Have you ever thought about how hungry you are on a scale of 1-10? Do you know when you have eaten too much or maybe no enough? Becoming in tune with your hunger and fullness ques and responding accordingly are key factors in achieving optimal health and maintaining your natural weight.
Here are a few questions you could think about… do you eat according to your work schedule even when you’re not hungry? Do you automatically reach for dessert when you’re satisfied after dinner? Do you know what the sensation of hunger feels like in your body?
The hunger scale is a great tool to allow your body to tell you when it needs fuel, we can always position ourselves on this scale even during a meal… The aim of the hunger scale is to stay within 3 – 6, it is just as important to not allow yourself to get too hungry. Moving toward 1 / 2 means your sugar levels will be drop very low and there is a risk here of reaching for high sugar foods for that quick boost!
I couldn’t mention hunger without the effect that emotions can have. Weight Loss and Life Coach, Brooke Castillo explains that by allowing your body to feel hunger might also mean that you will feel your emotions more and this isn’t a bad thing! The example she uses is…If you tap an empty glass (stomach) the vibrations (emotions) would be a lot louder than if you tap a full glass.
So if you feel that you are regularly eating to suppress emotions, allowing yourself to feel hunger might feel uncomfortable at first especially if some negative emotions surface. Do stick with it as it is a great opportunity to understand your emotions and that you can experience a negative emotion without eating, or escaping them with other things.
So over the next few weeks why not try and check in with your body, notice what it is telling you, respond to it and see what you notice!
Here’s to honouring your hunger,
