Every day dieters are bombarded by flashing alerts and wheedling pleas from command centers in brain and stomach. ADVERTISING Every day dieters are bombarded by flashing alerts and wheedling pleas from command centers in brain and stomach. You know you
Every day dieters are bombarded by flashing alerts and wheedling pleas from command centers in brain and stomach.
You know you shouldn’t indulge too much in calorie-laden holiday delicacies that instantly inflate the waistline. But then there’s that urgent signal that you must try that chocolate-clad peppermint-sprinkled graham cookie. Just a nibble. Come on. Or that velvety key lime pie. Or that hipster delicacy, fresh homemade buttermilk biscuits with your favorite cholesterol-rich toppings, such as ginger sage sausage and cheddar cheese.
Result: A nation of dieters, desperate to lose the last 10 or the first 50, seeks fresh ways to cheat the unforgiving math of calories.
Enter “intuitive eating.” The theory here is that your body knows what it is doing when it urges you to indulge. Instead of dieting, just heed the body’s signals, such as feelings of hunger, and of course, fullness. Eat when you’re hungry. Stop when you’re full. Simple.
Researchers tested that theory in a recently published study that pitted calorie-counters against intuitive eaters. The results were, well, intuitive. Those who counted calories lost more weight than those who listened to their bodies. Almost all, however, eventually gained most of the weight back and some of the intuitive eaters ended the six-week study weighing more than when they started, Judith Anglin, associate professor of nutrition at Texas Southern University, tells us.
Conclusion: Argh.
In another study, scientists tested a variation on the theme: Instead of monitoring calories, just limit your bites.
Brigham Young University health sciences associate professor Josh West recruited 61 overweight or obese men to test the bite theory. Not surprisingly 16 dropped out in the first week. Who wants to keep a running tally of every bite? Or be tempted to wolf down a burger in three bites just to keep the daily tally low?
What a perfect way to ruin a meal.
Upshot: Intuitive eaters “do improve their psychological well-being and have less body dissatisfaction, but they don’t necessarily lose weight,” Dr. Lisa Neff, assistant professor of endocrinology at Northwestern University Feinberg Medical School, tells us.
Fewer bites? Sure. But that won’t help if every one of them is chocolate cheesecake.
