So much about intuitive eating is about tuning into the body. This can be difficult when mealtimes are chaotic. When you are not tuned into your eating experience, it’s easy to zone out, go through your meal and all of a sudden your plate is empty and you can hardly remember what it tasted like!
So let’s touch on a few ways you can tune into your eating experience and be more present at meal times.
Take a few deep breaths
Before beginning a meal, take a full breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Take a moment to pause. This time is for eating and nourishing your body.
Tune into your hunger
Determine where you fall on the hunger & fullness scale.
Hunger and Fullness Scale
- Starving! Totally empty. Primal hunger kicks in and you want to eat anything in sight. May feel weak or dizzy.
- Very hungry. May feel irritable, low energy, nauseated, or have difficulty concentrating. Can’t stop thinking about food.
- Pretty hungry. Stomach may be growling. Strong desire to eat and may feel shaky.
- Beginning to feel hungry. Starting to think more about food.
- Neutral. Neither hungry nor full.
- Satisfied. Pleasantly full.
- Moving past satisfied and feeling a little full. May feel slightly uncomfortable.
- Feeling stuffed. May feel uncomfortable.
- Very uncomfortable. May have a stomach ache. May feel sleepy.
- So full you feel sick. Stomach hurts. Don’t even want to think about food.
Knowing where you fall on this scale will help you tune into your body. This will engage you in the eating process and allow you to determine how much fuel your body needs in this moment, without becoming uncomfortably full.
Avoid Distractions
We know that the hustle and bustle of everyday life can leave you very busy! It is very tempting to multitask during our lunch hour and catch up on work, or unwind at the end of the day with dinner in front of Netflix. However, this can be problematic for a few reasons:
- You are not present in actually tasting the meal. Do you like the meal? Is it salty? What is the texture of the food?
- You are not feeling satisfied by the meal. One of the intuitive eating principles, the satisfaction factor, is allowing yourself to feel pleasure around food.
With this in mind, avoid eating in front of the TV, at your computer, on your phone, or while you are working when possible. Eating your meals with minimal distractions can help determine how comfortably full you are and to find a place to stop eating.
Employ your senses
When we use all of our senses (eyesight, hearing, taste, touch and smell) we are helping ourselves to discover sensory gratification. Sensory gratification means to stimulate as many of the senses as possible.
With food, this means sensing the taste, temperature, smell, and mouth feel of the food. When we enjoy food this way, we are more engaged in the eating experience and it doesn’t take as much food to satisfy us.
Make the eating atmosphere enjoyable
Just because you’re limiting distractions at meal times does not mean they can’t be enjoyable! Set the ambiance and make your environment pleasurable for a meal. This can look like:
- Having a clean space
- Using your favorite dishware
- Lighting a candle
- Putting on some background music
Check-in again
Mid-way through your meal, take a pause and refer back to the Hunger and Fullness Scale. Ask yourself where you now fall on it. Are you satisfied? Would you like more? Are you comfortably full?
These tips will help you tune deeper into your body’s cues and atmosphere around you and help you become more present at meal times.
If you loved this post, I know you will love our other blog post Feeling Your Fullness
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