Nutrition in Intuitive Eating: Add, don’t take away

When we incorporate nutrition into how we’re eating, often the impulse is to focus on what to remove. Many people vow to cut sweets, processed food, and animal proteins, to name a few, only to find themselves craving and/or binging on those foods a short while later.

The focus on gentle nutrition from an Intuitive Eating perspective is holistic and doesn’t require daily perfection (or any perfection for that matter). Instead, by choosing to add in key nutrient-rich foods, you are given the opportunity to observe how you feel without the side dish of deprivation and shame.

The following is a partial list to get you started on incorporating nutritious foods without triggering diet mentality.

1. Vegetables can be cooked in soups, stir fries, or chopped up in salads, slaws, sandwiches, and wraps. They can be grilled, roasted, baked, stewed, pan-fried, or air-fried. Vegetables contain fiber and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.

Dark green leafy vegetables: kale, spinach, collards, dandelion greens, Swiss chard, arugula, mustard greens, Bok choy, broccoli rabe, turnip greens

The usual suspects: zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, onions, garlic, scallions, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, tomatoes

Other veggies that are less well known: turnips, radishes, daikon, taro root, delicata squash, sunchokes, chayote, fiddlehead ferns, jicama, shallot, cassava, celeriac, rutabaga, Romanesco, bitter melon, purslane, tomatillos, ramps, salsify

2. Fruit can be enjoyed on its own, with yogurt or cottage cheese, whipped into a smoothie, used in cooking savory recipes, or baked into muffins, pancakes, or waffles. Like vegetables, fruit contains fiber and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.

The usual suspects: strawberries, kiwi, banana, oranges, tangerines, cherries, grapes, apples, lemons and limes, peaches, nectarines, pears, mangoes, papaya

Unusual options: dragon fruit, durian, mangosteen, rambutan, cherimoya, lychee, starfruit, persimmon, jackfruit, ackee

3. Whole grains can be used instead of your usual pasta or rice in recipes. They can be added to soups and stews. They can be cooked and cooled for salads or grain bowls. Whole grains are also a source of fiber, plant protein, and a variety of minerals and vitamins, particularly B vitamins.

Try: millet, amaranth, freekeh, farro, barley, oats, bulghur, buckwheat, corn, quinoa, rice (wild, brown, black, red), rye, sorghum, triticale

4. Plant-based proteins include beans, nuts, pulses such as lentils, soy products like tofu, tempeh (which is also fermented), and edamame. There are also meat substitutes often made from tofu or wheat gluten. Plant-based proteins can be used as a literal substitute for animal proteins in many cases. But others such as beans can be used to make dips and spreads.

Try: chickpeas, lentils (brown, red, green), great northern beans, cannellini beans, kidney beans, pigeon peas, black beans, refried beans, red beans, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts

5. Fermented foods contain probiotics that help to maintain a favorable balance of microorganisms in your gastrointestinal tract. This “microbiome” is linked to immunity, mood, and many other health conditions and is a very active area of research.

Try: kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, kefir, miso, natto, tempeh, sauerkraut, salt-brined olives, and pickles

So you don’t get overwhelmed, pick one or two of these additions to make at a time and pay extra attention to the sensory experience of eating them in addition to how you feel afterwards. And if you’d like to practice adding more nutritious foods with other Intuitive Eaters, check out the Intuitive Eating for Life community here.