3 things that may make this hard
Your body knows when it’s hungry and is brilliant at communicating hunger signals.
But, if it were only so easy.
Some of my clients don’t recognize their hunger until they are starving. Which may lead to urgent and panicky eating.
Others rarely let themselves get physically hungry. This means they don’t have that internal mechanism to know when to stop eating because they aren’t experiencing the contrast between hunger and fullness.
When we honor our physical hunger, we are setting ourselves up to eat a meal or snack that truly satisfies us.
Here are 3 reasons you may have a hard time honoring hunger.
#1: Lack of Modeling
Caregivers may have encouraged you to eat all the food on your plate.
You may have learned to eat out of necessity because food was only available during certain times of the day.
While at family events, you ate, not because of your hunger, but because you were in community.
#2: Weight loss pursuits (aka dieting, clean eating, intermittent fasting, being good)
Dieting encourages the dismissal of hunger and prioritizes following diet rules, such as portion sizes.
Some diet rules encourage you to not eat after a certain time in the evening or not eat before a certain time in the morning.
You may try to eat as little as possible.
#3: Fears and Negotiations (due to past restrictive eating patterns)
You may fear the discomfort of hunger, therefore you may eat in anticipation of hunger.
You may “shouldn’t” your hunger away because you just ate a short time ago.
You may be afraid of hunger because you believe it will lead you to overeat.
We don’t question our need to pee. Growing up, no one may have reassured you to trust your hunger. But the mechanism is still inside of you. Being aware of these reasons can help you reconnect with your body's need for energy that will support you in so many ways.