Intuitive eating assesses the degree to which individuals eat based on physiological cues rather than emotional or situational cues. The Intuitive Eating Scale was initially developed using college women. This study extends the work of Tylka and reports on the psychometric evaluation of the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES) in a sample of 515 middle school boys and girls. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered 4 factors: unconditional permission to eat, eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, trust in internal hunger/satiety cues and awareness of internal hunger/satiety cues; confirmatory factor analysis suggested that this 4-factor model adequately fit the data after 4 items with low factor loadings were deleted. Supporting its construct validity, IES scores were negatively related to body mass index, body dissatisfaction, negative affect, pressure for thinness, and internalization of the thin ideal, and were positively related to satisfaction with life, and experiencing greater positive affect.

Dietitians are expected to deliver sound and scientifically objective advice to the general public, yet their personal beliefs and behaviors could influence delivery of nutrition care. Increased understanding of the personal attitudes and behaviors of dietitians concerning eating behavior and body image could help improve dietetic practice. Traditional nutrition education emphasizes cognitive eating, i.e., monitoring energy intake and comparing macronutrient intakes to the current acceptable ranges. Intuitive eating, however, promotes the release of cognitive eating in favor of greater attention to physiologic cues, or “body wisdom”. We hypothesized that nutrition students in a traditional curriculum would report eating less intuitively than non-nutrition majors. We surveyed 258 female undergraduate students (96 nutrition majors and 162 non-majors) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Using Mann-Whitney U tests, we assessed the differences between nutrition majors and non-majors in terms of: intuitive eating, as measured by the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2); body mass index (BMI, kg/m2); magnitude of body dissatisfaction (actual weight – ideal weight); and dieting behavior. We also used non-parametric Spearman’s rho correlations and Chi-squared statistics to examine relationships between variables. A two-way between-groups analysis of variance was used to calculate statistical differences in intuitive eating scores between diet behavior and major. Contrary to our working hypothesis, we found that IES-2 scores were significantly higher in majors versus non-majors (p= 0.01) and significantly lower (pnormalor underweight BMI. These observations provide novel information indicating that nutrition undergraduate students, who have the intention of becoming registered dietitians, report that they eat more intuitively and have a lower degree of body dissatisfaction than do undergraduate students not majoring in nutrition. Additional research is needed to address issues related to body dissatisfaction and body weight.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health / Tandalayo Kidd / Objective: The purpose of this study is to promote healthy dietary and physical activity (PA) behaviors in adolescents using a six-module nutrition education resource—Wise Eating (WE)—which was designed specifically for the adolescent population based on the concept and principles of Intuitive Eating (IE).  Study Design: Repeated measures study with pre-assessment and post-assessment. Outcome Measures and Analysis: This study assessed participating adolescents’ breakfast intake, fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption, and PA behaviors; perceptions of IE factors; and perceptions of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables. Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were used to determine differences in demographic variables and differences between the control and the intervention group. Paired t-tests were performed to compare the behavioral and perception changes from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment. Multiple linear regressions were performed to examine the relationship between TPB variables and FV consumption and PA participation intent and behaviors. Results: The total number of participants at the pre- and the post-assessment was 154 and 148, respectively. Participant’s gender and grade level were evenly distributed. Hispanic was identified as the predominant ethnic population at both the pre- and the post-assessment. At post-assessment, participants in the intervention group significantly increased their breakfast intake frequency, FV consumption frequency, and PA participation frequency (P < .05). Sixth graders had significantly higher breakfast intake frequency, FV consumption frequency, and PA participation frequency when compared with 7th and 8th graders (P < .05). The TPB variables significantly predicted FV consumption and PA intent and behaviors at both the pre- and the post-assessment, and the perceived behavioral control served as the most consistent predictor. For the intervention group, the IE total and Factor 1—Unconditional Permission to Eat scores were significantly increased at the post-assessment when compared with the control group (P .001). Conclusions: These findings tested the effectiveness of WE education modules and further emphasized the need for more interventions on IE to improve dietary and PA behaviors change in the adolescent population.

Rates of obesity in the United States have been increasing despite an increase of dieters. A new paradigm, intuitive eating, has been introduced to counter the negative effects of dieting. Intuitive eating has not been compared to dieters on a nutritional level, however. The main purpose of this study was to determine the nutritional differences between intuitive eaters and dieters. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires regarding food consumption and attitudes about eating. Participants (N = 32) were then classified as intuitive eaters or dieters and asked to complete six, 24-hr food logs. Data received from these food logs were compared based on group classification to determine statistical significance. The results of the ttests did not determine statistical significance between groups regarding food consumption (p > .05). A chi-square test used to determine if intuitive eaters consumed within 100 kilocalories of their recommended level of calorie consumption was found to be statistically significant (p < .05).

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Intuitive eating is defined as an adaptive eating process that involves focusing on internal hunger and satiety to guide eating behavior, using those physiological cues rather than emotions to determine when to eat, and choosing what to eat based upon preference and not external rules and expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine intuitive eating within the context of contemporary sociocultural models of eating in 701 early adolescent boys and 769 early adolescent girls. Support was found for the model and suggested that pressures to lose weight or gain muscle, restrictive messages about food from caregivers, and internalization of the thin ideal were related to the early adolescents’ intuitive eating behaviors, suggesting that many of the sociocultural variables that have been found to impact disordered eating are salient for understanding healthy eating behaviors. However, the relations among many of the variables, as well as the model’s ability to explain intuitive eating overall, were stronger in girls than in boys. These findings can be used to help parents and schools begin to teach early adolescents about intuitive eating and how they can resist external pressures that may negatively influence their eating behaviors.

Research has shown that restrictive eating, or dieting, can be devastating to one's health. A new paradigm, intuitive eating, suggests that individuals eat based off of their physiological cues, and not for emotional or social ones. To date, restrictive eating has been extensively researched, but intuitive eating has not. The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intuitive eating and its relationship between physical activity motivation and physical activity maintenance, using the self-determination theory. Participants completed a survey to determine their intuitive eating level, their physical activity motivation, and their physical activity maintenance (n = 207). Linear regression analyses revealed that intuitive eaters were significantly more intrinsically motivated to engage in physical activity (p > .01). However, this did not mean that they maintained their physical activity more than non-intuitive eaters (p = .317). Further analysis explored the motivation levels in more detail, revealing a significant difference between intuitive and non-intuitive eaters between all levels of motivation but one, the identified regulation motivation level (p = .537), the highest category of extrinsic motivation in the self-determination theory continuum.

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Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of an online introductory college nutrition course that implements evidence-based intuitive eating (IE) concepts and principles on students’ application of IE behaviors. A secondary outcome explored the relationship between student grades and changes in IE behavior implementation. Researchers hypothesized an increase in the average use of IE practices post-intervention. Methods: This study was a non-randomized pilot intervention using pre- and post-test surveys. Enrolled students completed the intuitive eating scale-2 (IES-2) survey on the first and last days of the 16-week course. Students participated in typical nutrition coursework throughout the semester with the addition of information on IE. Total and subscale average IES-2 scores were calculated and analyzed before and after the intervention. Results: Weight-neutral, non-diet nutrition education on IE led to improvement in the total average implementation of IE behaviors (p=0.022) in twenty-three college students. No significant changes were detected in the IES-2 subscale measures. A significant positive association was observed between student grades and changes in mean IES-2 scores. Conclusions and Implications: Based on study findings, adding education regarding IE principles into a basic nutrition course is an effective way to significantly increase total IE habits within an undergraduate student population. Results warrant consideration for standardizing incorporation of weight-neutral education in health courses to improve health behaviors.

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