The following response is an excerpt from The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care:
Honor your hunger. It’s you body’s natural way of telling you that it’s time to eat.
A baby cries to let someone know that he’s hungry. Her parent offers milk and she eats until satisfied, turning away to signal her satiation. Satisfaction is apparent by her smile and the relaxation of her body.
We’re all born with the innate ability to recognize when our body needs to be fed. Yet, over time, you may have lost touch with this basic signal. Perhaps as a child you were told it wasn’t time to eat, even though you were hungry. Or perhaps as a teenager, worried about being fat, you skipped meals even though your body signaled the need for food. Maybe as an adult you followed one of the numerous diet plans that moved you away from your body’s natural hunger toward external rules about when to eat. Regardless of how you lost touch, you’re now on the road to reconnecting with internal cues of hunger.
Your hunger is very important. If you ignore this signal, you [private_membership circle] become uncomfortable, experiencing headaches, weakness, fatigue or crabbiness – all physical symptoms that let you know your needs are unmet. Furthermore, when you are extremely hungry, you will feel desperate and are at high risk of overeating. Begin to tell yourself: When I am physically hungry I will respond by eating.
At first, chances are that you’ll turn to food before feeling hungry. This is to be expected! It will take time to learn attuned eating, so remain gentle with yourself. Check in with your stomach often to see how it feels. Each time you reach for food, ask yourself, “Am I hungry?” If the answer is yes, tell yourself that this is wonderful and respond to your hunger by eating. This simple act will reinforce the stomach-hunger connection. If the answer is no, try to wait until you experience physical hunger. In the beginning this will be difficult, but do not despair! Remind yourself that it will take time to follow internally based eating after so many years of dieting; look forward to the day when this becomes more natural for you. Allow yourself to eat, and then try again to wait for physical hunger.
By honoring your physical hunger, you’ll learn that there is a way to organize your eating that’s reliable and satisfying. This is the core of normalizing your relationship with food.
Activity: Identifying Your Physical Hunger
Use the “Hunger Scale” to identify your hunger. Look for signals to let you know twhen you’re are physically hungry such as a gnawing or empty feeling. Try to respond when you feel, “somewhat hungry” or “hungry.” Remember, by waiting until “very hungry” or “starving,” you put yourself at risk of overeating.
Starving
Very Hungry
Hungry
Somewhat Hungry
Not Hungry/Not Full
Somewhat Full
Full
Very Full
Stuffed
Tune into your stomach and notice where you are on this scale right now. If you are hungry, it is time to eat!
“If hunger makes you irritable, better eat and be pleasant.”
Sefier Hasidim
______________________________
Eat well! Live well! Be well! Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel, are co-authors of The Diet Survivor’s Handbook, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet www.dietsurvivors.com Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating: 847.267.1200
[/private_membership circle]
