects of your relationship with food and your body. Because this can be a deeply personal and sometimes emotionally challenging subject, it is incredibly important to us that we never rush the process.
Our work together focuses on key areas that we explore at your own pace:
Exploring your history and present eating patterns: We usually start by looking at your history with food and body image. From there, we explore your current eating challenges and patterns while understanding what uniquely influences your eating, whether that includes stress, your routine, emotions, or your physical environment.
Building small, realistic changes: Throughout our time working together, we focus on building small, realistic changes that actually fit into your lifestyle, rather than forcing you to adapt to a strict plan.
Reconnecting and creating gentle structure: Together, we will explore hunger, fullness, and satisfaction where it is possible for you. We focus on creating structure only where it could be helpful for your daily life, rather than using it as a strict rule.
How it works in practice
Your sessions will depend on what your main goals are and what you need. However, everything we do will be collaborative and conversational. I will initially follow a structure I deem most suited for your goals, but if things change, we will adapt and discuss what the best next step might be for you. Throughout our time together, I might give you small tasks or reflections to explore between sessions to aid your learning and development.
Most importantly, this is a safe space to explore your patterns over time and learn new sustainable habits. There is no judgment or pressure to do anything 'perfectly'. As a matter of fact, living in a world with diet culture in your back pocket, it is only natural to be affected by it. Being perfect at intuitive eating or non-diet nutrition is not part of my practice. I would rather have you learn flexibility and adaptability with your nutrition and body image than aim for something like perfection
Is Intuitive Eating Counselling Right for You?
This support may be helpful if what you’ve read here reflects your current experience with food and body.
1:1 support is designed specifically for anyone who is:
Forgetting to eat or finding it hard to eat regularly
Feeling stuck when deciding what to eat, even when hungry
Turning to food when feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or emotional
Experiencing patterns of emotional or dysregulated eating, including binge eating
Finding it difficult to plan, start, or follow through with meals
Only noticing hunger or fullness when it feels quite extreme
Feeling anxious, self-conscious, or critical about their body
This space isn’t only for people who feel stuck in unhelpful patterns around food. It can also be helpful if you simply want a more relaxed and less confusing relationship with food.
You may also find it helpful to read more about intuitive eating for neurodivergent individuals if that feels relevant to your experience:
If you are ready to stop trying to “fix” yourself and start exploring a more compassionate, flexible way forward, you don’t have to navigate that alone. Book a discovery call today!
Nourishing wishes,
Yasmina
References:
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020). Intuitive eating: A revolutionary anti-diet approach (4th ed.). St. Martin’s Essentials.
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