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Friday, August 13, 2010

Does 'Intuitive Eating' Hold Answers for Disordered Eaters?

Some people eat only to satisfy their hunger. They don't diet and they don't hate their bodies. These "intuitive eaters" may hold the key to helping people with eating disorders and those who need to lose weight, according to a study from Brigham Young University.

  • Professor Steven Hawks and his colleagues developed an "Intuitive Eating Scale" to identify participants in the study who had such habits.
  • Then they compared "intuitive eaters" with the others in the study.
  • The intuitives had lower body mass indices (BMI), lower triglycerides levels, higher levels of high density lipoproteins and a decreased risk for cardio vascular diseases.

"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, and to understand their bodies," said Dr. Hawks, who added that he believes that that in less developed countries in Asia, most people are already intuitive eaters.
 

Labels: intuitive eating

Posted By: CRC Health

Comments:

Kensington on 9/3/2010
I'm a huge believer in intuitive eating and used it in recovering from my own eating disorder. Your body really does know what it needs. It's a matter of learning to listen to it, even if a person has spent years or decades abusing it through an eating disorder.
Kensington on 8/30/2010
I'm a big believer in intuitive eating. I used it myself in recovering from my eating disorder. There are some good books out there that address this.