Feeling Full
The number one reason people ditch a diet plan is hunger. Hunger is physiological – you’re not going to fight against it for long. Therefore, the best way to find an eating pattern that works is to engage in dietary habits that promote satiety. Satiety is the state of being content and full after eating. By definition this may seem clear, but in practice, understanding feelings of fullness can be confusing.
What does it mean to be full?
While hunger and fullness may seem like opposite sides of the coin, it is more helpful to view them as a spectrum. By identifying feelings within that spectrum you can begin to recognize the earlier symptoms of satiety as they arise. Consider the following scale, where 0 is “Starved” and 10 is “Stuffed”:
It can then be helpful to work backwards from the extremes and identify a range of symptoms. For example, a “10” might be what you’ve felt after extreme overeating of a Thanksgiving dinner. This is very uncomfortable, hard to breathe normally, and perhaps even nauseating. That is very different from the feeling of having taken a few extra bites of a delicious meal and being pleasantly full – perhaps a “7” on the scale.
Learning about the symptoms of hunger and fullness can take time, and some people choose to write out these nuanced feelings throughout the day and during a meal in order to better understand their personal spectrum. In fact, mid-meal breaks can be incredibly helpful for better assessing satiety. Part way through a meal, as you begin to feel content, take a 10 minute hiatus from eating. After the break, if you still desire food, enjoy some more! If you feel comfortably satisfied, feel free to box-up the rest of the meal, knowing you have leftovers to enjoy whenever you begin to feel hungry again.
If feelings of satiety are rare, perhaps your dietary pattern needs to be adjusted. Willpower is a bad strategy for battling hunger. Instead, incorporate some eating behaviors that promote those earlier feelings of fullness. Some examples include:
Choose foods high in fiber and protein. These nutrients increase feelings of fullness. Boiled potatoes, eggs, fish, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, beans, lentils, apples with skin, oranges, and broccoli are some examples.
Balance meals and snacks by incorporating at least 3 food groups. Aim for each meal to have a grain, a protein, a fruit and/or a vegetable. The proteins, fibers and fats help to stabilize the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream, helping to prevent spikes and crashes in blood sugars that ultimately swing our hunger and fullness to extremes.
Eat at regular intervals. There are a cascade of events that trigger symptoms of hunger and fullness in the body. By eating at predictable intervals throughout the day, those hunger and fullness rhythms begin to be predictable as well.
The goal is to aim to be between a “3” and a “7” most of the time. The further you swing to one extreme of the spectrum, the more likely you are to compensate and swing to the other extreme of the spectrum. Rather than getting into a habit of hangriness and binge eating, aim for a more moderate approach.
If you need help learning how to identify and respond to your own hunger and fullness cues, consider working with me. Schedule a FREE discovery call here.