Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison · Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS

#332: "All Instinct, No Rational Thought," and Other Myths About Intuitive Eating - with Elyse Resch

·36 min·2 clips

Resch defines intuitive eating as “a dynamic interplay of instinct, emotion, and thought.”

Christy Harrison opens with the show's familiar anti-diet frame and notes that this episode is cross-posted from Rethinking Wellness. She welcomes Elise Resch back to clear up misunderstandings that have followed intuitive eating for years. One of the first is the idea that intuitive eating means acting on instinct alone and leaving rational thought behind. Resch pushes back on that reading and keeps returning to the idea that eating well involves psychology, context, and judgment. Another misconception on the table is that intuitive eating cannot coexist with eating disorder recovery. The conversation treats that claim carefully and refuses to flatten recovery into one simple path. Harrison and Resch also take on the belief that intuitive eating is impossible in an environment full of ultra-processed foods. Instead of pretending the food environment is simple, they stay focused on how people actually live inside it. Resch describes gentle nutrition as part of intuitive eating, with room for care and discernment. The tone stays warm, but it never drops the show's critical edge. Harrison keeps the questions pointed enough to move from personal experience into broader cultural critique. Resch's answers move between practical examples and the larger project of undoing diet culture. The discussion also touches the latest books in the intuitive eating series. That gives the episode a behind-the-scenes feel without losing the main argument. Resch introduces Savvy, the new intuitive eating app, as a companion for people who want support beyond a book or a counselor. She emphasizes accessibility as one of its main aims. The app is framed as a way to meet people where they already are, especially younger listeners who spend a lot of time on their phones. The conversation does not ignore the crowded field of diet apps and diet-coded advice that borrow the language of healing. Even with that thread running through it, the episode stays anchored in the show's central concern: helping people build a sturdier relationship to food and body without surrendering to diet culture. It is careful, specific, and built for listeners who want the anti-diet case made in full rather than reduced to a slogan.

As heard by us

A grounded intuitive-eating conversation that pairs myth-busting with an accessibility-minded app pitch.

Food Psych spends this installment on intuitive eating in a steady, useful way, moving from common misunderstandings to recovery, concerns about ultra-processed foods, and the place of gentle nutrition.

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Why you'd press play

You want intuitive eating explained without the slogans.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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