Eating When You Are Hungry
I talk with my clients about many different aspects of Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size as we travel on this path of healing relationship with food and with bodies. We discuss Diet Culture and ditching our pursuit of the thin ideal. We explore dieting history; re-framing the value of body weight and shape. We practice mindful eating training. We experiment with responding to body cues. We discuss pursuing joyful movement. And many others.
Of all these topics, one that I focus on first, middle, and last is eating when you’re hungry. If all that people got from their time working with me was to feed themselves when they were hungry, then that might be enough.
Why? Because it would help everything else fall into place. One of the first barriers to nourishing yourself fully is diet culture. Once you begin to actually get enough food, you come face to face with a number of voices. “Don’t you know, you should try to get by eating as little as possible?” “You will gain weight!” “What will your friends and family think?” (Add your own critical voice here.)
Nourishing regularly will force you to face your diet culture demon and challenge it and see it for what it truly is. (A liar and manipulator.)
Studies actually show that after possible initial weight fluctuation, eating when hungry, will likely result in long term weight stability, possible improvement in blood pressure, cholesterol, cortisol level, reduced body dissatisfaction, and sustained physical activities. (1)
My clients might then say, “But I don’t “feel” hungry until 5pm, and by then my hunger is beating me over the head with a 2x4. Does that mean I shouldn’t eat until I “feel” hungry?” And I would answer, “No.”
You may not feel hungry because Ghrelin and Leptin, your hunger and fullness hormones, become dysregulated with chronic dieting or the skipping of meals, also with stress, illness, trauma, etc. You may not “feel” hungry, but after not eating all day, trust me, you most likely ARE hungry.
You need to eat both when you’re “feeling” hungry and when you’re not “feeling” hungry to heal your relationship with food. After a while of nourishing regularly, your biological hunger signals will likely kick back in.
What about emotional eating or eating because something tastes so good? These are also types of hunger that need to be honored. Not eating something delicious that we really crave can set us up for feeling deprived. This deprivation can result in binging. A way to heal this deprivation is with unconditional permission to eat what we’re hungry for. Strong cravings rooted in emotions or the taste of food can normalize once your body learns it can have access to wonderful food whenever it wants.
Honoring your Hunger is principle #2 of Intuitive Eating. There are 10 all together and they make a wonderful road map to making peace with food and freeing yourself from chronic dieting and disordered eating.
To learn more about Honoring your Hunger and the other 9 Intuitive Eating principles, join Heart Guided Nutrition and Kin Therapy for our new group: Let Us Eat Cake – Subverting Diet Culture with Intuitive Eating.
(1) Tylka T., Annunziato, R., Burgard, D., Danielsdottir, S., Shuman, E., Davis, C., and R Calogero. Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss. Journal of Obesity.