Empirical evidence that eating based on internal cues predicts well-being.
What the evidence says
- IES-2 measures tendency to follow physical hunger/satiety cues when deciding when, what, and how much to eat[1]
- Four factors: Unconditional Permission to Eat, Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons, Reliance on Hunger/Satiety Cues, Body-Food Choice Congruence[1]
- Intuitive eating positively related to body appreciation, self-esteem, and life satisfaction[1]
- Intuitive eating inversely related to eating disorder symptoms, body shame, and BMI[1]
- Intuitive eating predicts psychological well-being beyond just absence of eating disorder symptoms[1]
- Validated across 1,405 women and 1,195 men — applies to both sexes[1]
- IES-2 scores unrelated to impression management (social desirability), supporting construct validity[1]