The following article, from New College Hospital's Women's Health Matters
http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/news/news_show.cfm?number=574
describes healthy, intuitive eating in adult women in a way that
corresponds exactly to breastfeeding on cue. Check out the three
components of healthy eating about half-way down the article.
Women who accept their bodies the way they are seem to be more likely to
follow principles of healthy eating, new research shows.
The findings suggest that women's typical reasons for changing their
diet -- a dissatisfaction with their bodies -- may backfire, said Prof.
Tracy Tylka, co-author of the studies and assistant professor of
psychology at Ohio State University.
'The message that women often hear is that some degree of body
dissatisfaction is healthy because it could help them strive to take
care of their bodies,' Tylka said.
'But it may be just the opposite: an appreciation of your body is needed
to really adopt better eating habits.'
Tylka and her colleagues conducted several studies on a concept called
'intuitive eating,' which is eating based on feelings of hunger and
fullness rather than on emotions or situations.
They presented their results at the recent annual meeting of the
American Psychological Association. The studies will also be published
later this year in the Journal of Counseling Psychology.
The focus on intuitive eating is an attempt to find out what constitutes
healthy eating, rather than the more prevalent focus in psychology on
eating disorders, Tylka said.
Other researchers have determined that intuitive eating has three
components: unconditional permission to eat when hungry and to eat what
food you desire; eating for physical rather than emotional reasons; and
reliance on internal hunger and fullness cues to determine when and how
much to eat.
Results showed that these intuitive eaters felt more unconditional
acceptance of their bodies by parents and others when they were growing
up, and felt that those around them now accepted their bodies for what
they were.
'When women feel that the people in their life accept their body, they
don't feel like they need to lose weight or tone up to be worthwhile.'
While parts of intuitive eating are non-controversial, Tylka said many
people can't believe people should be able to eat when they want, and
whatever foods they want.
'There's this belief that if you give people unconditional permission to
eat, they are going to binge and add on a lot of pounds. But that's not
what we have found,' Tylka said.
In a study of 199 college women, published in April in the Journal of
Counseling Psychology, Tylka found that those who followed intuitive
eating principles actually had a slightly lower Body Mass Index than
women who did not.
'It seems amazing, but it is true. If you listen to your body signals in
determining what, when, and how much to eat, you are not going to binge
and you're going to eat an appropriate amounts of nutrient-dense foods,'
she said.
In the new studies presented at the APA, Tylka and her colleagues
examined who was most likely to follow intuitive eating and the
psychological impacts that doing so had on them.
In two samples of college women (597 all together), Tylka and Ohio State
graduate student Laura Avalos found that women who reported they were
intuitive eaters also reported higher levels of appreciation for their
own body. They were more likely to agree with statements like 'Despite
its flaws, I accept my body for what it is.'
They were less likely to spend a lot of time thinking about how their
body appears to others, and more time considering how their body feels
and functions.
Results showed that these intuitive eaters felt more unconditional
acceptance of their bodies by parents and others when they were growing
up, and felt that those around them now accepted their bodies for what
they were.
'When women feel that the people in their life accept their body, they
don't feel like they need to lose weight or tone up to be worthwhile,'
Tylka said. 'That seems to be directly related to eating intuitively.'
While her research has shown eating intuitively is associated with a
lower BMI, Tylka said that doesn't mean all women who follow these
principles will match the thin models they see in the media.
'There are going to be a variety of body types. For most people, their
ideal body type will hover around the range that doctors say is healthy.
But some will be healthy at a higher weight, and others at a lower weight.**
Source: Ohio State University, October 2006
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