Intuitive Eating: An 'Anti-Diet' That Works

Stop hating your body, stop counting calories and stop using food for purposes other than to satisfy hunger, and be healthier and thinner. That, in a nutshell, is the argument in favor of "intuitive eating," or let your body tells you when, what and how much to eat.

"The basic premise of intuitive eating is, rather than manipulate what we eat in terms of prescribed diets - how many calories a food has, how many grams of fat, specific food combinations or anything like that - they must have internal cues, try to recognize what our body wants and then regulate how much we eat rely on hunger and satiety, "says the professor of health science Steven Hawks, the principal investigator of a study intuitive-eating BYU.

The findings appear in the American Journal of Health Education.

Hawks, who have adopted a lifestyle-intuitive to eat several years ago and lost 50 pounds as a result, "normal" regime in the United States does not lead to weight loss long term and contributes to the food anxiety and unhealthy eating habits, and may even lead to eating disorders.

All diets work against human biology

Hawks and colleagues Hala Madanat, Jaylyn Hawks and Ashley Harris identified a group of college students who were naturally intuitive eaters and compared with other students who are not. Participants were then tested for their health.

As measured by the scale of intuitive eating, developed by Hawks and others to measure the degree to which a person is an intuitive eater, researchers found that intuitive eating was significantly correlated with lower body index body mass index (BMI), triglycerides, higher levels of high density lipoproteins and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease rates.

About a third of the variation in BMI explained by intuitive eating scores, while 17 to 19 percent of the variation in blood lipid profiles and cardiovascular risk is intuitive eating.

"The findings provide support for intuitive eating as a positive approach to healthy weight management," said Hawks, who plans to make a large-scale study of intuitive eating across cultures.

"In the least developed countries of Asia, people are primarily intuitive eaters," said Hawks.

"They have not been conditioned to artificially structure their relationship with food that we have in the United States. They are conditioned to believe that the purpose of food is to enjoy, to feed. Eat when you're hungry, stop when you are no longer hungry. they have a healthier relationship with food, far fewer eating disorders, and interestingly, far less obesity, "he said.

"What makes it different from eating an intuitive eating is that all diets work against human biology, whereas intuitive eating teaches people to work with their own biology, to work with their bodies, understand their bodies" , Hawks says.

"Rather than a prescriptive diet, it's really about awareness and understanding of your body. It is a nurturing approach to nutrition, health and fitness in relation to stress, regulated restrictive approach. That's why diets fail, and that's why intuitive eating has a better chance to succeed in the long term, "he said.

Two attitudes, two behaviors

To become an intuitive eater, a person has to adopt two attitudes and two behaviors. The first attitude is body acceptance.

"This is an extremely difficult change in attitude for many people do, but they must make a conscious that personal value is not a function of body size, making" says Hawks. "Instead of have an adversarial relationship with my body where I have to control it, and force it to submit to my will so that I can make thin, I'll enjoy my body because it allows me to accomplish a greater good in my life. "

The second attitude is that diet is detrimental.

"Dieting does not lead to results that people think it will lead, so try to help people foster an anti-dieting attitude," said Hawks. "We must say to yourself," I will not base my diet in diet plans, rules-based food, good and bad foods, all that kind of thing. "For people who are deep in the retention rules and diet regime, again, this is a change of attitude very hard to do, to give up all these rules."

The first behavior is to learn not to eat for emotional reasons, social or environmental.

"Socially we eat all the time in our culture. We went out to eat ice cream if we break with our friend, we eat to celebrate, we eat when we are alone, we eat when we're sad, we eat when we are stressed, "says Hawks. "Being able to recognize all the emotional, environmental and cultural relationships we have with food and finding better ways to manage our emotions is part of the process."

The second behavior is learning how to interpret body signals, cravings and hunger, and how to react in a healthy and positive way, nourishing.

Learning the body's signals can be difficult at first, but Hawks suggests thinking about hunger and satiety on a 10-point scale, where "10" is eating until one is sick and "1 "hungers.

Provide intuitive eaters in or around a "5" If they feel they are getting hungry, they eat until they are back in a "5" or "6" They stop eating when they are full, even if it means leaving food on the plate.

No food taboo

Part of intuitive eating that may be against-intuitive to people conditioned to follow a restrictive diet is the concept of intuitive eating there is a place for every meal. In other words, it is still taboo food. There is no food you can not have.

"Part of adopting an anti-dieting attitude is the recognition that you have unconditional permission to eat a food you want," says Hawks. "And that's scary for people who say." If I abandon my diet rules, then I'll fill a pillowcase full of M & M pillow, I dive into it and never come back This that nostalgia, I know this is what I want is all you ever want. "But that's not reality. The reality is that our bodies need good nutrition. "

It is a system that creates binge eating pulses psychological and physiological taboos. While some people may feel the excitement when they start eating intuitively, eventually learn to trust and have things disappear, Hawks maintains.

A technique that suggests is that it has many previously taboo foods on hand. Once the foods are no longer forbidden, a person quickly loses interest in them.

"If people are committed to recognizing what their bodies really want, the vast majority of people will say very quickly overcame cravings," Hawks said, opening an office full desktop of the intact junk drawer. "It certainly worked for me. "

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