Method and findings  ·  Body Intelligence Index

The Body Intelligence Index

How the assessment is built, what it measures, and just as importantly, what it does not.

What the Body Intelligence Index is

The Body Intelligence Index is a self-report measure of how clearly a person receives and acts on their own body signals around food. It is produced by the free Body Intelligence Test, developed by nutritionist Agaath Zondervan as the entry point to the Body Intelligence Framework.

The index runs from 8 to 32. Alongside it, a participant receives a sub-score for each of four dimensions and the stage where their work currently lies.

The lowest possible index is 8, not 0. Even someone who barely hears their body still receives signals. There is no zero point.

How it is built

Eight questions, each with four answer options worth 4, 3, 2 or 1 point. Every question belongs to exactly one of four dimensions, and every dimension is covered by exactly two questions. A dimension therefore scores between 2 and 8, and the total between 8 and 32.


The four dimensions

The four dimensions are the four steps of the Body Intelligence Framework. Listing the underlying questions makes the score checkable rather than a black box.

Dimension

Awareness

Whether the body's signals arrive at all: hunger and fullness, noticed in the moment.

Questions:

  • Before a meal, how clearly do you feel physical hunger?
  • How often do you notice when you are comfortably full, and stop eating?
Dimension

Alignment

Whether those signals are trusted, or overruled by rules, plans and control.

Questions:

  • After a meal, how do you usually feel?
  • How much do you trust your body's signals around food?
Dimension

Embodiment

Whether the connection holds when stress and emotion rise.

Questions:

  • When you are stressed or under pressure, what happens with food?
  • How clearly do you see the link between your emotions and what you eat?
Dimension

Integration

Whether all of it translates into what a person actually does.

Questions:

  • When you reach for food unexpectedly, what is most often true?
  • When a strong craving hits, what is your first reaction?

The four stages

A stage is not derived from the total score but from the dimensions themselves: it is the first of the four that scores below 6. That avoids a contradiction in which someone sits in the Embodiment stage while Embodiment is their weakest dimension.

Everyone is always somewhere in this sequence. Someone answering every question at the lowest option lands at the beginning of Awareness, not outside the model.


The profiles

Alongside the stage, a participant receives a profile derived from their weakest dimension, because that is where the largest gain sits.


Findings so far

Aggregated findings are published here once at least 100 people have completed the assessment. Below that number the patterns say more about chance than about anything else, so nothing is shown.

Last updated: 1 August 2026.


Method


Limitations

These matter, and stating them plainly is part of the method.


What the dimensions rest on

Each dimension leans on an established body of research. The full references are on The Science.

Find your starting point

Take the Body Intelligence Test

Eight questions, two minutes. You receive your index, four sub-scores and the stage where your work lies.

Take the free BI TestThe Method