How to Recognize Hunger Cues in Different Ways
Recovery from disordered eating is hard work.
When the body is put through periods of restriction it can lose the very signs that humans associate with hunger. This is because the body has been primed to survive periods of restriction. Many years ago, famine and hunger was a real concern. As a result, the body developed coping skills to adapt to these periods of discomfort. Fast forward many years, the body cannot tell the difference between self inflicted restriction and restriction that happens for external reasons. All your body knows is that it is both hungry and in danger. One of the ways that the body has been primed for the discomfort of hunger is to signal hunger cues away from the typical physiological signs of hunger (hunger pains, growling stomach, etc).
“I’ve lost my ability to feel hungry!”
I work with many clients who tell me that they have lost their ability to feel hunger. While in eating disorder recovery this can be incredibly confusing when you are trying to move away from eating from a place of restriction, and move into eating from a place of body attunement.
If this relates to you, it is possible that your body is displaying signs of hunger in other ways. You can utilize these signs as signals that it is time to feed yourself. As a result, hunger can also manifest in the following ways:
Thinking about food or fantasizing about your next meal
Thinking that food sounds good
Salivation or mouth-watering in response to food
Difficulty making decisions
Feeling fatigued
Sense of boredom
Difficulty concentrating
Feeling restless or anxious
Feeling angry or annoyed
Sweating
Headaches
Nausea
*The last three represent an extreme level of hunger
Importantly, this is not to say that you have to be hungry to deserve to eat. You are allowed to eat for any reason, whatsoever. Period. Eating is a human right. It is meant to be pleasurable. It is also meant to be an experience that is shared amongst others.
Intuitive Eating is not defined by eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full
This is a common misconception with the Intuitive Eating movement. As referenced by Isabel Foxen Duke, Intuitive Eating Specialist, the “eating when you are hungry, stopping when you are full’ is another shameful approach to food and eating (referred to as the Hunger Fullness Diet). It functions under the beliefs that if you are full and you keep eating, you have gone too far or if you are not hungry and you decide to eat, you have failed. These are extensions of diet culture. You do not need to be hungry to be deserving of food and you do not have to stop eating when you are full, in fact you get to do whatever the hell you want! Again, eating is a human right and this concept is NOT Intuitive Eating.
So what is intuitive eating?
A person that practices intuitive eating is defined as, “someone who makes food choices without experiencing guilt or an ethical dilemma, honors hunger, respects fullness and enjoys the pleasure of eating.”
This definition goes beyond the shame involved with the hunger and fullness diet and incorporates the idea of enjoying the pleasure of eating for you and for your body as an individual.
Reach out for support with eating disorder therapy
If you are interested in learning more about how I work with disordered eating please feel free to reach out. I offer a free 20 minute phone consultation and I would be thrilled to hear from you and discuss what you are looking for to reach your therapeutic goals.
-Ellie