Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Article

Intuitive Eating

A Novel Eating Style? Evidence From a Spanish Sample

Published Online:August 03, 2018https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000482

Abstract

Abstract. Intuitive eating is defined as an adaptive way of eating that maintains a strong connection with the internal physiological signs of hunger and satiety. It has four elements: unconditional permission to eat whenever and whatever food is desired, eating for physical rather than for emotional reasons, reliance on hunger and satiety cues to determine when and how much to eat, and body-food choice congruence. In this study, we assessed the differences and similarities between intuitive eating, as measured with the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), and eating styles (restrained, emotional, and external eating), assessed with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Using a Spanish sample of mainly university students (n = 1,095) we found that (a) unconditional permission to eat presented a large negative correlation with restrained eating, r = –.82; (b) eating for physical reasons had a large negative correlation with emotional eating, r = –.70; (c) the dimensions of intuitive eating only showed very small correlations with positive and negative affect, satisfaction with life, body dissatisfaction or weight control behavior after restrained, emotional, and external eating had been partialled out. Altogether, the present results suggest that two of the dimensions of intuitive eating as assessed with the IES-2 are not very new or innovative. The most promising new dimension of intuitive eating seems to be body-food choice congruence.

References

  • Asparouhov, T. & Muthén, B. (2009). Exploratory structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 16, 397–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510903008204 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Augustus-Horvath, C. L. & Tylka, T. L. (2011). The acceptance model of intuitive eating: A comparison of women in emerging adulthood, early adulthood, and middle adulthood. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58, 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022129 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bacon, L. & Aphramor, L. (2011). Weight science: Evaluating the evidence for a paradigm shift. Nutrition Journal, 2011, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-10-9 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Barrada, J. R., van Strien, T. & Cebolla, A. (2016). Internal structure and measurement invariance of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) in a (nearly) representative Dutch community sample. European Eating Disorders Review, 24, 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2448 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bombak, A. (2014). Obesity, health at every size, and public health policy. American Journal of Public Health, 104, 60–67. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301486 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bruce, L. J. & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2016). A systematic review of the psychosocial correlates of intuitive eating among adult women. Appetite, 96, 454–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.10.012 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Carbonneau, E., Carbonneau, N., Lamarche, B., Provencher, V., Bégin, C., Bradette-Laplante, M., … Lemieux, S. (2016). Validation of a French-Canadian adaptation of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 for the adult population. Appetite, 105, 37–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.05.001 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Camilleri, G. M., Méjean, C., Bellisle, F., Andreeva, V. A., Sautron, V., Hercberg, S. & Péneau, S. (2015). Cross-cultural validity of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2. Psychometric evaluation in a sample of the general French population. Appetite, 84, 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.09.009 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cebolla, A., Barrada, J. R., van Strien, T., Oliver, E. & Baños, R. (2014). Validation of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) in a sample of Spanish women. Appetite, 73, 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2013.10.014 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Denny, K. N., Loth, K., Eisenberg, M. E. & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2013). Intuitive eating in young adults. Who is doing it, and how is it related to disordered eating behaviors? Appetite, 60, 13–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.09.029 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J. & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Finney, S. J. & DiStefano, C. (2006). Non-normal and categorical data in structural equation modeling. In G. R. HancockR. O. MuellerEds., Structural equation modeling: A second course (pp. 871–878). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Garner, D. M. (1991). Eating Disorders Inventory-2: Professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Garner, D. M. (1998). Inventario de Trastornos de la Conducta Alimentaria-2 [Eating Disorders Inventory-2]. Madrid, Spain: Tea Ediciones. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Garner, D. M. (2004). EDI-3 Eating Disorders Inventory-3: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Garner, D. M., Olmsted, M. P., Bohr, Y. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1982). The Eating Attitudes Test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700049163 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Gast, J., Madanat, H. & Campbell Nielson, A. (2012). Are men more intuitive when it comes to eating and physical activity? American Journal of Men’s Health, 6, 164–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988311428090 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hallquist, M. & Wiley, J. (2016). Package “MplusAutomation”. Retrieved from at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MplusAutomation/ First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Haynes, S. N. & Lench, H. C. (2003). Incremental validity of new clinical assessment measures. Psychological Assessment, 15, 456–466. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.15.4.456 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hu, L. T. & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hunsley, J. & Meyer, G. J. (2003). The incremental validity of psychological testing and assessment: Conceptual, methodological, and statistical issues. Psychological Assessment, 15, 446–455. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.15.4.446 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Jackson, D. L., Gillaspy, J. A. Jr. & Purc-Stephenson, R. (2009). Reporting practices in confirmatory factor analysis: An overview and some recommendations. Psychological Methods, 14, 6–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014694 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Jansen, A., Nederkoorn, C., Roefs, A., Bongers, P., Teugels, T. & Havermans, R. (2011). The proof of the pudding is in the eating: Is the DEBQ‐external eating scale a valid measure of external eating? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 44, 164–168. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20799 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Koball, A. M., Meers, M. R., Storfer-Isser, A., Domoff, S. E. & Musher-Eizenman, D. R. (2012). Eating when bored: Revision of the Emotional Eating Scale with a focus on boredom. Health Psychology, 31, 521–524. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025893 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lai, K. & Green, S. B. (2016). The problem with having two watches: Assessment of fit when RMSEA and CFI disagree. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51, 220–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2015.1134306 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • McAdams, M. A., Van Dam, R. M. & Hu, F. B. (2007). Comparison of self-reported and measured BMI as correlates of disease markers in US adults. Obesity, 15, 188–196. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2007.504 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Mackinnon, A., Jorm, A. F., Christensen, H., Korten, A. E., Jacomb, P. A. & Rodgers, B. (1999). A short form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule: Evaluation of factorial validity and invariance across demographic variables in a community sample. Personality and Individual differences, 27, 405–416. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00251-7 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Westling, E., Lew, A. M., Samuels, B. & Chatman, J. (2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. The American Psychologist, 62, 220–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.220 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Miller, W. C. (2005). The weight-loss-at-any-cost environment: How to thrive with a health-centered focus. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 37, 89–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1499-4046(06)60205-4 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Moral de la Rubia, J. (2011). La Escala de Afecto Positivo y Negativo (PANAS) en parejas casadas mexicanas [The Positive and Negative Affect Scale in married Mexican couples]. Ciencia Ergo Sum, 18, 117–125. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Morin, A. J. S., Marsh, H. W. & Nagengast, B. (2013). Exploratory structural equation modeling. In G. R. HancockR. O. MuellerEds., Structural equation modeling. A second course (2nd ed., pp. 395–436). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Muñiz, J., Elosua, P. & Hambleton, R. K. (2013). Directrices para la traducción y adaptación de los tests: Segunda edición [International Test Commission Guidelines for test translation and adaptation: Second edition]. Psicothema, 25, 151–157. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2013.24 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Muthén, L. K. & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2015). Mplus user’s guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Neumark-Sztainer, D., Wall, M., Larson, N. I., Eisenberg, M. E. & Loth, K. (2011). Dieting and disordered eating behaviors from adolescence to young adulthood: Findings from a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111, 1004–1011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.04.012 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • R Core Team. (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Revelle, W. (2017). Package “psych”. Retrieved from https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/psych/psych.pdf First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ruzanska, U. A. & Warschburger, P. (2017). Psychometric evaluation of the German version of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 in a community sample. Appetite, 117, 126–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.06.018 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Sánchez-Carracedo, D., López-Guimerà, G., Fauquet, J., Barrada, J. R., Pàmias, M., Puntí, J., … Trepat, E. (2013). A school-based program implemented by community providers previously trained for the prevention of eating and weight-related problems in secondary-school adolescents: The MABIC study protocol. BMC Public Health, 13, 955. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-955 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Smith, T. & Hawks, S. R. (2006). Intuitive eating, diet composition, and the meaning of food in healthy weight promotion. American Journal of Health Education, 37, 130–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2006.10598892 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Striegel-Moore, R. H. & Bulik, C. M. (2007). Risk factors for eating disorders. The American Psychologist, 62, 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.181 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Thompson, E. R. (2007). Development and validation of an internationally reliable short-form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022106297301 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Tribole, E. & Resch, E. (1995). Intuitive eating: A recovery book for the chronic dieter. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Tylka, T. L. (2006). Development and psychometric evaluation of a measure of intuitive eating. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 226–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.2.226 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Tylka, T. L. & Kroon Van Diest, A. M. K. (2013). The Intuitive Eating Scale-2: Item refinement and psychometric evaluation with college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60, 137–153. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030893 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Tylka, T. L. & Wilcox, J. A. (2006). Are intuitive eating and eating disorder symptomatology opposite poles of the same construct? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 474–485. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.4.474 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Van Dyck, Z., Herbert, B. M., Happ, C., Kleveman, G. V. & Vögele, C. (2016). German version of the Intuitive Eating Scale: Psychometric evaluation and application to an eating disordered population. Appetite, 105, 798–807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.07.019 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • van Strien, T., Frijters, J. E. R., Bergers, G. P. A. & Defares, P. B. (1986). The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional and external eating behavior. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 295–315. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-108X(198602)5:2<295::AID-EAT2260050209>3.0.CO;2-T First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • van Strien, T., Herman, C. P. & Anschutz, D. (2012). The predictive validity of the DEBQ‐external eating scale for eating in response to food commercials while watching television. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 45, 257–262. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20940 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • van Strien, T., Herman, C. P., Anschutz, D. J., Engels, R. C. & de Weerth, C. (2012). Moderation of distress-induced eating by emotional eating scores. Appetite, 58, 277–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.10.005 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Vázquez, C., Duque, A. & Hervás, G. (2013). Satisfaction with Life Scale in a representative sample of Spanish adults: Validation and normative data. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 16, E82. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2013.82 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A. & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar