Hi, this is Monica Reinagle, and you're listening to the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

Kathy writes, The claims for intuitive eating

that I could eat whatever my body craves and eventually lose weight

sound too good to be true.

However, the book I'm reading is very convincing.

What's your take? Well, Kathy, I think a lot depends on how you define

intuitive eating. Tracy Tilka is a psychologist on the faculty of Ohio State

University and she and her colleagues have developed and refined something that they call

the Intuitive Eating Scale which assesses things like how much you rely on your

internal hunger and satiety clues to decide when to eat and when to stop

eating, as well as your tendency to eat for emotional rather than physical reasons.

And numerous studies have shown that people who score higher on the intuitive eating scale are less likely to be overweight,

and they're more likely to be happy with their bodies and their lives in general. Being self-aware and

mindful really can help us make better choices about food. However, some people have taken this idea of intuitive eating much further, arguing that the body

knows what it needs, and that cravings for food are a signal that our bodies need nutrients

found in these foods. The implication is that if we can just

become sufficiently attuned to our bodies we can eat whatever we desire because

we will only desire what we need.

I'm not so sure.

An appetite for a certain food could sometimes be due in part to a need for certain nutrients.

But cravings are not really a very reliable guide to

our nutritional needs. People suffering from iron deficiency frequently have an

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