Those of us in medicine are very familiar with the “pain scale” concept. We routinely ask patients to rate their pain from 0 to 10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain that you can imagine. When someone tells us their number, it gives us a very concrete idea of what their pain experience actually is like and allows us to give them specific guidance on how to manage different levels of pain.
The same can be applied to hunger and this is why I really like the concept of a “hunger scale”.
Rather than going from 0 to 10, however, this hunger scale is written on a horizontal line and goes from -10 on the far left side to +10 on the far right, with 0 being the center or neutral point.
With this scale in mind, here are some of the key points:
-10 is starving
0 is neutral or not hungry
+10 is stuffed to capacity
Many of us are so detached from our bodies that we have no idea when we’re actually hungry or when we’re actually full. We often get the slightest sensation of hunger, where we may only be at a 0 or -1 on the hunger scale and immediately reach for food. On the other side, our detachment prevents us from recognizing our bodies’ signs of fullness and we eat way past that point to near capacity and then feel sick.
It’s an incredibly useful practice to start paying attention to your body and ask yourself where you are on the hunger scale before, during and after you eat. The recommended goal would be to eat when you’re at a -4 and stop eating when you’re at a +4. Remember, it takes time for your brain to let your body know that it’s actually full, so if you eat until you are full, you are probably way past a +4.
Start tuning in to your body and get to know where it is on the hunger scale. This practice will really help you get to know your own body and its true hunger and satiety signals.
One important thing to note is that some of us, particularly those who eat a lot of concentrated foods or lots of sugar and flour, may have to recalibrate their hunger scale. As I mentioned in some of the previous days’ posts, sugar and flour can wreak havoc on our hormones and make us feel much hungrier than we really need to be given the food stores available. One clue that you may need to recalibrate your hunger scale is if you feel hungry too often or your feel hungry, then full, then hungry, then full and you feel like your body is all over the place. The best way to recalibrate your hunger scale is to reduce or eliminate these foods from your diet.
If you do decide to reduce or eliminate sugar and/or flour from your diet, you will likely go through a period of withdrawal that you may mistake for hunger. You should expect to feel kind of terrible as you go through this withdrawal, but don’t mistake this feeling for true hunger. A good clue that you are going through sugar or flour withdrawal is that you will have intense cravings for sugar and starchy carbohydrates. Hunger is much more subtle and less urgent than withdrawal and tends to come in waves and then retreat.
Starting tomorrow, I will be shifting from discussing the symptom of the problem of being overweight, which is overhunger to the underlying cause, which is overdesire. This is where some of the most powerful tools come in to not only help you reach your desired weight goal, but also any other goal you have in your life.
If any of these concepts resonate with you and you want to learn more about how I can help you with your own goals, just schedule a free call with me by clicking the link below.
