[snip]… Proponents of intuitive eating argue that their method may be a healthier and more realistic way of managing food intake. “Usually when people have a history of chronic dieting, what that means is they’ve learned to shut off their body’s signals,” says Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor and researcher at City College of San Francisco and the University of California, Davis. “So they can’t even recognize hunger, because for so long they’ve thought that hunger is something you’re supposed to suppress — or ignore.” Bacon sometimes takes her students through an experiment with a food they love, usually chocolate. “I tell them to take a little bite of it, and notice all the sensations in your mouth and how it tastes,” she said. “And then take another small bite. When you keep doing that, inevitably what people see is that the third or fourth bites don’t taste nearly as good as the first bite. You’re getting clues from your body, which is saying, ‘Slow down, don’t eat so much, I’ve got what I need.’”
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