How to Listen to Hunger Signals?
Hunger signals are what tell us when we are hungry or full, and they are regulated by a multitude of hormones in our body. These signals need to be trusted in order to have a healthy relationship with food, so when you are hungry eat, and when you get full slow down or stop eating. Now it is not as easy as it sounds because there are many variables that get in the way of listening to your hunger signals. If you come from a past of restriction, you may especially have a harder time knowing if you are hungry or full because restriction can put these hormones into overdrive or suppression. The goal here is not to eat less; the goal is to learn when you are most comfortable to start and stop eating and to avoid extreme hunger and fullness. Here we will discuss how you can learn to listen to your hunger signals.
Here is how to listen to your hunger signals:
Types of hunger
It is important to know when you are hungry and full so that you know when your body wants food, but we do not always eat based on just hunger. Because we are human, sometimes at work your boss brings in homemade donuts and you want to try one because they look delicious but you are not hungry. It is still okay to eat! This is called taste hunger. Practical hunger occurs when you eat because you know that food won’t be available during a certain window of your day so you eat beforehand. An example of this is when you know you will be at a professional football game for 4 hours but you don’t want to pay for an overpriced hot dog at the game so you eat beforehand. Lastly, emotional hunger is when you eat because you are stressed, sad, or lonely. Eating while in these emotional states can bring some joy back into your life, but eating should not be your only coping mechanism.
Hunger Scale
To easily understand how hungry or full we are, there has been a hunger scale created to help you identify where you are at. Take a look at the below scale for an idea about what to look for when assessing hunger and fullness. It is important to try to always stay between 7 and 3 because those values do not cause us intense discomfort. Outside of these values, you will find more intense symptoms as a result of imbalanced hunger hormones.
10 - extremely stuffed, nauseous, feeling sick
9 - stuffed, very uncomfortable
8 - overfull, somewhat uncomfortable
7 - full
6 - satisfied, could eat more
5 - neutral
4 - hungry stomach growling
3 - uncomfortably hungry, stomach pangs, distracted
2 - very hungry, low energy, weak, dizzy
1 - starving, no energy, very weak, possible migraine
Source: Berkley, 17156448, 20148113
How you should listen to your hunger cues:
Before eating
Before you plan to eat a meal check-in with your hunger signals by evaluating the hunger scale. If assessing your hunger level is difficult, make it easier and place your hand on your stomach and close your eyes. This will take away any distractions you have. If you still have trouble drink a big glass of water and then reassess your hunger after a minute or two. Many times we can confuse thirst with hunger. Additionally, the water will help fill your stomach temporarily and you can better sense how full you are. Once you have landed on a value on the hunger scale, the next step is to decide what you want to eat. Listening to hunger signals is not just about knowing when you should eat and stop eating, but it is also about what you want to eat. The hunger scale value you choose should be the guide to help you decide what you should eat next. For example, say you are at a 4, you feel kind of hungry, but you aren’t hungry enough for a full meal. In this scenario, maybe you should go for an apple or carrots because they won’t keep you super full and you will still be hungry again for your next meal.
Source: 19026933
FREE HAPPY HORMONE GUIDE:
During eating
Now you have chosen your snack or meal of choice based on your hunger scale value. As you eat it is important to keep a few things in mind when you are first starting to learn about hunger signals. First, eat with no electronics so no phone, no tv, and even no music when you first start. These are all distractions and can hide your early feelings of fullness causing you to eat past satisfied and become uncomfortable. Looking at your food in between bites is also important, you will pay more attention to how much you are eating and how the food makes you feel when you continuously look at it. The next tip is that eating is not a race. Don’t scarf down the food as fast as you can. If this is usually a habit for you, it could mean that you are waiting too long to eat and your hunger signals are going through the roof to make you eat fast to get nutrients in. To help slow down your pace take smaller pieces of food at a time, or if you like bigger bites chew more before you swallow. By chewing more, this will improve digestion because you are breaking the food down as much as you can in your mouth first. Don’t put in another bite until the first one was swallowed to slow down your eating speed. Your body doesn’t sense fullness right away so give it some time to catch up. As you approach halfway through the meal, stop and reevaluate the hunger scale. Follow the same steps from the before the meal step to see where you are at. To make it easier, pretend there is no food in front of you and reevaluate the hunger scale because this will allow for a more unbiased result. Sometimes it’s hard to see how hungry you truly are once you are already 10 minutes into a tasty meal and the food is right there in front of you. It is always okay to save the rest of the food for later if you find you are already satisfied.
Source: 23171246, 24215801, 24462489, 8287852
After eating
After the food is gone off your plate, reevaluate the hunger scale. Remember that an empty plate does not mean you have to be done eating and that a plate with food on it still does not mean you need to keep eating. The only thing that you should listen to is your stomach and your hunger signals to let you know where you’re at. If you are still hungry then you should eat, but ask yourself if you want something different this time than what you just ate. You are allowed to change what you want to eat and maybe this time you just want a piece of chocolate or a yogurt as a dessert. Hunger signals can be tough to listen to when you first start noticing them, but as you get better at it, you will become more in tune with your self and the hunger signals will become much easier to feel.
Source: 26762623
