The relationship between intuitive eating education and eating behavior and body weight in women in the field of nutrition counseling

Obesity is defined as excessive fat accumulation that can put a person's health at risk. The most commonly used treatment for obesity is diet therapy. However, with current evidence, there is no diet that provides permanent weight loss. Intuitive eating is learning to read physiological hunger and fullness signals and eat in response to these signals as a counter-pattern to restrictive diets. The purpose of intuitive eating is not to "lose weight", but it is seen as a new method by which moderate weight loss can be achieved, health problems can be overcome, and healthy eating behaviors can be developed. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of intuitive eating education on eating behavior and body weight in individuals practicing chronic dieting. 50 female participated in this study and were divided into two groups of 25, an education group and a weight loss diet group. At the beginning of the study, an Online Diet Information Form questioning general information and eating habits was administered. The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) and the Adult Eating Behavior Scale (AEBQ) were administered at the beginning and end of the study, and they were asked to take anthropometric measurements and a 12-day food consumption record was obtained and followed for 4 weeks. At the end of the procedure, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in the intuitive eating scale (p > .05). The education group showed a significant increase in only the "satiety feeling" and "emotional undereating" sub-dimension scores of the adult eating behavior scale compared to the control group (p < .05). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in any of the anthropometric measurements (p > .05). However, it was observed that individuals who received intuitive eating training felt fuller and exhibited less emotional eating behavior than the control group, but it had no effect on body mass index. More research is needed on this subject.