How to Cook With Confidence: Using Intuitive Eating Principles in the Kitchen

Ever feel like cooking is way more stressful and confusing than it needs to be? Like when David from Schitt’s Creek is completely and understandably baffled by Moira’s instruction to “fold in the cheese”?! If you’ve been there, staring at a recipe or zoning out in front of your pantry with a mix of confusion and panic, you’re not alone. We’ve all had our David Rose moments in the kitchen. (And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, please stop what you’re doing and go watch the show on Netflix!)

This hilariously painful scene from Schitt’s Creek perfectly captures the frustration of trying to follow unclear or overly complicated cooking instructions. But it also mirrors a bigger issue many of us face: the chaos that comes from trying to cook under the pressure of diet culture or eating disorder rules. When you’re trying to navigate a million conflicting messages about what you “should” or “shouldn’t” eat, the kitchen can feel like a minefield.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to feel like David! Cooking can actually be a pleasant, confident, and even joyful experience—especially when you approach it with Intuitive Eating principles. Let’s explore how this approach can turn your kitchen from a place of stress into a space of empowerment.

What the Heck is Intuitive Eating, Anyway?

Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework that honors your body’s needs and preferences. This non-diet approach is about trusting your body and its internal cues to make food choices, as opposed to the influence of external rules from diet culture.

There are 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, but let’s focus on a few:

• Reject the Diet Mentality: This principle is about recognizing that diet culture promotes unrealistic body standards and unhealthy relationships with food, leading to a cycle of guilt, shame, and frustration. Rejecting the diet mentality involves rejecting these external rules and restrictions, understanding that diets often don’t lead to long-term success or well-being.
• Honor Your Hunger: Recognizing and responding to your body’s natural hunger signals is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy relationship with food. This principle encourages you to trust your body by eating when you feel hungry rather than ignoring or suppressing hunger cues.
• Make Peace with Food: This principle is about removing the power that certain foods have over you when they’re labeled as “good” or “bad.” When you make peace with food, you stop the cycle of deprivation and guilt that often leads to overeating or feelings of loss of control around certain foods
• Discover the Satisfaction Factor: This principle recognizes that eating can be a deeply enjoyable experience and that satisfaction plays a key role in a balanced relationship with food. It encourages exploration of tastes, preferences, and the sensory qualities of food, supporting a more attuned, joyful, and intuitive way of eating.
• Honor Your Health With Gentle Nutrition: This principle emphasizes that eating healthfully doesn’t require perfection or strict rules; instead, it involves a flexible, balanced approach that respects both your taste preferences AND nutritional needs. It promotes a broader perspective on eating, where no single meal or snack defines your health, recognizing that your overall pattern of eating matters more than any specific food choice.

These principles help shift the focus from “What should I eat?” (cue the diet rules) to “What feels right for me?”—a mindset that’s a total cooking game-changer. They encourage a flexible, responsive approach to eating and cooking, which makes the kitchen a less intimidating and more inviting space.

When you cook with Intuitive Eating in mind, you’re not just following a recipe or trying to get everything perfect – you’re engaging with the food in a way that feels natural and enjoyable, tuning in to what you and your body need at that moment.

How Intuitive Eating Makes Cooking Easier

Less Perfectionism and Stress

One of the biggest barriers to confident cooking is the anxiety and doubt that often accompanies it. Diet culture has turned cooking into a stressful, rule-bound task for a lot of us. You might feel like there’s a “right” way to cook a meal—high-protein, low-carb, gluten-free, etc.—and anything else is a failure. But with Intuitive Eating, the idea is to move away from perfectionism and toward personalization. You’re cooking for you, not for some imaginary food critic in your head. When you’re not focused on following restrictive rules, cooking becomes a more relaxed and enjoyable activity. No more feeling guilty about tossing butter in the pan or adding cheese to your pasta. Cooking with Intuitive Eating in mind becomes less about getting it “right” and more about nourishing yourself in a way that feels good.

Encourages Experimentation and Creativity

Intuitive Eating isn’t just about what you eat; it’s also about how you engage with food. By listening to your body’s needs and preferences, you’re more likely to experiment with different ingredients and cooking techniques. Without the limitations of diet rules, you can let your curiosity guide your food choices in the kitchen.

Feel like trying a new spice blend? Go for it. Want to experiment with different textures and flavors? Absolutely! This creativity not only makes cooking more fun but also leads to more satisfying meals.

Tips for Experimenting in the Kitchen:

• Play with Herbs and Spices: Try adding fresh herbs or spices to your dishes to elevate flavors.
• Mix Up Cooking Methods: Experiment with roasting, grilling, sautéing, or even air frying to find what you enjoy most.
• Explore Different Cuisines: Expand your palate by cooking dishes from different cultures that interest you.

Builds Confidence and Autonomy

Here’s where it gets really good. Intuitive Eating teaches you to trust yourself, empowering you to make food choices based on your internal cues—like hunger, fullness, and satisfaction—rather than external pressures from diet culture. This shift in mindset builds confidence and a sense of autonomy – you’re in control of your choices in the kitchen, not some fad diet or wellness trend.

When you trust yourself to make nourishing choices, cooking becomes less about following rigid recipes and more about creating meals that align with your tastes and needs. You start to feel more capable and autonomous in the kitchen, making decisions based on what truly feels right for you.

Bringing Intuitive Eating into Your Cooking Routine

Start with Simple, Nourishing Meals

If you’re new to this whole intuitive cooking thing, don’t worry—it’s not about making elaborate meals or following fancy recipes. Start simple. Think easy, nourishing dishes that you actually want to eat.

Easy No-Recipe Meal Ideas:

• Stir-Fry: Great for using up rice and veggies and along your protein of choice.
• Build Your Own Bowls: Mix and match your favorite ingredients for endless, satisfying flavor and texture combos.
• One-Pot Wonders: Less cleanup, lots of flavor. Think crockpot meals, sheet pan meals, stews and chilis.

Keep Your Kitchen Stocked

Make sure you have a good variety of staple ingredients on hand—like grains, proteins, spices, and frozen veggies—so you can easily whip up something that satisfies your cravings. More on stocking your pantry here.

Listen to Your Body

Before cooking, take a moment to check in with yourself. What are you feeling physically and emotionally? What do you notice after eating the meal you prepared? Do you feel full, still hungry? Take note of what worked and what you might like to try next time.

Confident Cooking

Cooking with confidence isn’t about knowing how to “fold in the cheese” (though it doesn’t hurt to learn). It’s about trusting yourself, honoring your body’s needs, and prioritizing joy and satisfaction along the way. Whether you’re new to cooking, recovering from disordered eating, or just looking for more enjoyment in the cooking process, Intuitive Eating can offer a supportive, flexible framework for making meals that truly satisfy.

Ready to take your cooking confidence to the next level? Check out my Kitchen Intuition course, where we dive deeper into intuitive cooking strategies and help you find your groove in the kitchen. Because you deserve to enjoy every bite, every step of the way.