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Intuitive Eating & Type 2 Diabetes Management

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Land Acknowledgment

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Learning Outcomes

Identify 10 intuitive eating principles and how they are relevant to type 2 diabetes nutrition therapy
Discuss the benefits of intuitive eating for patients with type 2 diabetes
Reflect on the complexities of using intuitive eating in the context of type 2 diabetes management

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Session Overview

01

Introduction

02

Poster

Review current research & background information

Read the poster & do the reflective quiz

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Research

01

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Eating more intuitively was associated with lower chances of poor glycemic control.

A mindful eating intervention was shown to significantly improve HbA1c levels.

Body appreciation linked to intuitive eating helps with glycemic stability.

Here are some examples of research in this area. Many studies have shown that intuitive eating is associated with positive outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes, including improved glycemic control, lower HBA1c and improved body appreciation.

Also, diabetes management is a field that has been traditionally quite weight-centric and focused on prescriptive dietary intervention. Interestingly there is some research comparing intuitive eating to this approach. The study shown on the top right looked at how a mindful eating intervention compared to a diabetes self-management approach based on a more traditional, prescriptive approach to diabetes care and found that many of the outcomes like dietary intake and glycemic load were comparable between both groups and participants in the intuitive eating group actually experienced a greater reduction in HbA1c.

Although this research is promising, there is a gap in the literature in terms of resources to support dietitians in using intuitive eating with their patients.

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Needs Assessment

Some Registered Dietitians (RDs) do not explicitly say that they are using intuitive eating, but it is woven into their approach
RDs liked the idea of a poster resource that quickly communicates important information and resources
Recommended designing a one page graphic so that it can be used as a poster

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Poster

02

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Creating Our Poster

1

Background research

3

Needs assessment

5

Made the poster

2

Meet with 3 RDs

4

Further research

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Who?

Using The Poster

Why?

How?

Designed to be read by RDs and/or displayed in their offices

To empower dietitians to use intuitive eating when supporting patients with type 2 diabetes

Created in different formats - digital graphic & printable poster

Includes reflective quiz to spark thoughtful consideration

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Using The Resource

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Acknowledgement

This presentation was created by a group of UBC Dietetics students (Cassidy Simpson, Faiza Ahmed, Joy Tang, Rachel Fleetham, Sierra Cooper, Willow Tolchinsky) in 2023.

The purpose of this presentation and poster is to provide information about emerging evidence, but it is not meant to be a prescriptive recommendation.