Diet and Intuitive Eating
The CNP Diet and Intuitive Eating Research Category consolidates research exploring the interdependent relationship between dietary intake and the intuitive eating. To view each original study on the open internet, click “Original.” To view the CNP-written abstract summary, click “CNP Summary.” While only some of the CNP-written abstract summaries are available below for free, all abstract summaries are available to CNP members through the CNP Library Membership.
This 2021 study investigated the relationship between intuitive eating (eating according to internal hunger and satiety cues), psychological health outcomes and disordered eating behaviors. Data was retrieved from the Eating and Activity over Time 2010-2018 study, which followed 1491 participants from adolescence into young adulthood, monitoring their intuitive eating, psychological health, and eating behaviors. Higher intuitive eating at baseline and rise in intuitive eating from baseline to follow-up (after 8 years) were associated with lower risk of highly depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, high body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight control behaviors (like fasting and skipping meals), extreme weight control behaviors (taking diet pills and vomiting), and binge eating at 8-year follow-up. Hazzard et al. also discovered that the protective associations for binge eating were especially strong: a 1-point higher intuitive eating score at baseline correlated with 74% lower odds of binge eating at follow-up. Furthermore, a 1-point higher increase in intuitive eating score from baseline to follow-up was linked with a 71% reduction in risk of binge-eating at follow-up. Thus, it was concluded that interventions that target people’s intuitive eating may enhance psychological health and reduce disordered eating behaviors, particularly binge-eating. Importantly, the results indicate that intuitive eating predicts better psychological and behavioral health across a range of outcomes.
2020
Brief non-dieting intervention increases intuitive eating and reduces dieting intention, body image dissatisfaction, and anti-fat attitudes: A randomized controlled trial
Wilson et al. (2020) developed a non-dieting intervention that aims to convince female college students to reject unhealthy dietary behaviors, accept their bodies, and increase healthy eating. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effectiveness of this brief dissonance-based intervention by testing it in 94 female university students (mean age = 20.6 years; mean BMI = 23.8 kg/m2). The intervention involved two 90-120 min interactive group sessions that were designed to instil the rejection of dieting, increase body acceptance, and help develop healthy eating skills. Randomization whether the participants either took part in this non-dieting intervention or were allocated in the brochure control condition. The intervention was found to significantly enhance dieting intention, intuitive eating, body image dissatisfaction, eating concerns, and anti-fat attitudes, when compared to the results of the control group. These effects were maintained at the 1-month follow-up also. Furthermore, the intervention group improved in terms of dietary consumption and mental health-related quality of life over time. These findings support the implementation of a non-dieting approach, as it can improve eating- and weight-related behaviors in young adult women. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, female, college, body acceptance, body image]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2017
A Health at Every Size intervention improves intuitive eating and diet quality in Canadian women
This 2017 study planned to determine how a Health at Every Size® (HAES®) program impacts the intuitive eating and diet quality of women in Quebec, Canada (HAES interventions focus on healthy lifestyle by promoting behavioral changes related to diet and physical activity, while emphasizing self-acceptance and well-being through an empowerment and intuitive approach). In this study, 216 women (1.9% normal-weight, 21.1% overweight, 77.0% obese) had 3-hour weekly meetings each with professionals as well as one 6-hour intensive day. Intuitive eating and diet quality were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at the 1-year follow-up. Compared to the 110 women in the control group (3.9% normal-weight, 23.3% overweight, 72.8% obese), the women who took part in the HAES program scored signficantly higher in intuitive eating at post-intervention and at follow-up. The HAES group’s diet quality was also significantly better than the control group at post-intervention. In fact, the intuitive eating score was positively associated with the HEI score (measure of diet quality) in the HAES group at post-intervention and one-year follow-up. Whereas the control group did not show these same relationships. While Carbonneau et al. conclude that the HAES program may effectively enhance diet quality and intuitive eating, the relationship between these two variables is still unclear. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, weight management, obesity, HAES, Health at Every Size, body image, Canada]
2018
Effects of health at every size® interventions on health-related outcomes of people with overweight and obesity: a systematic review: A systematic review on HAES® interventions
Association for the Study of Obesity, 19(12), 1659–1666. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12749 Since interventions based on the Health at Every Size® (HAES®) model have been increasingly implemented in obesity management, this 2018 review examined the current evidence to summarize the health-related impact of HAES®-based interventions on overweight/obese people. Ulian et al. systematically searched through 6 databases to find HAES®-based randomized and non-randomized controlled trials in obese/overweight people. Among the 14 papers that met the inclusion criteria, the range of different assessments included blood profile, blood pressure, anthropometry, eating behaviour, energy intake, diet quality, as well as psychological and qualitative evaluations. The results indicated that HAES interventions positively affected psychological and physical activity outcomes, and encouraged people to alter eating habits. With regards to cardiovascular response, data on body-image perception and total energy intake were inconsistent. Despite enhancing the cardiovascular status, eating behaviours, quality of life and psychological well-being of the participants, the reviewers express their desire for additional clinical trials (ideally large and long-term investigations) examining the effectiveness of HAES®-based interventions in inducing positive changes in overweight/obese subjects. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, weight management, obesity, HAES, Health at Every Size, body image, blood pressure]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2014
Intuitive eating: An emerging approach to eating behavior
This 2014 paper presents the concept of intuitive eating and shows the evidence for its use as an approach for weight management. Cadena-Schlam & López-Guimerà explain that the dieting and exercise interventions that healthcare professionals are currently recommending are not great in their efficacy over the long term. Weight-loss interventions that restrict eating certain foods may also adversely affect health and well-being. Some researchers have therefore shifted their attention to treating obesity through a health-centered paradigm, which has led to the development of the Health at Every Size (HAES) model. HAES focuses more on intuitive eating, which is the reliance on biological mechanisms to regulate food intake. Intuitive eating has not been related with any adverse effects, while showing associations with several indices of physical and psychological well-being. Although further research is a “must”, this alternative approach holds potential in addressing the lack of efficacious treatments for overweight and obesity. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, weight management, obesity, HAES, Health at Every Size, body image]
2014
Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: Literature review
Van Dyke & Drinkwater (2014) systematically searched through the PubMed, PsycInfo and Science Direct databases to find peer-reviewed journals or theses relevant to “intuitive eating” that also analyze the relationship between intuitive eating and physical/mental health indicators. In this context, intuitive eating was defined as the following: eating while hungry; stopping eating when no longer hungry/full; and having no restrictions on types of food eaten unless for medical reasons. The purpose of this review was to examine the current evidence on the association between intuitive eating and health measures, and to hopefully identify areas of research that warrant investigation. The 26 articles that met the inclusion criteria consisted of 17 cross-sectional survey studies and 9 clinical studies (of which 8 were randomized controlled trials). According to the cross-sectional surveys, intuitive eating was inversely correlated with BMI, but positively associated with several psychological health outcomes. Moreover, increased intuitive eating appeared to be linked with better dietary intake and/or eating behaviors. However, no significant relationship was found with higher levels of physical activity. The clinical studies agreed that implementing intuitive eating improved psychological health, enhanced dietary intake and/or eating behaviours, but probably was not related to higher levels of physical activity. These studies also concluded that intuitive eating results in weight maintenance but possibly not weight loss and may have positive impacts on health indicators such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, diet quality, blood pressure, cholesterol levels]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Eating-Related and Psychological Outcomes of Health at Every Size Intervention in Health and Social Services Centers Across the Province of Québec
The purpose of this 2019 study was to showcase the effects of a Health at Every Size (HAES) intervention in a real-world setting. The HAES intervention is offered in Health and Social Services Centers in Québec, Canada, and involves meeting up with healthcare professionals every week for 14 weeks to discuss healthy lifestyle, self-acceptance, and intuitive eating. The women participants took validated questionnaires at baseline, post-intervention, and at the 1-year follow-up. These questionnaires focused on psychological measures such as body esteem, self-esteem, and depression, and eating behaviors including susceptibility to hunger, intuitive eating, and obsessive-compulsive eating. Compared with the 110 women in the comparison group, the ladies who took part in the HAES intervention showed greater improvements over the short and/or long term in flexible restraint, disinhibition, susceptibility to hunger, intuitive eating, obsessive-compulsive eating, body-esteem, self-esteem, and depression. Bégin et al. have demonstrated that this HAES intervention undertaken in a real-life context enhanced a variety of eating, weight, and psychological outcomes in women struggling with weight and body image. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, HAES, Health at Every SIze, Canada, self-acceptance, body image, self-esteem, OCD, depression, disinhibition]
2019
Intuitive eating is associated with weight and glucose control during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM): A clinical cohort study
Since higher adherence to intuitive eating in general is associated with a lower BMI and improved glycemic control, this 2019 study investigated the relationship between intuitive eating and metabolic health in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period). The 214 women (aged 18+) were provided with a French Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) questionnaire at their first gestational diabetes clinic visit. The average age of the female participants was 33.3, while their mean weight and BMI before pregnancy were 68.18 ± 14.83 kg and 25.30 ± 5.19 kg/m2 respectively. The scores for the "Eating for Physical rather than Emotional Reasons (EPR)" and "Reliance on Hunger and Satiety cues (RHSC)” subscales of the intuitive eating scale during the first clinic visit correlated with lower weight and BMI before pregnancy, and lower weight at the first clinic visit. In addition, the EPR subscale score was linked with hemoglobin A1C and fasting plasma glucose at the first visit to the gestational diabetes clinic. Again, both these subscales during the first visit were related to lower weight at the end of pregnancy, as well as BMI and fasting plasma glucose measured at 6-8 weeks following childbirth. In summary, these findings suggest that increased adherence to intuitive eating may help regulate weight and glucose levels during and after pregnancy in women with gestational diabetes. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, glycemic control, diabetes, pregnancy, emotional eating, external eating, hemoglobin, plasma glucose, gestational diabetes]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2017
Psychological flexibility mediates change in intuitive eating regulation in acceptance and commitment therapy interventions
This 2017 study evaluated the data of a randomized controlled trial that undertook acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions to explore the mechanisms of change in intuitive eating and weight. Sairanen et al. also analyzed whether psychological flexibility, mindfulness skills and sense of coherence mediated the interventions' effect on intuitive eating and weight, since mediation informs us of the treatment processes and theoretical models related to specific treatment approaches. The sample included 219 overweight/obese individuals who previously reported symptoms of perceived stress. The results demonstrated that the impact of the interventions on the participants’ BMI, intuitive eating, eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, and reliance on internal hunger and satiety cues was mediated by modifications in weight-related psychological flexibility in both ACT groups. These findings suggest that ACT interventions that encourage lifestyle changes mediate the influence of the intervention through the ability to continue with valued activities despite experiencing negative emotions and thoughts related to weight. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, acceptance and commitment, ACT, therapy, mindfulness]
2017
A structured literature review on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating and intuitive eating in changing eating behaviours: Effectiveness and associated potential mechanisms
This 2017 literature review summarizes the current evidence on the role of mindfulness, mindful eating, and intuitive eating in altering eating behaviors, describing the interventions already undertaken and explaining the tools used to measure the relevant outcomes. Warren et al. examined 68 publications, including 23 interventions carried out in either obese or overweight populations, 29 interventions undertaken in normal weight sample, and 16 observational studies (3 of which carried out in obese/overweight people). Although the evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness and mindful eating in weight management was not strong, mindfulness-based approaches appear to show effectiveness in studies concerning binge-eating, emotional eating, and eating in response to external cues. Nevertheless, it is possible that mindfulness-based approaches prevent weight gain, as reduced food intake was reported by some studies in overweight and obese subjects. However, the extent of its impact in normal-weight participants was less clear. This review highlights the limited evidence showcasing intuitive eating’s potential in changing eating behaviors, while mindfulness and mindful eating offer promising techniques for addressing problematic eating behaviors and the challenges many face with controlling their food consumption. Mindfulness appears to work by an increased awareness of internal, rather than external, cues to eat. Employing a mindful eating approach should be recommended to those looking to manage their weight. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, mindfulness, obesity, binge eating, emotional eating, external eating, mindful eating]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Mindful eating and common diet programs lower body weight similarly: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Although mindful eating as an alternative weight management strategy is growing in interest, Artiles et al. (2019) comment that the currently available systematic reviews on intuitive and mindful eating show contradictory results. This present review evaluated 10 randomized controlled trials on weight loss programs based on mindful or intuitive eating. These strategies involving intuitive or mindful eating were found to significantly influence weight loss compared with non-intervention controls. However, the strategies did not differ in terms of effect from conventional diet programs. Moreover, the reductions observed in BMI and waist circumference were not statistically significant. The limitations of this review include factors such as unbalanced sex, origin, place of residence of the participants, and the short duration of interventions. It is suggested that mindful and intuitive eating may be a practical approach to weight control, but additional studies are required, especially those that investigate long-term impact and recruit a more diverse sample population. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, weight management, mindful eating, weight loss, mindfulness]
2019
The relationship between Intuitive Eating and body image is moderated by measured body mass index
Keirns & Hawkins (2019) tell us that while intuitive eating has been linked with positive body image and lower body mass index (BMI), BMI has been negatively associated with body image. The aim of this study therefore was to examine whether intuitive eating is uniquely connected to body image regardless of weight status (measured by BMI). Another goal was to determine potential moderators in this relationship between intuitive eating and body image. There were 134 adult participants, 74% of which were female and 56% were Caucasian. The total intuitive eating scale scores and 2 of the subscales [Unconditional Permission to Eat (Unconditional Permission) and Eating for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons (Physical Reasons)] were found to uniquely correlate with body concern. The study also discovered that BMI significantly moderated the interaction between intuitive eating and Body Concern for total intuitive eating, Unconditional Permission, and Physical Reasons. Furthermore, intuitive eating was negatively related with Body Concern, particularly in healthy-weight individuals. Across all weight classes, higher intuitive eating was interrelated with lower body image concerns, although this relationship was strongest in healthy-weight subjects and weakened as BMI increased. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, body image]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Associations between Intuitive Eating behaviors and fruit and vegetable intake among college students
This 2019 study examined the associations between college students’ intuitive eating behaviors with their level of fruit and vegetable intakes. Data was obtained through online questionnaires while the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 and the National Institutes of Health Eating at America's Table Fruit and Vegetable screener were also employed to measure the students’ intuitive eating and fruit and vegetable consumption, respectively. The total number of respondents was 293 and their median age was 20 years old. Although the total Intuitive Eating Scale-2 scores did not show correlation with the amount of fruits and vegetables in the diet, a couple of subscale scores (for Body-Food Choice Congruence and Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons) were found to be positively related to fruit and vegetable intake among the students. While another subscale, the Unconditional Permission to Eat subscale, was negatively associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. Since the relationship between intuitive eating and fruit and vegetable intake varied by the IES-2 subscale scores, subscale behaviors may warrant consideration when utilizing this intuitive eating scale in the hopes of motivating people to eat more fruits and vegetables. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, FV intake, emotional eating, fruits, vegetables]
2019
Intuitive eating, objective weight status and physical indicators of health
As intuitive eating is a weight-neutral approach to health promotion for those overweight or obese, Keirns & Hawkins (2019) decided to assess intuitive eating (IE) interacts with physical health indicators, independent of weight status, in a group of adults. The sample included 248 adults of all weight categories (18.2-55.3 kg m-2), and the health indicators were blood pressure and fasting blood glucose concentrations. After controlling for BMI, no strong correlations were found between intuitive eating and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, or fasting glucose levels. Moreover, all effect sizes were either small or below. A sensitivity analysis t-test uncovered the significantly lower diastolic blood pressure in high intuitive eaters when compared to low intuitive eaters, but the analysis of covariance did not agree (no variation in diastolic BP between the groups). There were no marked differences in systolic BP or fasting glucose between the low and high intuitive eaters either. This study therefore did not identify any unique relationships between intuitive eating and physical health, and the associations observed between these variables were accounted for by BMI and demographic factors. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose levels]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Weight-related shame and guilt, intuitive eating, and binge eating in female college students
Craven & Fekete (2019) theorize that the emotional states of guilt and shame may predispose people to use food as a coping mechanism, and thus may be related to binge eating. This study inspected the relationship between binge eating symptomatology and weight-related guilt and shame among 196 female college students. In addition, the role of intuitive eating was examined as a moderator of the investigated associations. The respondents’ answers to the online questionnaire were then analyzed to reveal a link between weight-related shame and guilt with increased binge eating symptoms. The results also showed that intuitive eating weakened the relationship between weight-related shame and binge eating. However, binge eating’s interrelationship with weight-related guilt was not found to be reduced by intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is believed to provide a level of protection from binge eating for women feeling weight-related shame. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, coping mechanism, coping, binge eating, guilt, shame, female, women, college students]
2019
Intuitive eating is associated with weight loss after bariatric surgery in women
The aim of this 2019 study was to analyze the relationship between intuitive eating and weight loss after bariatric surgery. Women who had undergone bariatric surgery were contacted on social networks and administered with a questionnaire assessing intuitive eating and collecting details such as body mass index (BMI). The average age of the 401 female respondents was 39 years, while the mean relative BMI loss was 32.7 ± 12.9%. After adjustments were made for elapsed time since surgery and type of surgery, the total score for the intuitive eating scale (IES-2) was linked with the relative BMI loss. Each 1-point increase in IES-2 score correlated with around a 2.6% BMI loss. The questionnaire sub score with the strongest association with BMI change was Eating for Physical Rather than Emotional Reasons. This study highlights a significant relationship between intuitive eating and decrease in BMIM after bariatric surgery. There was also evidence of changes occurring in the subjects’ eating behaviors over time after the surgery. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, bariatric surgery, social networks, surgery]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Intuitive eating mediates the relationship between self-regulation and BMI - Results from a cross-sectional study in a community sample
Since intuitive eating (eating in response to internal cues of hunger and satiety) is associated with a lower BMI and poor self-regulation is linked with a higher BMI, Ruzanska & Warschburger (2019) tested whether intuitive eating mediates the relationship between self-regulation and BMI. In addition to the weight and height measurements, the 530 adult participants were given a battery of assessments to complete. Self-regulation and BMI were found to be indirectly related through intuitive eating. To be specific, the Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons and Body-Food Choice Congruence facets of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (examination of intuitive eating) mediated the relationship between self-regulation and BMI. Although prospective studies are required to uncover the causal and temporal relationships among self-regulation, intuitive eating and BMI, this study suggests that intuitive eating plays an important mediatory role in the association between self-regulation and BMI. Interventions promoting weight management may find it useful to encourage intuitive eating, especially to individuals with low self-regulation. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, self-regulation, weight management, weight maintenance]
2019
Intuitive eating and food intake in men and women: Results from the Swiss food panel study
Since there is limited data on the relationship between intuitive eating and food consumption, this 2019 study was designed to examine the associations among intuitive eating, Body Mass Index (BMI), diet quality, self-evaluation of dietary intake, and physical activity. Horwath et al. administered several questionnaires to a randomly selected adult population from the German and French-speaking parts of Switzerland (5238 participants in total). While intuitive eating scale (IES-2) scores were moderately linked with BMI in men and women, the four IES-2 subscales showed different relationships with food intake. While the subscale, unconditional permission to eat, was somewhat correlated with poorer diet quality scores, this study highlighted its consistent associations with a more negative self-evaluation of eating behavior. With regards to the 3 other IES-2 subscales, diet quality scores were weakly but positively associated with satiety cues, reliance on hunger, and eating for physical rather than emotional reasons in women but not in men. Studies analyzing the impact of intuitive eating interventions on food intake is recommended. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, German, French, diet quality]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2018
Can mindfulness address maladaptive eating behaviors? Why traditional diet plans fail and how new mechanistic insights may lead to novel interventions
Brewer et al. (2018) firstly discuss the interaction that occurs between modern food environments and human biology that promotes reward-related eating through associative learning. This article then reviews how positive and negative reinforcement supports reward-related eating based on habits, detailing how the current diet paradigms may not directly target this type of eating. There is now greater understanding of the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms behind habit formation, which can hopefully explain the failure of past approaches and facilitate the development of novel non-pharmacological interventions. Mindfulness training has been proposed as an appropriate intervention to modify people’s habits through the rewiring of the learning process around eating. Another promising approach for enhancing patients’ relationships with food is teaching them to consider and act on intrinsic reward mechanisms like the enjoyment of healthy eating and the stopping of overeating, rather than focusing on the extrinsic reward mechanisms such as weighing oneself. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, reward, habits, habit formation, mindfulness, intrinsic reward, extrinsic reward]
2020
Intuitive eating is connected to self-reported weight stability in community women and men
Tylka et al. (2020) comment that although the main aim of eating disorder prevention and treatment is to instill better eating behaviors and thereby stabilize patients’ weight, it is not yet clear which eating behaviors are linked to weight stability in people with no prior exposure to these interventions. This present study therefore investigated how intuitive eating and eating restraint (flexible and rigid control) are linked to weight stability (maintained weight) and instability (lost, gained, or cycled weight) in the past year. Among the 382 participants (190 men, 192 women), intuitive eating was associated with greater weight stability, whereas rigid and flexible control correlated to greater weight instability. Although the author admits that supplementary research is required to determine the directionality of these relationships, these results suggest that intuitive eating should be promoted by public health. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, eating disorder, weight stability, weight maintenance, eating restraint, flexibility, eating flexibility]
CNP Research Summary can be found in the CNP Library Membership
2019
Intuitive, mindful, emotional, external and regulatory eating behaviours and beliefs: An investigation of the core components
In this 2019 study, 2018 female participants were assessed on their intuitive eating, mindful eating, overeating regulation, dietary restraint, emotional eating, external eating, and overeating dysregulation in contexts of leisure and discomfort. The objective was to find associations among the core components of adaptive and maladaptive measures of eating behaviours. While most relationships with eating measures were significant, a particularly strong correlation was evident between emotional eating and intuitive eating (eating for physical reasons rather than emotional). The weakest link found included the mindful eating subscales. Further associations were identified by principal component analysis of the composite scores for all measured eating subscales. For example, attuned eating was positively connected with intuitive eating, present eating, non-reactivity (mindful eating), and overeating regulation, as well as negatively linked with emotional eating, external eating, and leisure and discomfort overeating dysregulation. Unrestrained eating was positively associated with unconditional permission to eat (intuitive eating) and acceptance (mindful eating) but was also negatively related with dietary restraint. Furthermore, the component labelled eating and hunger awareness was positively correlated to reliance on hunger/satiety cues (intuitive eating) and awareness (mindful eating). Finally, the fourth component, casual eating attitudes, was positively linked with non-reactivity and flexibility (mindful eating). These findings emphasize how complex eating behaviors are and informs us that some adaptive and maladaptive eating concepts tap into unique attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and behaviours regarding food and eating. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, overeating regulation, emotional eating, external eating, dysregulation, mindful eating, awareness]
2021
Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors: Findings from EAT 2010-2018
This 2021 study investigated the relationship between intuitive eating (eating according to internal hunger and satiety cues), psychological health outcomes and disordered eating behaviors. Data was retrieved from the Eating and Activity over Time 2010-2018 study, which followed 1491 participants from adolescence into young adulthood, monitoring their intuitive eating, psychological health, and eating behaviors. Higher intuitive eating at baseline and rise in intuitive eating from baseline to follow-up (after 8 years) were associated with lower risk of highly depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, high body dissatisfaction, unhealthy weight control behaviors (like fasting and skipping meals), extreme weight control behaviors (taking diet pills and vomiting), and binge eating at 8-year follow-up. Hazzard et al. also discovered that the protective associations for binge eating were especially strong: a 1-point higher intuitive eating score at baseline correlated with 74% lower odds of binge eating at follow-up. Furthermore, a 1-point higher increase in intuitive eating score from baseline to follow-up was linked with a 71% reduction in risk of binge-eating at follow-up. Thus, it was concluded that interventions that target people’s intuitive eating may enhance psychological health and reduce disordered eating behaviors, particularly binge-eating. Importantly, the results indicate that intuitive eating predicts better psychological and behavioral health across a range of outcomes. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, disordered eating, eating disorders, eating behaviors, depression, fasting, skipping meals, body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, self-esteem, diet pills, bulimia, binge eating]