If you’ve ever researched a particular food or ingredient, you may have said to yourself: Nutrition evidence is confusing. One day, carbs are out, then the next day, they’re back in. Staying up to date on the latest nutrition recommendation is tricky, particularly when the information available on the internet seems endless.
Luckily, some of our favorite non-diet approaches to health have data backed by experimental studies. As you may know, Intuitive Eating (IE) is a framework that incorporates physical and emotional needs into 10 principles. According to its founders, IE has been validated by over 100 studies. Today, we’ll cover a few from the last five years.
In 2017, researchers from New Zealand examined how hunger training over a six-month time period affected eating behaviors in people living with overweight or obesity. Researchers used a 23-item IE Scale to assess body-food choice congruence (choosing foods that match physical needs), eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, and unconditional permission to eat. Out of 50 recruits, 34 completed the training. Compared to those who completed less than 30 days, participants who completed at least 60 days of hunger training showed increases in body-food choice congruence and eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, and decreases in unconditional permission to eat.
In another study of 137 American college students, who were predominantly female, researchers assessed how IE knowledge and plate size affected intake levels. One group of students received an 8-inch plate of pasta and tomato sauce, while the other received a 12-inch plate of the same food. Prior to the meal, students fasted for four hours, completed an IE Scale, and rated the meal. Students who adhered more closely to IE had greater food intake. Additionally, students with larger plates ate more. Lastly, those who had greater adherence to IE and larger plates, had greater food intakes. The researchers concluded that the results counteracted the theory that IE eaters would be more sensitive to internal cues of hunger rather than external ones. However, the researchers cautioned the findings because most of the data collected was self-reported, which is subject to errors.
In one large meta-analysis, researchers compiled evidence from 16 studies to assess the relationship between novel non-diet frameworks and eating behaviors. Most of the sample size consisted of fifty or fewer participants, who were predominantly female. Eight papers specifically examined the impact of IE on food behaviors, and found that IE was positively associated with observed hunger cues, freedom to eat, pleasure derived from food, and awareness of one’s body state. Since the relationships observed were associations, the researchers couldn't determine underlying mechanisms behind these relationships. However, they speculated that IE fostered greater understanding of physical and emotional needs. For example, in one sample of young adults, participants with higher adherence to IE exhibited more anti-dieting and self-care behaviors. In another study, participants with higher levels of Intuitive eating had greater sensitivity to their body’s state.
Intuitive eating shows promise in building a better understanding of our bodies' needs. If you want to learn more about Intuitive Eating, book a free discovery call here.