This simple diet shift cut 330 calories a day without smaller meals

"A Built-In Ability to Balance Nutrition and Energy Published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the findings offer new insight into how people make food decisions. The results support the idea that humans may possess a built-in "nutritional intelligence" that helps guide balanced eating. This instinct appears to function best when foods are eaten in their natural form and may be disrupted by modern fast food environments."

"Lead author Jeff Brunstrom, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol, said: "It's exciting to see when people are offered unprocessed options they intuitively select foods that balance enjoyment, nutrition, and a sense of fullness, while still reducing overall energy intake. Our dietary choices aren't random -- in fact we seem to make much smarter decisions than previously assumed, when foods are presented in their natural state.""

People committed to an unprocessed food diet tend to eat much larger amounts of fruits and vegetables rather than gravitating toward higher-calorie whole foods such as rice, meat, and butter. Participants who consumed only unprocessed foods ate more than 50 percent more food by weight than those eating only ultra-processed foods, yet their daily calorie intake was about 330 calories lower on average. Humans may possess a built-in nutritional intelligence that guides balanced eating, functioning best when foods are eaten in their natural form and disrupted by modern fast-food environments. That shift can support weight loss without deliberate calorie restriction.

Read at ScienceDaily