Intuitive Eating vs Tracking Macros – The Yin Yang of Nutrition

Intuitive eating is an eating style or eating philosophy where you eat in tune with your body’s hunger signals. This is similar to ad libitum eating which is defined as eating till desired. In this article, I’ll be discussing the pros and cons of intuitive eating and who it’s right for.

I will not discuss how to implement and practice intuitive eating here. That will be for another article (part 2).

But anyways, intuitive eating is often viewed as the opposite of IIFYM (if it fits your macros) where you’re tracking calories/macros. However, this isn’t accurate. Allow me to explain using my philosophical Chinese roots.

Enter the Yin Yang Concept. I know this sounds a bit mythical, but trust me. It is critical to understanding nutrition. And for my more pragmatic readers, I promise to use science later too.

The ancient Chinese philosophy of yin and yang is essentially the concept of dualism. Two opposing forces coexisting, but are also complimentary of each other.

In fact, true understanding of yin and yang accepts that the 2 forces not only oppose and complement each other, but are also interconnected and depend on each other. That’s the same relationship between intuitive eating and tracking macros.

So while they have clear differences, they have more similarities that complement each other than most people think.

Both practices are essentially tour guides to the same end of goal which is behavior change. You have some sort of goal whether it’s weight loss, weight maintenance, or even weight gain. Developing a better relationship with food and improving your health might also be weaved into your goal.