Susan B. Roberts, author of The Instinct Diet: Use Your Five Food Instincts to Lose Weight and Keep It Off (Workman Publishing, 2009), is a professor of both nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University. And while her diet plan won’t guarantee success, it represents just about the best scientific approach to smart weight loss you’ll find. Roberts’ premise isn’t groundbreaking. But some of her advice, especially relating to taming hunger, is worth repeating.

The federal government has officially put an end to hunger in America. The word, at least. The new official term, adopted several years ago by the US Department of Agriculture, is “food insecurity.” It still means millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table.