How does dieting impact hunger and fullness cues?
Another reason we feel disconnected is because many diets train us to fear these internal feelings. For example – hungry? Drink some water! Chew some gum! Eat an apple! Chew on a toothpick! (*insert eye roll here*
Instead, diets tell us to eat based on schedules, timing, apps, calorie/macro counters, and other rigid, non-sustainable rules. Diet mentality leads us to believe that we can’t be trusted around food, and that we can somehow magically trick our biology.
Depending on how long you have ignored this cues, it may take some time to rebuild trust, to be able to fully rely on these hunger and fullness cues. Maybe you’ve experienced a day where you did not feel any physical cues from your body until you got home from work, and felt extreme hunger. Maybe you felt as if you couldn’t stop eating or satisfy that hunger.
Common reasons for absent hunger cues include:
Distraction
Stress/Cortisol
Metabolism
What does physical hunger feel like?
The more you start to pay attention, and maybe even practice mindful eating, you might experience some of these symptoms:
Stomach growling
Empty feeling in stomach
Dizzy/fatigued
Lack of focus
Moodiness
Shaky/weak
Getting too low on the hunger scale can often lead to reactive type eating that may feel ravenous, out of control, and result in feelings of guilt and regret, as seen in the diet pendulum below.
Click here to listen to Episode 417 of the Fit Friends Happy Hour Podcast
Where should I aim to be on the hunger and fullness scale?
A good range would be to not let yourself get below a 3 (as we know based on our pendulum, eating can feel very reactive and chaotic at that point) and not get above a 7.
