Have you ever thought about the difference between mindful eating and intuitive eating? They are not the same thing, but both can be helpful approaches to nutrition when a person lives with EDS, MCAS, and/or POTS. Especially when a person is limited in what they can eat, an intentional view can soften the hard edges of even the toughest digestive challenges.
Speaking for myself as a practitioner, I am always attentive to patient feelings about food, gut health, diet, and body size. Too many people with complex conditions get their health concerns dismissed by doctors who tell them to lose weight and then they’ll feel better. Still others fall into the pit of orthorexia, where they are consumed by their fear of eating the wrong thing. Experienced through the lens of chronic illness, what you eat can become associated with fear and helplessness and self-criticism.
“Food is not the enemy,” I tell my patients, “And you don’t have to be perfect, either.”
In many ways, a mindful approach is what I preach.
Intuitive eating means you are following your gut sense of what’s right for you regardless of what your doctor and received wisdom might say. There is definitely a place for this approach, but when we don’t build a steady foundation first? That’s where the value of mindful eating comes into play.
Some basic differences between the two:
| Mindful | Intuitive |
| –Associated with the Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness –Seeks to replace stimulus-response with presence, awareness, and non-attachment –Focuses on being attentive to the process of eating –Privileges learning to read your own cues in response to hunger and feeling full –Develops awareness of food within a big picture of food chains, production, and consumption patterns | –Honors your experience of hunger and fullness without setting arbitrary limits based on calories or macros. –Accepts and honors your body and its size, shape, and/or fitness level–the focus is health, not number on a scale –Aspires to build respect and self-care into one’s relationship with food –Is not a weight loss gimmick or goad; all bodies are valuable and size is not a determinant of worth and health |
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Thinking back to my yoga teacher training program, I remember one of the sections on nutrition. The teacher spoke to us about Ayurvedic dietary precepts and reminded us that not everyone is going to want to follow them. But all was not lost, he insisted. “Just look at the food on your plate,” he declared, “Just taking the time to look is a start. Do that.”
It really does shift the energy when we look at our plates. Where did that food come from? Who prepared it? Do I like it? What do I like? Why am I eating this, here and now? And sometimes, answering these questions matters a lot, and other times it’s a passing fancy, but either way, it’s part of training yourself not to mindlessly (or fearfully) eat. It can also be a first step in clarifying one’s relationship to food, and a way to shift things for the better.
Mindful eating means that you’re present for yourself and for your food. That is a big step for many and it takes patience, practice, and an attitude of curiosity and interest. But it’s worth the time and effort to perfect this skill. If you feel like you’ll never get it and that being present for your nutrition and eating habit is not going to happen for you, then my question for you at this time is whether or not a health coach could be in your future. One of the more common topics a health coach will address is precisely that: your own eating habits and how to make them work for you, not against you.
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What about intuitive eating, then? This term refers to a book written in the nineties and it’s a matter of going with your gut.1 What do you feel is best for you at this time? Sure, some days the answer might well be “chocolate cake,” but when done correctly, intuitive eating gives you the opportunity to check in with yourself and find ways to nurture and nourish what you find most important.
Consider working with a health coach if you find yourself stuck or going back, again and again, to the same old unproductive habits.
What concerns me most as a practitioner are guilt, shame, fear, and food restriction. In addition, the walls become closer for us when we can only eat five things (I’ve been there). What happens when that five becomes four (I managed to avoid that, but it took effort) food items? Or three? Or two?2
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Especially for those of us with MCAS, eating does become challenging in a very real way. When our mast cells go berserk no matter what we ingest, it is incredibly hard to not fall into hyper-vigilance, extreme dieting, and magical thinking (“If I eat ‘perfectly’ things will get better for me; if I mess up, my system will go haywire and it will be all my fault”).
Intuitive eating can help with that. Mindful eating is the act of intentional awareness of your food and the act of consuming it, while intuitive eating backs away from judgement and opens to accept that all food has potential to be good food and that you, the eater, can decide what’s best for you. Instead of giving value based on calorie counts and macro categories, you check in with yourself and decide what feels right based on your self-knowledge and your trust in your own judgement.
This is another context that might benefit from a health coach to support you as you figure out your plan and approach. Otherwise, it could be more helpful to work with an acupuncturist. Yes, people with complex conditions are better served by specialists and yes, it is challenging to find ones who know MCAS well. Across the board, though, Chinese medicine views digestive health with reverence. Consequently, it’s not that hard to find practitioners who can support improved digestion and overall gut health in a meaningful way.
Mindful eating helps us to be present for our food and intuitive eating helps us as we learn to trust our own judgement and to believe in our own perceptions and experiences.
The long story short?
A person with EDS can live with any number of digestive challenges, from compression disorders (MALS, SMAS) to dysbiosis and delayed gastric emptying to the trifecta of EDS, MCAS, and POTS. Potsies need to be aware of their salt intake and how their autonomic nervous system reacts to their intake. A mastie has to be wary of hyper-reaction to just about anything and everything. If you’re here and reading this, you know how many different ways food and digestion can be roadblocks for folks with these conditions.
Whether we like it or not, we don’t have option of just eating whatever we want whenever we want it. We really do have to slow down and be attentive and aware, like it or not. And yet…stepping into that choice and naming its process (intuitive or mindful or both) can be an effective and affirming way to regain some control over our narratives. If anyone needs some control over their health and wellbeing, that’s a person with EDS, POTS, and/or MCAS and your choosing your mindset and practice surrounding food might be just the place to start.
Cultivating the ability to be present for our plates and intuitive about what we put on them can ease the challenges of eating when we live with complex, chronic disorders.
What do you think?
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Dr. Paula Bruno, Ph.D., L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, an AOBTA-CP traditional Chinese bodywork therapist, an author, and a health coach. She maintains an active and growing practice at Two Hearts Wellness, her Austin, TX office. Dr. Bruno is also available for distance appointments for wellness consultation or coaching.
In her first career, she was a Spanish professor.
Dr. Bruno’s specialties as a Chinese medicine practitioner include: • Musculoskeletal health (acute or chronic pain relief; Ehlers Danlos syndrome & hypermobility support) • Digestive support, gut health, and weight loss • Aesthetic treatment, including scar revision • Men’s health • General preventative care and wellness support for all persons.
She is the author of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide.
When you are ready to discover what traditional medicine plus a vibrant and engaged approach to holistic health can do for you, either contact Dr. Bruno or book an appointment online.
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Two Hearts Wellness/Holistic Health & hEDS does not accept paid advertising on this website
Note: Material on this web site site is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease, illness, or ailment. A Chinese medicine practitioner in Texas identifies syndrome patterns but does not diagnose illness. Material on this web site does not purport to identify syndrome patterns.
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- Take a look at this interview, “What the Dietitians Who Invented Intuitive Eating Think About Diet Culture Today” to learn about the roots of this movement. ↩︎
- Caroline Cray might be more well-known than the average mastie but she’s definitely not alone when it comes to food restriction. See “Woman Eats Only Two Foods for Five Years Due to Severe Allergies” for her story. ↩︎
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