Intuitive Eating
Kyla Scheese
What is Intuitive Eating?
What is Intuitive Eating?

hunger cues

Types of Hunger

written with dietetic intern Olivia Weaver

Intuitive eating often gets turned into the “hunger-fullness diet”, either by those who are trying to co-opt it for diet culture, or by well intentioned folks who are still working to find true food freedom. But there is so much more to the conversation on intuitive eating than “eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full”. Let’s dive into some of the nuance that sometimes gets left out.

Biological Hunger

Biological hunger, or physical hunger, is what most people think about when considering “hunger”. This is the actual, physical sensation of needing food for your body. But even here, there is so much more to the story. The “hunger-fullness diet” likes to make hunger a black and white experience, but hunger is more of a spectrum than it is a light switch. 

Below is a sample hunger-fullness scale that can be used to check in and gauge your own hunger level. Ideally, you want to start eating when you are around a hunger level of 3 or 4 and stop when you are at about 7 or 8. However, life is messy and can get busy, so this won’t always be the case. After all, intuitive eating is not a diet. You may occasionally fall below a 3 or eat past an 8; that’s okay! You do not need to feel guilty about this. The idea of the hunger-fullness scale is not to achieve perfection, but to help us get comfortable recognizing and consistently meeting our biological hunger.

It’s also important to note that hunger doesn’t feel the same for every person. We tend to think a lot about our stomachs when we think about biological hunger, but there are a lot of other ways your body could tell you that it’s hungry. For example, headaches, thinking about food, irritability, fatigue, lightheadedness, or nausea could all be signs of hunger. As you get used to consistently listening for and responding to your hunger cues, they will get easier to recognize. Consider making your own hunger-fullness scale with your personal cues listed to help you better recognize where your hunger level is at. 

 
 

Taste Hunger

Taste hunger has nothing to do with our biological cues and everything to do with satisfying a food craving. It is completely valid and acceptable to crave a food, eat that food, and move on with your life. Consider this scenario: you and a friend go to the movies. When you walk in the door, the smell of popcorn hits you and your mouth starts watering. Your friend suggests getting some. You’re not technically “hungry” in the physical sense, and the hunger-fullness diet says, “no way, there’s no room for eating outside of hunger”.

True intuitive eating leaves room for cravings and special occasions like this, and recognizes the fact that sometimes food just sounds good. You buy the popcorn, eat it, and move on with your day without another thought. In diet culture, every food has to be counted and justified. With intuitive eating, you don’t have to justify your food. Eating something just because it sounds good is perfectly reasonable. 


Practical “Hunger”

Practical hunger says “even though I’m not hungry right now, I know I should probably eat something”. While diet culture does not account for the messiness of life and demands that we are always on its schedule, intuitive eating understands that sometimes you just have to be practical.

Say, for example, your lunch break at work is from 11am to 12pm. However, when your lunch break rolls around, you really aren’t hungry yet. Practical hunger understands that it’s best to eat when you have the chance rather than potentially becoming ravenously hungry and having to scarf down a granola bar on a bathroom break several hours later.

Hunger will always come again. It’s kind of like a rubber band: the further you stretch it, the further it rebounds. Thinking back to the hunger-fullness scale, if you do not plan ahead in your eating and instead stretch yourself to a hunger level of 1 or 2, when you finally do eat, you are much more likely to eat until you reach uncomfortable fullness (level 9 or 10). Planning ahead avoids the rubber band from being stretched too far in either direction. 

Emotional Hunger

When feelings get big and overwhelming, we can turn to food to help us cope with those emotions. This is emotional hunger. There is nothing wrong with turning to comforting foods in difficult times. Diet culture has tried to make comfort food synonymous with “guilty food” or “unhealthy food”, but that’s nonsense. Food has been with us our whole life, and we make associations between comforting people and the food they make. It’s only natural. 

Emotional hunger can fit within the context of all of the other types of hunger that have been discussed so far. However, if your emotional hunger is causing you to consistently eat well past fullness, or if that eating is becoming a distraction which prevents you from confronting the source of your emotional hunger, I would challenge you to ask yourself what it really is that you need. Is there some other coping strategy that may be more effective in dealing with this situation or emotion right now?

While we all have hunger that is important to honor, what’s more important is that we are able to honor ourselves. And doing that involves having a life that goes beyond food and nourishing our whole self.

Sources:

Tribole E, Resch E. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach. 4th Ed. St. Martin’s Essentials; 2020.

Principle #6: Feel Your Fullness

updated 7/2020 to reflect the 4th edition of Intuitive Eating

Principle #6 of Intuitive Eating…

Feel Your Fullness.

Not only is it important to honor your hunger (read about that in principle #2!), but we also must listen for the signs that our body is no longer hungry. Honoring hunger and respecting fullness are different sides of the same coin; they both involve eating mindfully and trusting your body. If you aren’t honoring your hunger and are forcing yourself into a ravenous state, your chances of overeating when you do get around to a meal are very likely.

The same way that our body sends hunger cues when it needs food, we can observe signs of being comfortably full, too.

Some common signs of fullness include:

  • Tight belly

  • Pressure and/or discomfort in your stomach

  • Beginning to feel sluggish

  • No longer enjoying the food

  • The signs of hunger have diminished

for this principle, there is one big takeaway:

Practice conscious eating to find comfortable satiety.

Ways to do this? Read on.

1. Tune in while you eat.

I know I’m extremely guilty of eating while I’m working, watching TV, or scrolling through Instagram. Getting rid of these distractions allows you to truly enjoy your meal, savoring the flavor and aroma, chewing each bite thoroughly. SO SLOW DOWN. Being tuned in also means paying attention to how hungry you are at the start of a meal and when your body hits the point of fullness and satisfaction.

2. Pause in the middle of a meal and ask yourself: 

  • Does this food still taste good? Is it still pleasurable?

  • What is my current fullness level?

3. Don’t feel obligated to clean your plate.

Sometimes you’ll reach fullness and satisfaction before the food on your plate is gone. Don’t feel the need to stuff the rest of the food down if your body doesn’t need it. As long as you allow yourself to eat again when hunger hits, your body will appreciate you stopping at a level of comfortable fullness. It’s not uncommon for past dieters to feel they must “clean their plate”, having experienced some sort of food scarcity in the past. Because they’ve felt deprived, there is a need to finish food at any given chance. On the other hand, though, if you finish the food on your plate and still aren’t satisfied, honor that too, and find something to satisfy your remaining hunger. It’s not an absence of willpower to finish your food or even grab something extra after.

 

In answering the question “What is my current fullness level?”, it’s helpful to use a scale like the one below.

 
 
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The hungrier you are when you start eating, the higher your fullness number is likely to be when you stop. Beginning to eat when you hit a 3 or a 4 gives you more likely of a chance to stop when you hit 6 or 7—satisfied, but not overfull.

When you’ve finished your meal, assess your fullness level again with the scale. Are you comfortably full? Uncomfortably full? Satisfied? Still hungry? Comfortable fullness typically stands around a 6 or a 7. You’re comfortably full, not overstuffed, and no longer hungry or thinking about food.

We ALL have the power to listen to our bodies in this way, but many individuals have ignored these signs and signals for so long that they must intentionally work to get back in tune with them.

IF THAT’S YOU: Working with a dietitian can help guide you back to successfully identifying hunger and fullness cues. Likewise, if you find yourself feeling out of control and consistently eating very large amounts of food and/or to a very uncomfortable state, seeing a professional can help.

Some other things to remember and practice are:

1. Stop comparing your needs to somebody else’s.

Every BODY has different needs, and those needs change each day depending on a number of factors such as physical activity, hormones, sleep, etc. We don’t all eat the same foods, the same amounts, or at the same times every day. Sometimes you’ll eat more than everybody around, sometimes people will eat more than you, and sometimes some people won’t eat anything at all. No matter what, your only responsibility is to listen to YOUR body and honor what it needs in that moment. Nobody else’s choices should directly influence yours.

2. Know that it’s okay to overeat sometimes; it happens.

There are many reasons that we might overeat: holidays, vacation, a crazy schedule, an emotional time. It’s also very common to overeat after you’ve newly given yourself unconditional permission to eat what and when you want on your intuitive eating journey. Your body just has to learn to trust you again. Balance will come. The important thing is to not restrict in any way after you do overeat. This is just going to perpetuate the diet cycle. You might feel even more hungry than usual the next meal or the next day, you might feel less hungry. There’s no right or wrong answer, just respect what your body is telling you.

3. You have a right to say no.

Often at social events, hosts may try and “push” food onto their guests. You can say no. You don’t have to eat just because somebody wants you too. If the food does sound good to you, though, please accept it and enjoy it.

4. You won’t always eat the same amount of food.

Some foods might keep you fuller for a longer period of time, some days your normal amount of food at a certain meal may not be enough. Many factors can play into our feelings of fullness such as:

  • How long it’s been since your last meal—if it’s been quite a few hours, you may need some extra fuel.

  • What you’re actually eating—different carbohydrates, fiber content, protein, and fat all influence your fullness and satiety. A key practice here is to incorporate a complex carbohydrate, source of protein, source of fat, and fiber into each meal (and ideally at least two different groups in a snack). Balanced meals will provide your body with the nutrients that it needs while increasing satiety.

 
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Another common road bump to feeling your fullness is this:

what if you’re afraid to eat to the point of fullness?

This is the case in many individuals that have struggled with disordered eating habits. What I can tell you is this: going through life hungry is no way to live. You will continue to feel preoccupied with food, often irritable and with low energy. Eating until you are full and satisfied is the only way to build mutual trust with your body.

If you’re consistently under-eating (maybe only eating to about a 5 on the hunger-fullness scale), restricting certain foods or setting them as “off-limits”, compulsively exercising, are underweight (or under YOUR body’s ideal weight)… you’re most likely going to experience skewed hunger and fullness cues.

Often times individuals will also feel they’ve reached “fullness” but still can’t stop eating, or are “full” but not “satisfied”. I’ll talk more about these in the following principles, so stay tuned!

Learning to feel your fullness takes practice, patience, and intention. There is no failing, and sometimes you are going to eat past fullness or while you’re distracted watching TV. That’s okay. This is about learning to connect with your body’s signals, not about being perfect.

Now here’s principle #7!

Principle #2: Honor Your Hunger

It’s time for Intuitive Eating principle #2:

Honor your hunger

Simply stated, this means eating when you’re hungry, every time. But how come that can be so complicated? Are there times you’ve felt hunger but didn’t eat?

Hunger is a normal, biological process. Hunger cues are a biological signal that we cannot ignore. Trying to override these feelings or honor them unsatisfactorily will ultimately lead to overeating, strong cravings, and being unable to trust your body. Dieting leaves you feeling deprived and hungry, and your ability to perceive moderate portion sizes and to truly be conscious of what you’re eating dissolves when you reach the point of extreme hungry. Learning to honor your hunger will allow you to establish self-trust.

However, so many of us have dishonored our bodies’ cues and implemented external food rules that have caused us to lose touch with what hunger really feels like. Society tries to convince us that we need to control our hunger and is always promoting a new way to “overcome” it. Hunger is not a matter of willpower, it’s pure biology. If you’re hungry, you just need to eat.

 
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To honor your hunger and your body, here’s a few things you can do:




1.   Recognize YOUR hunger cues.

These may not be the same from one person to the next, but it’s important that you are able to realize when you’re hungry so that you can honor it. There is no right or wrong way to feel hungry. Some signs of hunger might include:

  • stomach gurgling

  • dizziness or light headedness

  • irritability

  • lack of concentration

  • nausea

  • moodiness

  • emptiness in your stomach

  • an upset stomach

  • lack of energy

  • shakiness

  • a preoccupation with food


2.   Forget the clock.

No matter what time of day it is or how long it’s been since you last ate… if you’re hungry, eat. A meal plan or eating schedule doesn’t know what your body needs when it needs it; you’re the expert. (Although if you’ve lost touch with your hunger, you may need to eat at regulated intervals while you try to normalize your hunger and fullness cues again)


3.   Eat what you WANT.

Give yourself permission to eat exactly what your body wants in that moment. By doing this, you build body trust and are able to move on with the day, putting your focus on the things it should be on. By teaching yourself that you can eat what you want, when you want, you’ll repair your relationship with food and rebuild trust with your body. 

4.   Be prepared.

Meal plans that try to dictate what and when you eat are not helpful, but especially if you’re somebody with a busy schedule, having meals or snacks ready to grab-and-go is important. It’s smart to have something on hand at all times, even if it’s just little energy bites (like these!). You can make some big-batch meals and store them in the freezer for when you need a quick dinner. This eliminates the excuse of “not having food” from being a reason to not eat. Keeping FUN foods in your house is important too, because they are not off limits, and sometimes you’re going to crave ice cream, potato chips, or a chocolate chip cookie. That’s normal. That’s allowed. That’s okay. If that’s what you want, eat it.

Another great way to plan and prepare ahead for yourself is to utilize meal kits and meal delivery services. I’ve personally had a great experience with numerous companies, such as HelloFresh, SunBasket, and EveryPlate. These services allow you to put high quality meals on the table in minutes without prior planning.

This is a great article that breaks down the pros and cons of 10 of the most popular services.

The foundation…

…of honoring your hunger stands on being able to trust your body and your body being able to trust you. Constant denial of hunger cues regularly tells your body to store the food you eat for the next time you’re hungry or deprived, rather than using it as fuel like our bodies are supposed to. The best way to “rev up your metabolism”, like the media is always talking about, is really just to eat: consistently, adequately, and satisfactorily. This is how your body will find its natural, healthy size, too.

Focus on YOUR internal cues and not on anything that is trying to externally dictate your food or eating. Your hunger is unique to you, and it won’t be the same from day to day. If you’ve completely lost touch with what your hunger feels like, begin eating on a consistent schedule: you could try 3 meals and 2 snacks everyday, each about 3 hours apart. You want to try and eat balanced meals with a variety of foods and without long periods of time between meals.

Learning to honor your hunger is another part of the intuitive eating journey. Like I’ve said, this is not an easy journey. The freedom, joy, and acceptance that it brings, though, is more than worth it. Now here’s principle #3!

What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive Eating… a term you might’ve heard. Lately, it’s gotten a lot of buzz, and there’s a big movement towards the philosophy. Although I am 110% on board, it’s a little bit disappointing that this movement is as shocking or as big of a deal as it is.

We’re born as natural, intuitive eaters. A baby knows when he or she is hungry and full. They eat until they’re satisfied, and they simply eat what is provided. Nothing is seen as “good”, “bad”, “healthy”, “unhealthy”, or labeled any sort of way. Obviously up until a certain age, children cannot count or read the nutrition facts labels on foods. Calories don’t exist. However, even when they are able to see and comprehend these numbers, they don’t attach such significant meaning to them. Food is fun, pleasurable, and merely a part of life. We need it to survive, but it should not control our lives.

Now that society is becoming aware of the fact that Intuitive Eating is essentially the healthiest way to live— no diets or restrictions, participating in joyful movement, reduced stress, satisfaction, and pleasurable eating experiences— the movement towards “non-dieting” has begun. Not everybody is going to buy into it, that’s just a part of life, but I hope that you will at least give it a chance.

Intuitive eating means eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. It means eating the food you truly want, when you want it. It means moving your body in a way that FEELS good and makes you happy. It means not labeling foods as “good” or “bad”. It means no longer allowing food (or a lack thereof) to control your mind or your life. It means respecting your body enough to love it as it is, give it what and how much it wants, and not punishing it later. It means learning to resolve and honor your feelings without using food.

This concept has become so much more difficult than it was ever meant to be. Instead of being encouraged to listen to and honor our bodies, we are bombarded with diets, rules, and restrictions about food. There are 10 principles to the philosophy of Intuitive Eating, and I covered each one in its own blog post (see below). If you choose to embark on a journey of Intuitive Eating, the journey might be difficult. It WON’T be perfect. But what I can promise you is that the hard work and any temporary, uncomfortable feelings that might surface will absolutely be worth it. You’ll learn to listen to your body again, trust it, and be able to live your best life.

I’d love to help you on this journey, too! Click HERE to read about the different levels of services I offer. There’s no time like the present to better yourself and develop an overwhelming sense of peace, confidence, and joy WITHOUT petty restrictions.

You can read more on my Instagram page HERE as well, and I’d highly recommend THIS book if you’d like to learn more about intuitive eating.

Now, here’s principle #1!