Turning into You: finding your satiety and hunger
With all the starvation dieting trends dropping off and intuitive eating becoming more mainstream, you may be feeling even more confused. Take a moment to breathe and give yourself a hug. It makes sense that this may feel scary and new. The world has been infiltrated with messages that disconnect us from our bodies, telling us to trust a portion control container, or meal plan instead of ourselves. Breathe. It’s ok to find yourself again and learn to rebuild trust within yourself.
Learning to trust yourself with food, specially if you have a history of distorted eating (like I do!), takes a lot of patience and practice. One of the most important areas of focus with intuitive eating is your satiety and hunger scale. The fluctuation between being hungry and satiated is mainly controlled by two hormones; ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is produced by the stomach, and sends signals to the brain when the body needs more fuel. Leptin, produced from fat cells, sends signals to the brain that the energy stores (fat cells) are full and satisfied. These hormones regulate your hunger levels based on what foods you eat. Eating meals and snacks that are high in fats, fiber, and protein increase the duration of feeling full, and satisfied in comparison to eating foods that are quickly digested, like cupcakes. There is a time and place for all foods, when tuning into your hunger scale, it can be helpful to remember that there are foods that increase the satiety and some that will increase your hunger.
The hunger scale is displayed on a 1 to 10 spectrum. 1 being completely famished, weak, and hangry, 10 being overfull, post-thanksgiving dinner, need to lay down for a nap. 5 in the middle is a neutral state, it feels optimal for functioning without thinking of food, your next meal, or being at the beginning of being too full. There are always going to be individual differences, your body may be different than mine, but I will share what sensations my body has throughout the scale as an example of signs your body may have as well.
Hangry, cannot think of anything other than finding food, feels very primal, raw, and starved. Weak, shaky, and lack of energy.
Getting angry, hangry, and very focused on finding food, low energy, weak, dizzy.
Uncomfortable, thinking of food, stomach discomfort, irritable, distracted from tasks.
Hungry, stomach noises and gurgles, starting to lose mental stamina.
Neutral, focused on mental tasks, body feeling energized.
Starting to feel full, stomach filled, could eat a little more.
Full, ready to stop eating and move onto something else. Not uncomfortable yet but would be soon with a bit more food.
Overfull, a little uncomfortable in the stomach, sometimes stomach distending out.
Stuffed, uncomfortable to move, headache, slow mental function and physical movements.
Extremely stuffed, nauseous, feeling like you’ve really overdone it and need to get food out of you.
As ghrelin and leptin adjust throughout the day, the goal is to stay between the 4 to 7 range -allowing the body to not swing to either extreme end of the scale. Life does happen, and sometimes we do overindulge, or wait too long before your next meal. It is ok to trust your body as it processes during these times. If you’ve overeaten, you may notice you’re not as hungry with your next meal, and vice versa with being too hungry, you may feel hungrier with your next meal. If you find yourself on either end of the hunger and fullness spectrum, take a breath, and remind yourself that you can trust your body, and it can trust you.
Resources:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22804-ghrelin
