While I was in meetings, my family was on their own. My son Tyler who is 17, tall and thin, told me they ate breakfast at the old fashioned Harvey House Diner in historic Union Station before visiting Science City. He ordered a cinnamon roll for $2.99 that turned out to be as big as a plate (“It made a Cinnabon look like an appetizer!”).

As a person who has maintained his instinctive ability to manage his weight with no effort whatsoever, he ate 3/4 of it and wasn’t hungry again until early afternoon. (To find out whether you are an Instinctive Eater, take this quiz.)

I don’t believe in being overly restrictive or shaming my kids into eating healthy but this did prompt a conversation about what would happen if we ignored our bodies’ nutrition needs for the next three weeks. They were more selective the next couple of mornings but he still says it was the best cinnamon roll he’s ever had!

Effortless Weight Management Tip: Your choices don’t need to be perfect every time to reach and maintain a healthy weight. In fact, people who eat instinctively can eat whatever they want so they’re able to balance eating for enjoyment with eating for nutrition. When they choose a less than healthy food, they don’t eat it all because they’ve “already blown it.” They don’t feel guilty which for most people just leads to more overeating. And they don’t use exercise to punish themselves when they overeat. Instead, they practice intuitive eating: They eat what they want, enjoy it without guilt, and use the fuel for their active lifestyle. When their fuel tank is low, they eat again.