Can you follow the intuitive eating approach while following a specific diet for a medical condition?

Sometimes dietary interventions are necessary due to underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, allergies, and celiac disease. One study from 2022 assessed the association between IE scores and diet quality among women with gestational diabetes at one year postpartum. The study found that higher IE scores were positively associated with improved diet quality. IE scores were also inversely associated with weight, body fat, and insulin resistance.^[1] Moreover, the adherence to the Swiss Society of Nutrition (SSN) dietary recommendations (particularly recommendations on dairy, fiber, and fruit intake) was evaluated, and higher IE scores were associated with improved adherence. This study included only cross-sectional and longitudinal associations, and the intuitive eating scale (IES) that it used was adapted, including only 2 out of its 3 subscales. It’s also important to note that the results were not consistent among the 2 IE subscales used. Therefore, the results should be interpreted with caution.

Additionally, it’s important to note that although IE encourages eating all foods and rejecting dieting as a mentality and food-related guilt, it acknowledges that people with chronic diseases (e.g., celiac disease) or food allergies have to eliminate certain foods from their diet to prevent symptoms. According to the IE approach, people who have to eliminate certain foods from their diet can continue to do so while still using IE to improve their overall relationship with food.^[2]