Eating when hungry is the best way to LOSE weight, survey suggests… and it’s also better for psychological health
- Scientists say ‘intuitive eating’ is better for psychological and physical health
- 6,000 young adults from eight countries responded to a survey on eating habits
- Those who followed the body’s hunger “signals” were less likely to overeat, found
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We are often told to ignore our hunger pangs or risk gaining weight…
But it’s actually better to listen to your body when it tells you it’s time to eat, scientists say.
Many popular diets are based on ignoring feelings of hunger, for example by counting calories or only eating during certain times of the day.
But relying on our appetite and eating when we’re hungry, called intuitive eating, is better for our psychological and physical health, research suggests. In one study, those who ate intuitively were more likely to weigh less and feel happier in their bodies than those who restricted their food intake.
Eating when hungry is the best way to LOSE weight, new survey suggests
The researchers said that being in tune with our body’s signals was more important than following “the latest fad diet or eating plan.”
In the online survey, more than 6,000 young adults from eight countries answered questions about self-esteem and body mass index (BMI), a measure of whether an individual is at a healthy or unhealthy weight.
The researchers looked at three eating styles: intuitive, emotional, and moderate.
Emotional eating responds to internal cues like feeling stressed or sad. Restricted eating is rigidly restricted in order to lose or maintain weight. The analysis found that the more people intuitively ate, the happier they tended to be with their body.
They also had higher self-esteem and lower weight.
On the other hand, higher levels of restricted and emotional eating were associated with lower body satisfaction and self-esteem, and with higher weight.
Lead researcher Dr Charlotte Markey, from Rutgers University in New Jersey, said: “Cultural messages consistently suggest that it is important to ignore our bodies’ hunger and fullness signals, but to trust our bodies and eat when we feel starvation seems to be better for both psychological and physical health.
‘This research is in tune with the evidence that dieting is ineffective for both weight loss and body satisfaction, and often counterproductive. We should aspire to be more in tune with our own physiology than with the latest fad diet or eating plan.
Writing in the British Journal of Health Psychology, the scientists said eating styles are likely related to how people feel about themselves. “We can infer that these eating styles may affect the actual consumption of the individual, given the association that is sometimes found with weight status,” they added.
Last month, researchers discovered that feeling ‘hungry’ – a mixture of hunger and anger – is a real phenomenon.
The expression has become popular in recent years but has not been widely explored by science.
One study found that hunger is associated with higher levels of anger and irritability, as well as lower levels of pleasure.
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