The Science Behind Intuitive Eating

Years of research demonstrate that for most people, rigid dietary patterns do not lead to sustained weight loss or improved psychological well-being. Many of us have firsthand experience of the difficulties of dieting, and it’s no surprise that we might be looking for alternatives. A practice known as intuitive eating—with a focus on becoming in tune with your body’s hunger and fullness signals and combating black-and-white thinking around food choices—is a potential option. Intuitive eating is a frequent buzzword and has become increasingly popular in recent years, but confusion exists around what this approach is all about. This article will dive deeper into what intuitive eating is, clarify related terms, and explain what the research says about intuitive eating’s effect on health outcomes. What is intuitive eating? Intuitive eating was created by two registered dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, and first published in a book of the same name in 1995. As noted by the creators, intuitive eating is a “self-care eating framework rooted in science and supported by clinical experience.” It’s based on ten principles, quoted below: While intuitive eating does not operate by rules per se, its principles are meant to guide you toward a healthier relationship with food and your body. Intuitive eating works in two primary ways: (1) it helps you get back in tune with your body’s signals for hunger, fullness and satisfaction (also known as interoceptive awareness); and (2) it removes obstacles that might prevent you from listening to your body (these obstacles typically are externally motivated food rules and rigid thoughts about eating). It’s important to note that advocates for intuitive eating assert that intentionally pursuing weight loss does not allow you to eat intuitively, as doing so inhibits you from listening to your body’s signals. This does not mean that it’s […]

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Food Packaging and the Quality of Your Food

When we go to the grocery store and buy products such canned soups, cookies, juice and other foods and beverages, we interact with different forms of food packaging. For example, milk is usually packaged in plastic or glass, but shelf-stable versions of the product may also be found in packaging such as cans. Food packaging is durable, strong, and protective, and it also plays a role in safety, convenience, efficiency, and consumer information. It additionally acts to block light and protect nutrients and colors in food products—keeping a food’s quality consistent throughout a product’s shelf life. The packaging options offered by food and beverage producers have changed over time to meet the demands of consumers and enhance manufacturing productivity. Milk is a great example of how food and beverage packaging has changed over time. In the early 1950s, milk was delivered to people’s homes in glass bottles. Today, having a visit from a milk man is not the norm and the glass packaging has since transitioned to High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) plastic. Milk may also be packaged in a plastic-paper combination (paper carton with a plastic liner) that allows for an even longer shelf life. To understand how different forms of packaging allow for quality and reliability, let’s break down some of the main forms of packaging material. Paper Paper may be the oldest form of food packaging, dating back to the first or second century BCE, when it was used by the Chinese to wrap their food. Over the next 1,500 years, materials from bark and flax fibers to linen rags and wood pulp were used. During this time, the first commercial cardboard was invented to replace wooden crates used for trade. The paperboard carton was invented in the 1870s and became popular in making cereal cartons. Paper […]

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Agriculture and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Ever buy a box of cereal, a bag of apples or a gallon of milk and think, “I wonder how the production of this product has impacted the Earth?” We may not think these words verbatim, but something similar may come to mind for many of us—something that shows we care about how food production impacts the environment. While many trips to the grocery store start with a hunt for a great bargain for food that will fill household bellies, many trips also involve consideration of the environmental impacts of our purchases. For instance, a 2020 IFIC consumer research survey found that most people (more than 70%) are concerned about climate change, and over half (52%) of those who are concerned said their concerns sometimes impact their food and beverage purchases. Nearly one in five (19%) said these concerns always impact their purchases. A background on greenhouse gases When we think of environmental concerns, the sustainable use of natural resources such as water, energy and soil may come to mind—and so too does the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are defined as the gaseous compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere (such as carbon dioxide) that absorb infrared radiation, trap heat and contribute to the greenhouse effect (which refers to the warming of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere). The main greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). With increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere come resultant increased temperatures globally. The warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, termed “global warming,” is causing our climate to change. New weather phenomena like melting glaciers, more intense storms, more frequent forest fires, and the rising of global sea levels all reflect our changing climate. Many news stories and scientific articles have reported on […]

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AAPI Heritage Month: Celebrating Asian Contributions to Farming

The immigration of people from countries all over the world to the United States has made a huge impact on many of the consumer goods Americans enjoy today—including in the industries of food and farming. Historically, the immigration of Asian people to the U.S. in the late 1800s (a movement that coincided with the Gold Rush in 1848) was particularly momentous for the U.S. food supply. Notably, Chinese immigrants made up 75 percent of California’s agriculture workers near the end of the 1800s, introducing new farming techniques that led to a shift from dependence on grain crops to the cultivation of more vegetables and fruits. And according to the most recent U.S. Agricultural Census, the United States still has about 26,000 producers who identify as Asian. To celebrate this year’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, let’s take a look back at two fascinating Asian thought leaders who have shaped agricultural practices in the U.S. Larry Itliong: A Leader in Securing Farm Workers’ Rights Many of us may never have heard of the “Delano Grape Strike of 1965,” but this significant farm-worker strike helped reform labor laws in America. A Filipino immigrant named Larry Itliong led the organization of the strike following his direction of the Asparagus strike of 1948. Itliong had also founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton, California, in 1956. Itliong’s efforts over the years led to significant changes in farm worker benefits, including higher pay, medical insurance, and enhanced safety precautions for pesticide applications in farming. Itliong also contributed to the founding of the United Farm Workers of America, a merger of two previous workers’ rights organizations (the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), led by Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, two notable Latine […]

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Snacking Production Series: Chocolate and Cocoa

Chocolate can be enjoyed in many ways—as a treat, as part of a snack, or as a flavoring for beverages— and has been for many years. In fact, cocoa foods and beverages made from beans from the Theobroma cacao tree were consumed by humans as early as 460 CE, and for years cocoa consumption has been associated with positive health benefits, such as anti-inflammatory properties. Cocoa is a functional food, an antioxidant, and naturally rich in healthy flavonoids. However, before we assume all chocolate is good for us, we should remember a big caveat: To successfully consume chocolate for its health benefits, we need to ensure that the cocoa content we’re eating contains an effective dose of active health-benefitting components and a reduced amount of sugar. If you’re a chocolate enthusiast who wants to know more about how cocoa is harvested, processed, and manufactured to produce chocolate products that can boost your health, read on. From Cacao To Cocoa and Bean to Bar Cocoa production begins when harvested fruit seeds from the tree Theobroma cacao are dried and fermented. Once the fermentation process is complete, the beans (called cocoa nibs) can be made into cocoa liquor. The liquor, which contains both nonfat cocoa solids and cocoa butter, can then be pressed to extract just the cocoa butter, leaving a solid mass called cocoa presscake. The amount of butter extracted from the liquor can be manipulated to produce a presscake with varied proportions of fat. The cocoa presscake is broken into pieces to form smaller chunks of presscake, which is then processed into cocoa powder. Cocoa powder processing can also be taken one step further with a process called “Dutching.” Here, the powder is treated with alkali to neutralize the natural acetic acid in cocoa. This gives the cocoa a milder taste, but also reduces the flavonoid content (flavonoids are natural compounds […]

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Whole Grains Fact Sheet

Download the Whole Grains Fact Sheet here Grains have been known as the “staff of life” for thousands of years, serving as a vital food source for humans. Today, foods made with whole grains are recognized as important sources of nutrients like fiber, trace minerals, and certain vitamins and phytochemicals that are not restored through traditional grain enrichment and fortification practices. These components are believed to play a key role in reducing risk of disease. Research shows that healthful diets rich in whole grain foods may play a part in reducing risks of heart disease, certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. They may also help in managing body weight.¹ Whole grains are composed of three plant components: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. In the last century, advances in the milling and processing of grains have allowed for the large–scale separation and removal of the bran and germ, resulting in refined flour that consists only of the endosperm. Refined flour has become popular because it produces baked goods with a softer texture and extended freshness. However, removing much of the bran and germ results in losses of fiber, B vitamins, vitamin E, trace minerals, protein, unsaturated fat and about 75 percent of phytochemicals, which are substances in plant-based foods with physiologically active components that may have functional health benefits. To correct for some of these losses, the process of enrichment began in the early 1940s to restore some B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin and niacin) and the mineral iron to flour.² Since 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required enriched grain products to also be fortified with folic acid, the synthetic form of the B vitamin folate, to help women of childbearing age reduce the risk of having a pregnancy affected with a neural tube […]

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Your Guide To Portion Size

Download: Serving Size Vs. Portion Size: What’s the Difference? Every five years since 1980 the U.S. Government publishes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). A main emphasis of the DGA over the years has been advice on how much of certain food groups and nutrients to consume, encouraging Americans to eat more of those that we don’t eat enough of (e.g., calcium, dietary fiber and vitamin D) and less of those that we eat in excess (e.g., added sugars, saturated fat and sodium). Previous versions of the DGA have noted the importance of choosing more nutrient-dense foods, so that we are more likely to get all the nutrition we need within the calories it takes to maintain a healthy weight. The 2020—2025 DGA remind us that the benefits of healthy eating don’t appear overnight. Instead, they add up over time with every bite, having the potential to contribute to good health. Aside from key recommendations for specific nutrients and food groups, one of the main action-oriented principles that the 2020—2025 DGA offers to help build healthy eating patterns, is to pay attention to portion sizes. What is Portion Size? Portion size is a term that is often confused with serving size. Understanding the difference between the two is important. Serving sizes appear on the Nutrition Facts label, and that amount is used to calculate the nutrient information that is displayed. But serving sizes listed on food packaging are not a recommendation for how much to eat or drink. Serving sizes are required by law to be based, in part, on food consumption data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to derive the amount of a food or beverage that people typically consume in one sitting. In contrast, portion sizes are not established and regulated by the government […]

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Cracking The Code: What Will It Really Take To Make America Eat Healthy?

Have you ever created a seemingly foolproof plan to execute—only to watch it unfold far differently than you expected? As food and nutrition professionals, this is a challenge that many of us face as we work to communicate evidence-based plans and strategies to help consumers advance their goals and improve their health. The overall evidence supporting the basics of a healthy diet pattern is, in many respects, strong. Sure, questions remain. Do individual differences affect how macronutrients impact health? How do tens of thousands of phytonutrients function in the body? There are countless unknowns, and it will take generations to uncover them. Still, the most pressing questions—the ones with immediate, weighty implications—center on how we can effectively enable consumers to initiate, adopt, and sustain healthier eating patterns. Make no mistake, the stakes are rising alongside the increasing rates of overweight, obesity, and chronic diseases. Good nutrition can help mitigate these conditions. Perhaps Charles Duhigg, award-winning journalist and author of The Power of Habit said it best: “The gap between knowing and doing is where most of our food struggles live.” Improving Consumer Communication Through Research One of the keys to helping consumers eat healthier lies in what insights we can gather from consumers directly. This is one of IFIC’s greatest strengths—our relentless pursuit to be a “consumer whisperer” through our research and consumer insights platform. Specifically, we are interested in: Through the annual IFIC Food & Health Survey, monthly IFIC Spotlight Surveys, and a range of research initiatives, IFIC uncovers the beliefs, intentions, and behaviors that shape consumer food and beverage decisions. The IFIC Spotlight Survey: Americans’ Perceptions & Priorities on Healthy Eating offers key insights to understand consumers’ food and health struggles. Understanding Americans’ Top Food & Nutrition Priorities In the Stages of Change Model, pre-contemplation progresses to contemplation, […]

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