How To Learn To Trust Your Body’s Hunger Cues Now. It’s Vital
Today let’s talk about how to learn to trust your body’s hunger cues. Everyone is born a natural intuitive eater. Think about it, when you were a baby or a toddler you cried for food when you were hungry and refused it when you weren’t. You ate what your body craved, not what some company told you you “should” eat. You ate until you were satisfied and you stopped. It was only as you grew up that society’s thin agenda started fucking with you. Telling you that what you knew you wanted was wrong. They convinced you your body is wrong and you can’t trust it. That is some serious bs!
Intuitive Eating
The antidote to the soulless manipulation of diet companies is Intuitive Eating. In a nutshell, its eating when you need to, stopping when you’re full, and eating what your body really wants. It sounds so completely obvious but if you suggest it to someone still immersed in diet culture they look at you as if you’re completely insane. If you’re not one them, fantastic! I always knew if you are a Muser you must be awesome. It isn’t easy, though. Decades of conditioning from the diet industry makes us all believe we can’t trust our bodies. The best place to start is the definite book on the subject. It’s called Intuitive Eating (funnily enough!) and is by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. If you fancy a copy of your own then you can use the link. I’m a part of Amazon Associates so I will get a small commission but that is NOT why I’m recommending it. Check out all the 5-star reviews, this is a fabulous book.
Getting Started
If you want to do this thing properly you don’t have to read the book but you should do some research. There are tons of great intuitive eating resources out there and I hope, over time, this site will be too. That’s why I want to start with how to learn to trust your body’s hunger cues. It’s a great place to start. Here is list of thoughts that I’ve had to throw out as part of learning to trust my body. Feel free to use it as a starting point, one you add to as you do your own mental spring cleaning.
1. I can’t be hungry again, I only ate an hour ago.
Yes, in fact, you can be hungry again. Maybe you didn’t eat enough in your last meal. Or possibly you didn’t eat what your body needed. Believe it or not you might just be having an extra hungry day! Don’t question it, honour your hunger and eat.
2. I want chocolate but it’s junk food/too high in calories/I already had cake today.
The thing is if you ignore what you really want you might end up eating far more than you needed to. Let’s say instead of the chocolate you have an apple. Half an hour later you aren’t feeling satisfied so you have popcorn. Finally half an hour after that you still want the chocolate so you cave and eat it. Your body didn’t need the other food. If you’d just listened to it you wouldn’t have eaten more than your body needed. Chocolate is not evil, it has it’s place in your diet.
3. I can’t eat now, it’s past 8pm.
Your body is not a kitchen, and it doesn’t close! Again, you need to trust your body and honour your hunger. If it tells you it’s hungry then believe it. The time of day you eat has zero impact. This is diet nonsense. What’s not good for you is trying to get to sleep but struggling because you’re hungry.
4. I need to clear my plate, there are starving children out there.
Yes, there are starving children out there. However, it does nothing to help them if you eat food your body doesn’t need. If you want to help starving children donate to a charity or give food to a food bank. When you eat check in with your body periodically Rate your hunger periodically where one is practically dead from starvation and ten is stuffed to the point of vomiting. Aim to stop eating around 6-7 which is pleasantly satisfied.
5. I can’t eat two “bad” meals in a row.
Listen carefully because what I say is going to blow your mind. Ready? THERE ARE NO BAD MEALS OR FOODS!! Food is food. There is no morality attached other than what we give it. If you learn to listen to what your body wants then you may have pizza for lunch and burgers for dinner. So what, though? The next day you could crave a salad for lunch and fish and veggies for dinner. It will balance out. Please, please believe that your body knows what it needs.
6. I need to cut down on carbs so I’m having courgetti instead of pasta.
Sigh. You never, ever need to substitute carbs for veg. Carbs are not evil. They are the primary source of energy for your body. I literally have no idea where this carbs are bad message came from because you actually need them. That’s not to say if you actually fancy courgetti you can’t have it. Don’t try to lie to yourself, though. If you want pasta then eat it
Over to you
So, that was some of my tips to learn to trust you body’s hunger cues. I hope you found this helpful, if so a share and a like would be hugely appreciated! If you have any of your own messages to add please feel free to pop them below 👇 Til next time, good luck in your journey to reclaim control over your eating and love your body.
