Why Trusting Your Hunger Cues is More Effective than Measuring Your Food Intake
We are “creatures of habit”, as the saying goes, and as such, both breaking old habits and building new habits takes effort and intentionality. Habits are simply routines that help to decrease high-level decision making, and these repeated patterns of behavior will track towards either beneficial or unfavorable health outcomes. So, if it is good health that we seek, whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually, taking a close look at our habits is the best place to start.
Habits around food in particular are essential to consider when it comes to optimal health. Nobody is exempt from this – everybody eats. Food-related habits that are often examined are cooking behaviors (cooking at home versus eating out), meal content (eat more veggies or eat less added sugars), or meal timing and frequency (don’t skip breakfast or avoid big meals before bed). However, one of the most prominent food-related behaviors that many people engage in is tracking their food intake.
Tracking food intake takes on many different forms. This could include weighing food on a scale, documenting food consumption in a nutrition app, or keeping a mental calorie count throughout the day. This is a habit that is learned over time, but when it comes to tracking towards good health, it may not be doing us any favors.
Knowledge of the nutritional value of our foods is certainly beneficial, but when we start outsourcing our reasons for eating to apps, scales and counts, we often sabotage our own efforts towards achieving good health. Consider the reasons why somebody might use food tracking tools in the first place: typically, they are looking for more control over their diet. Weighing-out food or counting calories gives a sense of control; however, the catch is that these controlling behaviors often lead to out-of-control feelings down the road.
Consider this study, for example. The 193 participants were randomly assigned to either a low carbohydrate, 300 calorie breakfast or a balanced, 600 calorie breakfast that included chocolate cake (yes, chocolate cake for breakfast!). At the end of each day, both groups consumed the same number of calories – they simply varied in their breakfast content and calorie density. This went on for 4 months (yes, 4 months of daily dessert with breakfast!). At the 8-month follow-up, the group who had the low carbohydrate, low calorie breakfast had regained over 76% of any weight they had lost (an average of 25 lbs regained). The group who had the higher calorie breakfast with chocolate cake did not regain any of their original weight that was lost (an average of 30 lbs) and had continued to lose additional weight after the study period (an average of 15 extra lbs). What do we make of this?
This study is a classic example of restrictive eating leading to an ultimate loss of control. The group with a skimpy, less enjoyable breakfast successfully lost weight, but they quickly regained it back due to compensatory responses in their hunger and cravings after the study concluded. Their initial deprivation led to overconsumption later on. Yet the group with the satisfying, very enjoyable breakfast had a strategy that counteracted those cravings: they enjoyed chocolate cake! As such, their body felt satisfied, and they were consequently no longer controlled by food cravings.
Placing too many rules around food and relying on nutrition apps and scales to dictate how much we eat usually backfires in big ways. Our bodies do an impressive job of telling us what foods we need, how much food we need, and when we need to eat. Unfortunately, many people develop habits of ignoring their internal hunger signals by outsourcing their food choices to other tools, and in doing so, they develop distrust of their own intuition around eating.
Building habits that create a lack of trust around our internal hunger cues and an over-reliance on calorie counts and food tracking apps consistently leads to dissatisfaction and anxiety around eating, as well as an increased risk of struggles with weight management and (especially for physically active individuals) illness and injury due to undernutrition. Conversely, learning to trust your body’s own hunger cues — even hunger for some foods you have deemed “unhealthy” — will result in composure around food and satisfaction with eating, your body and your overall health.
Habits are built over time, so relearning hunger and fullness cues takes time and practice. Learning to trust your body’s signals is often very difficult for those who have heavily relied on calorie counting and food scales. But what feels like “losing control” by trying to listen to your body will ultimately lead to a greater composure around food in the long run. Whatsmore, by trusting your own hunger cues, you’ll be closer to achieving that good health you were chasing after in the first place.
If you want to learn more about how to achieve your health goals by trusting your own body’s hunger signals, work with me! Schedule a FREE discovery call here.