Women's body image cued by others.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

Women's appreciation of their bodies only is indirectly connected to the body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height, according to research published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology. The most powerful influence is how females believe others view them, the study suggests.

On the flip side, the more women are able to focus on the inner workings of their body (or how their bodies function and feel), rather than how they appear to others, the more likely they are to eat intuitively--responding to physical feelings of hunger and fullness...