Originally published December 7 2005
BYU researchers study intuitive eating
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The American Journal of Health Education has published a study by Brigham Young professor Steven Hawks that focused on a practice known as intuitive eating, which discounts prescribed calorie counts in favor of the body's internal cues, particularly feelings of hunger and fullness.
Stop hating your body, stop counting calories and stop using food for purposes other than to satisfy hunger, and you'll be healthier and slimmer.
That, in a nutshell, is the argument in favor of "intuitive eating," or letting your body tell you when, what and how much to eat.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Health Education.
Hawks, who adopted an intuitive-eating lifestyle himself several years ago and lost 50 pounds as a result, says that "normal" dieting in the United States doesn't result in long-term weight loss and contributes to food anxiety and unhealthy eating practices, and can even lead to eating disorders.
Hawks and colleagues Hala Madanat, Jaylyn Hawks and Ashley Harris identified a handful of college students who were naturally intuitive eaters and compared them with other students who were not.
"The findings provide support for intuitive eating as a positive approach to healthy weight management," says Hawks, who plans to do a large-scale study of intuitive eating across several cultures.
"What makes intuitive eating different from a diet, is that all diets work against human biology, whereas intuitive eating teaches people to work with their own biology, to work with their bodies, to understand their bodies," Hawks explains.
"It's an extremely difficult attitude adjustment for many people to make, but they have to come to a conscious decision that personal worth is not a function of body size," says Hawks.
The second behavior is learning how to interpret body signals, cravings and hunger, and how to respond in a healthy, positive, nurturing way.
One part of intuitive eating that may be counterintuitive to people conditioned to restrictive dieting is the concept that with intuitive eating there is a place for every food.
In other words, there is no food that's ever taboo.
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