Is It Okay To Eat When I Am Not Hungry?
Many folks think it’s “bad” to eat if they are not hungry due to what they’ve heard from the media, doctors, teachers, etc. Unfortunately, this voice often comes from diet culture and the fear of gaining weight and it does not align with truly nourishing one’s self.
In theory, listening to our hunger cues seems like a fantastic way to self-regulate and ensure our body has what it needs. Unfortunately, eating only when hungry doesn’t work for many people. Why not? Because our hunger signals are dampened for many reasons. A big one is dieting.
Repetitive dieting dampens our hunger signals. Hunger is based on the hormone Ghrelin. It is a multifaceted gut hormone which stimulates effects on food intake, among other functions. Restricting food when dieting significantly decreases the amount of Ghrelin we produce. The more we ignore hunger knockin’ at our door, the less it will come a knockin.’ (Then we may become too hungry and we may binge. – spoiler alert, diets don’t work; skipping meals doesn’t work. Even if we don’t acknowledge our hunger signals, our body will usually get what it needs in the end. If we skip breakfast and lunch, we’re more likely to have an out of control eating in the evening.)
Other things that disconnect us from our internal cues of hunger include:
Chaotic lifestyles
Food scarcity
Stress
Illness
Trauma
Fatphobia
Numbing hunger with cigarettes/coffee/tea
Neurodivergence
And more
So, the answer to my original question is YES. It’s OK to eat when not hungry. In fact, eating regularly (even when not hungry) is a great way to increase Ghrelin and begin to normalize our hunger cues. Keep in mind, everyone’s metabolism and body system is different, but eating about every 3 hours works great for some people. Hunger cues may return in a month or two.
Another way to normalize hunger cues is to always eat when hungry. Have you ever postponed lunch due to working on something important at work, only to have stomach growling come and then go? Instead, we can start listening to and acting on the subtle communication our body is providing. Are you legit too busy to eat lunch? For now, keep some snacks (honey roasted nuts or some dried fruit and jerky, in your desk or your carry bag. And then, eventually, you may reconsider your values around a mid-day pause for nourishment. (Studies show the rest of your day will likely be more productive.)
If the only thing my clients gleaned from working with me was to honor their hunger - eat when they’re hungry and self-parent (eat when they need to, even if not hungry), it would be enough for them to make big strides in their relationship with food and their body.
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