You Can Learn to Listen to Your Body’s Signals
At first, learning to eat based on your body’s signals can feel like painting with a blindfold on. However, it is a type of sensitivity and a skill that you can learn.
I don't instruct my clients on calories, measuring food by weight, or using cups and tablespoons to determine how much to eat. Initially, this feels scary for most people, as it used to for me.
Surely you need all that in order to achieve your health goals? Surely not having those kinds of guidelines means that you have too much leeway?
But it's not true.
Early in my food addiction healing, I learned from author Geneen Roth a system wherein you rate your hunger on a scale of 1-10 anytime you're considering eating. When I began this practice, which I journaled for a long time, I felt totally lost.
I thought, "How can a person be that precise? Maybe I could tell you the difference between a 2 and a 9, but how could you be more specific than that?" But I tried.
I started tuning into my body from the inside out, which I had never done before.
I had always eaten based on something looking good, being available, being novel, eating because it was a mealtime time of the day, and because I wanted to numb out.
People experience hunger signals in a somewhat varying way, but typically it includes internal sensations in the stomach, chest, throat, and/or head. Do you know what your sensations are like? Do you know where they are in your body?
I also added in the step of rating my hunger on the 1-10 scale after I finished eating.
What I discovered was, over time, I was able to become more precise, and eventually, I could tell you if I was at a 5 versus a 6, or a 2 versus a 1. I hadn't lost the ability to be guided precisely by my body's signals, I just had never really done it.
While it might feel like guessing at the beginning, try it out! You can become a person who does not need to calorie count or measure, and who goes on their body's signals.... which is how it's meant to be!
Photo by Shingi Rice via Unsplash