Want to know how to get your clients to eat more vegetables, improve their body image, and enjoy exercise more? Skip the rules and tracking and teach them how to tune into their body’s natural cues.

Enter: Intuitive Eating.

Intuitive Eating is a relatively new field of dietetics that is growing in popularity, and no, it isn’t too good to be true.

Intuitive Eating focuses on helping people develop a healthy relationship with food, without the restrictive rules and guidelines typically associated with weight loss diets.

If you are a registered dietitian who is interested in working in this area, you may be curious about what the job market has to offer. In this blog post, we will explore some of the different job possibilities for dietitians who want to specialize in intuitive eating.

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What is intuitive eating?

You may have heard of Intuitive Eating – it is becoming better known – but you're not quite sure what it is? When I first heard about Intuitive Eating, I thought it was an approach to "trust your gut" when making food choices. I but learned that intuitive eating principles are so much more nuanced (and supportive) than just a tag line approach to making food choices.

A definition of Intuitive Eating from the Intuitive Eating website is:

"Intuitive Eating is an approach to eating that is guided by our internal hunger and fullness cues. It teaches us how to create a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body."

Instead of intuitive, this can seem counterintuitive to dietitians who have been in the field for a while. Aren’t we trained in the benefits of many different diets? Is Intuitive Eating the “eat anything diet”?

Not so fast.

Basically, this is about learning to eat based on the real-time cues from your body, not external rules or guidelines, such as following a fad diet or tracking points or macros using an app. With Intuitive Eating, abbreviated IE, we are still in pursuit of health, but we are measuring “success” by health behaviors instead of the number on a scale. This means identifying things like minutes of exercise and servings of vegetables instead of pounds gained or lost.

The principles of Intuitive Eating were first outlined in the 1990s by dietitians Evelyn Tribole MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND.

As dietitians, we want to recommend interventions that are evidence-based. Good news, Intuitive Eating IS evidence-based. You can check out Evelyn and Elyse’s research round-up, right here.

So, what might a day in the life of an IE RD look like? Let’s explore!

What does an Intuitive Eating Dietitian do?

As a certified intuitive eating counselor, this type of dietitian helps clients to create a relationship with food that is non-restrictive, in order to make peace with their eating habits and improve their overall relationship with food.

“Many clients will have goals in mind that revolve around weight loss on the surface but underneath they're about something else entirely. Sometimes it's health, confidence, self-esteem, body image, etc. Discussing their goals from a weight neutral and inclusive perspective actually helps them achieve the goals they truly want that are many times wrapped up around what they think weight loss will give them.” -Colleen Christensen, RDN

An Intuitive Eating Dietitian does not advocate for any one type of eating or demonize any foods. Instead, they help clients to eat without shame or guilt.

As an Intuitive Eating dietitian, you could work with Intuitive Eating as the sole focus, or you could incorporate Intuitive Eating in another niche, such as working with women to support fertility, as Katie Sidhu does.

“Everyone deserves weight-neutral care. Many of the fertility patients that I see are told by their doctors to “lose weight” in order to improve their chances of getting pregnant and this often leads to dieting. But we know that restricting energy and nutrients can actually make fertility outcomes worse.

If the body is not getting enough nutrition, it will stop prioritizing the reproductive system to conserve energy. Weight-neutral care allows us to focus on satisfying meals that give our bodies a variety of nutrients, and focus on behaviors that actually make a difference. - Katie Sidhu, RDN, IBCLC

As an Intuitive Eating dietitian, your job is still to promote health. In this niche, you’re doing this work without weight being the measure of health or success, especially when working with clients who are in larger bodies.

“As you go through your ADIME process for delivering care, ask yourself: how would I approach this situation if this client were thin? Is there another way to measure this person's success beyond weight?

RDs are incredibly skilled clinicians. Believe in your ability to assess and support patients beyond weight. This will do incredible things to advance your skill set in your chosen practice area, as well as help you avoid the definition of insanity when it comes to weight loss: repeating the same thing over and over only to get the same result! - Melissa Landry, RDN, LD

The one niche that is definitely not a good companion for Intuitive Eating is weight loss. Intuitive Eating does not advocate for purposeful weight loss.

Job settings for an Intuitive Eating Dietitian

What are the opportunities to work as an intuitive eating dietitian?

You can find Intuitive Eating Dietitians working anywhere that dietitians do, including in hospitals, clinics, non-profit organizations, private practice, and even online.

But perhaps the most common job setting for Intuitive Eating dietitians is in private practice. Intuitive Eating is a more recent approach, so Intuitive Eating dietitians are often entrepreneurs.

In private practice, Intuitive Eating dietitians can do counseling 1 on 1, in group programs, and through coaching programs. Dietitians can work with groups of people in person and virtually.

One nice thing about private practice work is that you can scale it up or down; perhaps you get started with your private practice business as a side hustle and grow it to a full-time role. Or maybe you find the best balance between work and the rest of your life is to have a part-time business. The best part is that you’re the boss: you get to decide who you help and how.

Interested in launching your own private practice? Check out this post with how to get started.

And with job prospects in mind, you might be wondering about the cold hard cash. Let’s discuss!

Intuitive Eating Dietitian salaries

As with any profession, the salary for an Intuitive Eating dietitian depends on the geographical region, work setting, and experience. Typically entry-level roles pay less and you can expect raises with experience. Dietitians working in larger cities make more than those working in smaller communities.

And if you're in private practice, it is up to you to determine your own rates - egad! The sky is truly the limit.

While ZipRecruiter does not have a specific listing for Intuitive Eating job salaries, we can investigate the closest similar role: an Eating Disorder dietitian.

For this job title, the average dietitian salary in the US is $74,329.

According to the AND, the annual salary range for Eating Disorder Dietitians can be $49,000 - $134,400.

Wanna talk more about money? Let’s go explore the Highest-Paid Dietitian Jobs and Nutritionist Salary.

So: you’re all in to land your dream Intuitive Eating Dietitian job. Where do you begin?

How to become an Intuitive Eating dietitian

If you want to become an Intuitive Eating Dietitian, the best way is to get certified in Intuitive Eating. How Dietitians Can Become a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor | RD2RD

However, this certification is not a requirement to begin incorporating these principles into your work, starting today. You can incorporate Intuitive Eating principles into your traditional or non-traditional practice!

“You can start today! Depending on your work setting requirements, you may choose to remove weight from your intake and charting forms. With the exception of eating disorder clients who are weight restoring (gaining weight as a part of recovery), I do not weigh my clients, nor do I advise them to weigh themselves at home. In your discussions with clients, focus on interventions that you know can improve your client’s health, but don’t tie these interventions to a decreased weight. Avoid labeling your clients with the words overweight and obese as much as your workplace allows. Pathologizing the size of someone's body has negative effects.” - Kelly Abramson MS, RD, CHWC

The official training to become a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor was created by the founders of the Intuitive Eating movement. They have two options, a certification program for health professionals (including dietitians) as well as one for community members, such as a Certified Intuitive Eating Lay Facilitator, which is for people who are not health experts but are in a position to support their community members, such as members of the clergy.

You can find out more about this certification program and apply, right here.

Other ways to build your skills?

• Read the Intuitive Eating book written by the founders, Elyse and Evelyn
• Network with other Intuitive Eating dietitians! Connect on LinkedIn and in professional Facebook groups
• Join the Weight Inclusive Nutrition and Dietetics (WIND) Dietetic Practice Group (DPG)
• Ask to shadow Intuitive Eating Dietitians - check out the directory to see who is near you
• Listen to Intuitive Eating podcasts (we have a round-up next)

“I recommend learning all you can about Intuitive Eating, especially by reading Intuitive Eating: Fourth Edition. This provides you with a foundation of knowledge and the ability to understand the framework from Tribole and Resch's perspectives. Listening to podcasts is another great way to learn more in smaller amounts.” - Kourtney Johnson, RD, LD

You can begin exploring this niche in ways big and small, with research articles, blog posts, and professional webinar trainings.

Clear the queue: next, we have a list of podcasts for you to continue learning from experts in Intuitive Eating.

Intuitive Eating podcasts

Ready to tune in? We have a round-up of the best Intuitive Eating podcasts for you to enjoy while on a long walk, drive, or while washing your next sink full of dirty dishes. I love listening to podcasts while on my morning run.

• Food Psych Podcast — Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDRD
• Encouraging Dietitian – Christyna Johnson, MS, RDN, LD
• RD Real Talk – Heather Caplan, RDN
• You Can Eat With Us - Cara Harbstreet, MS, RD, LD
• The SociEATy Podcast - Colleen Christensen, RDN, LD

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Job success as an Intuitive Eating dietitian

How can you be successful as an Intuitive Eating Dietitian? Keep learning and networking. In addition to the suggestions and resources listed in the previous section, we encourage you to continue to hone your counseling skills.

“Learn as much as you can about counseling. We are taught so little in our training about how to work with actual human beings. Learn about motivational interviewing, acceptance commitment therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. Using the counseling tools therapists use is far from outside our scope. It's giving us tools in our otherwise very empty toolbag our RD training hands us.

Don't leave your continued education to the free CEUs offered by different websites on random topics. Invest in your knowledge base. Get regular supervision by a dietitian you respect. Our patients are worth giving our best to.” - Sarah Curry, MS, RD

No job is always dreamy - let’s talk about common challenges working as an Intuitive Eating dietitian next.

Biggest challenges working as an Intuitive Eating Dietitian?

Any job, even your dream job, will come with challenges. Here is some feedback from fellow RDs who are working in the Intuitive Eating space on their biggest challenges working as an Intuitive Eating dietitian.

“I’d say the biggest challenges have been dealing with our weight-obsessed society and those that come from a weight-centric lens. For example, working with clients who are healing their disordered eating and finally eating intuitively, only to have a doctor weigh them and tell them to go on an extreme diet that’s not backed by science. This has been the hardest hurdle, and I help empower clients to set boundaries for themselves and speak up for themselves, while also educating doctors and connecting with practitioners that I know are more progressive and understand Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating. - Caroline Green, RD, LD

On her biggest challenges: “You are asking people to do something radically counter-cultural- to find their value outside of what they look like. Between sponsored ads on Instagram, comments from family and friends, and even romcom storylines – they are all filled with the message that we aren't enough as we are. We are asking our patients to fight back when it would be easier to go with the status quo.

It's also difficult to help clients see that we can't control our health by "eating right." The research on the social determinants of health points towards the street we were born on being more of an indicator of our health than what is on our fork." - Sarah Curry, MS, RD

Kourtney Johnson, RD, LD echos similar frustration with doctors and other healthcare professionals who aren’t familiar with Intuitive Eating and the harm that their fatphobia can cause.

“One of the biggest challenges for me has been encountering both lay people and medical professionals who do not understand Intuitive Eating. When they say or do something that is not in line with the framework, it's confusing and frustrating for my clients. In these cases, my clients and I reflect on the comment or situation and come up with a plan to implement in the future should that same experience happen again.

Another challenge has been continuing to stay motivated as I fight against diet culture and the harmful aspects it promotes, including fatphobia, racism and sexism. I realize that any time we fight against a system, it takes energy, drive, teamwork and time. I remind myself I can't do it all, but that if I and other people who support Intuitive Eating continue on, eventually it will become the norm and diet culture will fade away.” - Kourtney Johnson, RD, LD

Swimming upstream against diet culture and fatphobia is challenging work. After reading the challenges, you may be feeling ready to dive in…or you might be interested in seeing what other options there are. These days, there are so many ways to work as a dietitian. Next, we’ll cover a few more niches and areas to consider for your first, or next, dietitian job.

Other opportunities for dietitians?

There are so many ways to work as a registered dietitian - this credential opens many doors. A few other career paths to explore include:

• Eating Disorder Dietitian Job Opportunities
• Best Alternative Jobs for a Dietitian in 2022
• How to Get a Job as a Dietitian in the Restaurant Industry

No matter where you work, you have the opportunity to improve the health of your clients, find satisfaction in your work and continue learning.

Key takeaways: Intuitive Eating Dietitian Jobs

Dietetics is an exciting field to be in. These days, there are more opportunities than ever before. Intuitive Eating is just one of many niches that you can specialize in.

As you’re applying to become an Intuitive Eating Dietitian, make sure that your LinkedIn profile is up to snuff with my free LinkedIn checklist. You’ll feel confident as you network with colleagues and apply for your next role!

About the Author

Stacey Dunn-Emke, MS, RDN, is the Founding Owner of NutritionJobs and an established dietetic career expert. She helps steer dietetic and nutrition professionals to a successful job search process with the top-ranked dietetic job board platform, NutritionJobs.com. Stacey is the author of The Dietetic Resume Guide and numerous dietetic career action-ables. She offers tools to create a modern standout dietetic resume to land a job interview, help with job interview prep, and with creating Compelling LinkedIn profiles. Stacey has interviewed and hired many dietitians. Since running NutritionJobs in 2000, she has reviewed thousands of dietetic resumes and works closely with dietetic hiring managers and recruiters to know the standout elements on a resume that land a job interview. Stacey frequently consults with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at FNCE and co-created the webinar series, Dietetic Career Hack: The Complete Networking and Resume Guide and Dietetic Career Hack Part II: Interviewing Tips and Tricks. Her previous dietitian jobs have been in clinical, nutrition support, and research.