Tag Archive for: satiated

My Experience with Comfortable Satiety

iStock_000019977922XSmallWhen working with my clients, it is often hard for them to identify what comfortable satiety feels like.  This is truly understandable. If you have been eating mindlessly and/or cleaning the plate without consideration if you’ve even had enough (“how can I leave food over, I’m entitled to eat this amount on my diet?”), then that would partly explain why this part of your journey might be difficult.

 

As I’ve previously mentioned, I have incorporated intuitive eating into my own life. I want to share an experience with you that I had yesterday when I was eating lunch.

 

I identified that I was “gently hungry” and decided to take my lunch break. I remembered that I had some soup left over in the fridge from dinner the night before, that I did not eat but that my family raved about. While the soup was heating up, I prepared my sandwich, which is what I often eat for lunch.

 

I sat at the kitchen table, took a deep breath to center myself, and began eating my soup.  Yum, it was truly delicious. The texture of the vegetables, the flavor of the spices, and the temperature really hit the spot. I noticed the trees and the sunshine out my bay window (it was a nicer day yesterday than today…brrr, its cold today).

 

I finished the soup, rested a moment to check in with my stomach. I felt good, but was still slightly hungry so I picked up half my sandwich. I ate focusing on each bite. It too, was delicious.  After I finished the half sandwich, I once again checked in with myself. I was feeling content. I didn’t need to eat the other half of the sandwich. My son had left me a small bowl of 4 peeled grapefruit sections with a note “Enjoy, Ma, Love Jason”. How sweet.  He knows how I love grapefruit sections.

 

At this point, I decided to wrap up the other half of the sandwich and finish off my meal with the 4 grapefruit sections. What a wonderful experience. I was being intuitive, listening to my body, and being mindful.  And I enjoyed every bite.

 

Now it’s your turn to take action: Tune into your internal signals at mealtime, and share your experience in the comments below.

Hunger Scale vs. the Bathroom Scale

scale2I have written before about not being a slave to the numbers, be that the size clothing you are, or more common—being a slave to the weight you see on the scale.  Now while I still don’t want you to be a slave to these numbers, there is one scale you can pay attention to when you are being intuitive.  That is your hunger scale.

There are many things that can make you reach for food that do not involve actually being hungry.  You might be stressed, tired, sad or lonely.  But if you take the time to think about hunger prior to reaching for a snack or pulling through the nearest drive-thru, you might find that you are not biologically hungry, but you are experiencing emotional hunger.

Think of your hunger on a scale of zero to ten.  At zero you are beyond starving, at 10 you are sick from overeating.  Do not wait until you are completely starving to go and get something to eat.  If you do that, you’ll likely find the nearest food to eat, which is not always the best option, and you will shoot yourself up the scale to a ten (sick from overeating).  Part of being healthy and in control of your body is feeding yourself before you get to a zero, and knowing when to stop when you are satisfied.  Staying in the middle of the scale throughout the day by eating at regular intervals will keep you feeling good all day.

So feel free to hop on to the habit of using this scale rather than the other one!  It’s one number that will help you rather than hurt you on your journey!

Your turn to take action: Use the hunger scale this week prior to eating to discover how in tune you are to your signals!  How is it working for you?