|
Exploring Mindful Eating: When Are We
Really Hungry for Food?
 What’s
the first step in mindful eating (also called intuitive eating)?
Wait to feel physically hungry before eating. Sounds simple,
but at first it may be hard. That’s because either due
to dieting or chaotic patterns of eating, people often ignore
physical hunger cues or eat when they are not physically hungry
at all. Then they often end up confused about when they are
truly hungry for food. Just following this one principle of
mindful eating, however, would very likely improve the way
most people eat.
Mastering Mindful Eating – Intuitive Eating
The most logical place to start getting back in touch with
physical hunger cues is to establish some structure for the
timing and balance of meals. Ideally, start by eating within
the first few hours of waking, then every 3 to 5 hours from
that point on. Ensure that most meals/snacks contain grains/starchy
vegetables, protein foods and fruits/vegetables.
Next, experiment with separating “mouth hunger”
(emotional and spiritual hungers) from “stomach hunger”
(physical hunger). If you think you may be hungry but aren’t
sure, wait a while. It will become clear. Physical hunger
becomes more intense with time. Emotional or spiritual desires
that you experience as hunger generally do not intensify over
time.
Working with a hunger and satiety scale can help increase
your awareness of physical hunger and satisfaction. Rating
your level of hunger or satisfaction with a number helps you
to stop and consider what is actually going on in your body.
Here’s one example of a hunger scale used in mindful
eating or intuitive eating:
| 1 |
ravenous, may have a headache or feel nauseous |
| 2 |
overly hungry, may be preoccupied with hunger and pangs
may be VERY uncomfortable |
| 3 |
urge to eat is strong, stomach growls, can sense pangs/gnawing
sensation; may even notice a slight pressure in the back
of the throat |
| 4 |
a little hungry, feeling empty or hollow in the stomach,
perhaps noticing your thoughts drifting to food |
| 5 |
neutral, no longer experiencing pangs, but not feeling
full or satisfied; at this stage you would not sense food
in the stomach |
| 6 |
able to feel the weight of food in the stomach, and
notice the feeling of the stomach stretching slightly
as a result of eating |
| 7 |
hunger is gone; rate of eating slows; experiencing a
sense of well being from having had enough to eat |
| 8 |
not uncomfortable, but definitely full; taste, texture,
appearance of the food may not stand out very much at
this point. You may notice yourself eating without paying
attention to the food |
| 9 |
uncomfortable, noticing a significant stretch to the
stomach, perhaps noticing difficulty breathing due to
physical stretch, would be uncomfortable with light activity
(walking) after eating |
| 10 |
painfully full, “couldn’t take another bite,”
activity is out of the question. |
Effective Weight Management Based on Mindful Eating
If you consistently eat without listening for hunger and
satisfaction cues, you may very well end up overeating, given
the many opportunities to eat most of us face daily. Take
a moment to reflect on your typical hunger & satiety range,
without judging.
- What number are you at when you sit down for most meals
and snacks?
- How do you rate at the end of most meals and snacks?
- Ideally, we begin to eat when at a 3 or a 4, when it’s
clear our bodies are requesting food.
- Most of us feel most comfortable when we stop around 7
or 8.
Consider when your range of hunger and satisfaction
is“off.”
- Do you often get overly hungry (1’s and 2’s)?
When? Why?
- Do you eat until stuffed and uncomfortable at times?
When? Why?
- Do you eat when not yet hungry? What triggers this?
- Practice eating within a range that feels right to you.
What changes when we do?
Internal cues for starting and stopping eating are something
we’re born with but often lose touch with. By tuning
into our bodies’ physical hunger and satisfaction cues,
we can begin to return to ‘normal’ eating, which
is really what mindful eating is all about. Our internal cues
intuitively support healthy weight management.
Written by Robyn Priebe, RD, CD
Director of Nutrition at Green Mountain at Fox Run
For 37 years, Green
Mountain at Fox Run has developed and refined a life-changing
program exclusively for women seeking permanent strategies
from a healthy weight
loss program. Based on a combination of proven science
and what works in the real world, our innovative non-diet
lifestyle program offers an integrated curriculum of practical,
liveable techniques that helps women take charge of their
eating, their bodies and their health. Our
approach is not focused on just losing weight but on how
to keep it off for a lifetime. Our participants' long-term
weight loss results are among the highest of any program,
as documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Learn
more about our fitness
and healthy weight loss spa
©2007 Green Mountain at Fox Run, Ludlow,
Vermont. This information is the property of Green Mountain
at Fox Run. Permission to use single copies for personal,
noncommercial use is authorized. For all other purposes,
please see details.
|
