This is the fifth instalment in my mini-series on tuning into the true food needs of your body, to reduce eating in the robot-like way that most of us have developed as adults.
The problem with eating on autopilot is that it often results in the overconsumption of energy, which gets stored as body fat.
Excess body fat is not just a vanity killer.
It has real implications now in terms of how you show up day to day for yourself and those around you—impacting your perception of fulfillment, your relationships, and your adventurousness.
It also has serious long term health implications. These include an increased risk of metabolic diseases such as Type II Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke, and certain cancers. Excess body fat is also hard on the joints and can impact mobility and the ability to live independently down the road.
Over these past few weeks, I’ve been taking you on a journey to help you increase your body awareness, so you have the tools to become more tuned into how food feels as you make your way through each meal.
Redeveloping this innate connection between your body, food, and your mind can be instrumental in learning to self-regulate around food again.
Being intentional with how you construct your plate will also go a long way in helping to build that sense of satiation with each morsel of food. Protein, fiber, and whole, minimally processed foods are crucial to this equation.
That’s because foods that bring in greater volume with less calorie density means more chewing, more bulk, and more time spent consuming your meal. This gives your stomach stretch receptors and nutrient sensing mechanisms the time they need to get messages of satiation sent to—and interpreted by—your brain. It all helps to reduce excess energy taken in through food.
The goal is to eat just a little less than it takes to become full, which can naturally promote weight loss, without the need for calorie counts, macro tracking, or rigid meal plans.
There’s freedom in rebuilding the connection between your mind, your body, and food.
To further develop that connection, let’s now move onto talking about hunger, how you recognize true hunger, and at which stage you decide that it’s time to eat.
It usually takes between one and four hours for the stomach to empty. This depends, of course, on what and how much you’ve eaten. Carbohydrates exit first, followed by proteins, and rounded out by fats and fiber.
But there are times that despite knowing your stomach still has food in it, you still feel like eating.
Often the desire to eat is driven by something other than hunger, such as stress, overwhelm, boredom, happiness, sadness, fatigue, socializing, drinking alcohol, and thirst or slight dehydration.
The point is, you may feel the impulse to eat, even when it’s not a symptom of true hunger.
A simple tool to use to check-in on what’s going on is called The Apple Test.
If you’re feeling sorta hungry, but you’re not 100% sure it’s true hunger, ask yourself, “Would I eat an apple right now?”
If the answer is no and you’re seeking something more energy-dense or palatable like a cookie, crackers, chips, ice cream, salty nuts, chocolate, etc, you’re probably not hungry.
A more in-depth assessment tool is to build yourself a Hunger Index.
This takes a bit more intentional focus, data collection, and tuning into what’s happening with your body.
Start with a hunger index that runs from 1 to 10.
Between 1 and 4, there’s little need to eat. You may have just finished a meal and feel full, or you’re at least still satisfied.
Around 5, mild physiological hunger cues are kicking in. Your stomach is starting to feel like it’s emptying, but you’re still relatively neutral about needing to eat. You might be able to satisfy things with a glass of water.
Between 6 and 7, you’re definitely aware of hunger—your stomach is gurgling. But otherwise, you don’t feel desperate. Now would be a good time to eat.
As hunger ramps to 8 and beyond, the urge and need to eat increases. You’re probably feeling irritable, h-angry, slightly weak or light-headed, and your concentration is slipping.
By the time you reach a 10, you’d eat your own arm if you don’t get a snack RIGHT NOW. You want to avoid ever getting to a 10!
If you're looking to reduce energy intake and lose some fat, waiting to eat until you’re around a 6 to 7 on your hunger index is a good practice. Understanding exactly what a 6 to 7 range is for you specifically may take some work to cultivate.
It’s important to realize that once hunger sets in, it doesn’t always ramp up exponentially. You may feel a little hungry, it may pass for a bit and then set in again. You’ll be familiar with this if you’ve ever done intermittent fasting or fasted for a medical procedure or blood test.
Mild hunger is not an emergency. Getting comfortable with this and learning to delay eating just a little will help build hunger tolerance, which can be an important tool in your change journey, particularly if fat loss is a goal.
As you begin to experiment with your hunger cues, you might find that you’re not ready to eat when the clock says it’s “time” or everyone else is sitting down to a meal.
This might feel uncomfortable because you’re used to a certain routine. But, where you can, experiment with waiting until that 6 to 7 range before you eat. You might find that the way you’re building your meals makes them more satisfying than you previously realized. You may find that instead of eating every 2 to 3 hours, you’re able to stretch your meal interval to 3 to 4 hours.
There are, of course, exceptions to waiting until you’re within the ideal hunger zone.
The first is that if you have an eating disorder—please work with a professional before using these techniques.
The second is that because of limited access to food later, you have to eat before you hit the ideal hunger zone. For example, you might be heading into a three-hour meeting and RIGHT NOW is the only opportunity you have, you might get limited breaks, or you need to schedule a pre-workout meal with a necessary window of digestion time.
The third is if you’re someone who is already good at ignoring hunger and you tend to forget to eat throughout the day. You need to focus on tuning into those hunger cues and eating, not stretching your meal intervals out even more.
The fourth is that mealtime with others is important. Sitting at the dinner table with your family with an empty plate does not set the right tone or example for your kids or make you feel like you’re engaging with your partner, spouse, houseguest, dog, or anyone else you live with.
Instead, start considering just how much food you need, and when, before a non-negotiable meal time. This will help you learn how to structure your previous food volume and timing so that you do hit that 6 to 7 on your index before the meal rolls up.
The important thing to consider about stretching your mealtimes is that you can’t wait until you’re at that 6 to 7 range to start planning what to eat. Getting to a 6 to 7 and then dashing to the kitchen to figure it out, will have you frantically foraging through the fridge or picking through the pantry for quick snacks.
The secret to all things nutrition, health, and body goals is that you have to plan, plan, plan.
Leaving it up to chance will allow your hungry brain to undo the work of days or even weeks in a mere moment of hunger desperation. Without a plan, you’ll be reaching for the high reward foods that taste excellent but do little to fill you up, you’ll eat at breakneck speed, and you’ll have little appreciation for what you’ve eaten so you’ll want MORE on repeat until your brain catches up to what your belly already knows.
Body awareness, slowing down, and having a plan for your meal composition and timing are all part of the big picture in redeveloping and redefining your relationship with hunger, food, your body, and your mind. Whether it’s for vanity now or health later, it’s all important!
Comments