Intuitive Eating: Tips on Healthy Living in College

By Stefani Pappas, Heather DiBiasi and Kelsey Kettell
Contributing Writers

Prioritizing your health in college can be difficult. Once you balance your exams, assignments, and social time, eating healthy and staying physically active aren’t easy tasks. However, focusing on your nutrition and fitness can improve your body, mood, and college experience overall.

Intuitive eating is an approach that fosters a healthy relationship with food and your body. Instead of focusing on rigid diet rules and stigmas, intuitive eating individualizes good nutrition and health to your personal needs. When you follow the principles of intuitive eating, you’ll find that a healthy lifestyle becomes second nature and simple to manage.

These are the intuitive eating guidelines and simple tips on how you can implement them into your everyday life:

1. Reject The Diet Mentality

Most diets result in failure and disappointment. Intuitive eating is not a diet, but rather it is a lifestyle. The principles of intuitive eating focus on listening to your body and eating for nourishment.

2. Honor Your Hunger

Your body knows when it’s hungry and needs intake for energy. Additionally, your body knows when it’s full. Honor these hunger signals and listen to your biological cues.

3. Make Peace With Food

Give yourself unconditional permission to eat, and avoid depriving yourself of certain foods. Eating sensibly and in moderation is key to living a healthy lifestyle.

4. Challenge The Food Police

Do you have certain food rules about what you can and cannot eat? Reject this mentality, as it leads to negative thoughts and connotations. Most of the time, these rules are based on fads and not backed by research.

5. Respect Your Fullness

Similarly to honoring your hunger, your body knows when it’s full. Trust your fullness signals and give yourself time to digest after eating.

6. Discover The Satisfaction Factor

Eating should be enjoyable and satisfying. Eat foods you love and savor the flavors. Sit down and portion out your meal, and enjoy every bite.

7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food

College brings stress from your academic responsibilities and new environment. Coping with food is only a short-term fix. Address the true issues, and make time to relax during your hectic day.

8. Respect Your Body

Accept your genetic blueprint. Every body is unique and special; embrace your natural figure so you can feel better about who you are.

9. Exercise – Feel The Difference

Exercise shouldn’t be just about calorie burning; fitness improves your mood and overall health. Get moving and find what type of exercise you appreciate most.

10. Honor Your Health- Gentle Nutrition

Make food choices that make you feel good, both in the short-term and long-term. What you eat consistently matters; balance your plate and find a place for all foods you enjoy.

Stefani, Heather and Kelsey are the LIU Campus Nutritionists. They are located in Life Sciences room 150 and offer free nutrition services to all students and faculty on campus. You can email them at postnutritionist@liu.edu or call 516-299-2881 to schedule an appointment. Follow them on Instagram @sensible_bites for healthy eating inspiration.