Intuitive Eating Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intuitive Eating - Assignment Example After further reading, however, I came to the conclusion that the book was making a very serious contribution to the field of nutrition, and that it was based on some good scientific evidence. The first chapter made it clear to me that the starting point of the book was one of the biggest problems faced by readers who have difficulty achieving and maintaining a healthy weight: a process that I would describe as diet fatigue. From my own experience I know that it is very difficult to stick to any diet and that there is a tendency for dieters to have a cycle of enthusiasm, initial weight loss, failure to maintain momentum, and finally a regaining of the pounds that have been lost and a search for a new diet. It was a new idea for me to consider this issue from the angle that dieting is the problem and not the solution. In fact the term that the authors use for this is â€Å"diet backlash† (Tribole and Resch, 1995, p. 2). The authors make the point that serial dieting is not only unsuccessful, it is actually harmful because it teaches the mind and the body to acquire all kinds of bad habits that counteract any good effects of the changes made in calorie intake. So far I was convinced by the argument, but I had a nagging worry that the authors would need to come up with something special to replace the tried and tested means of dieting for those who want to achieve a healthy body weight. Chapter two was an interesting exploration of different personality types which are reflected in eating habits. The three main categories of â€Å"Careful Eater, Professional Dieter and Unconscious Eater.† In my opinion this is an over-simplification because I have encountered many different personality types, both in my professional life and in my private circle of friends. The value of the descriptors is, however, that it encourages the reader to focus on the underlying motivations for people’s behavior in relation to food. I have one friend, for example,