From Jill Gurtatowski Happy Tuesday! I am so proud that you are on this journey! (the prize money doesn’t hurt either). One of the reasons Biggest loser contests are so popular is that many of us, somewhere along the line, stopped listening to our body signals that naturally tell us when were hungry and when were full. The signals are still there, but were out of practice when it comes to paying attention to them. Learning to recognize those signals again can help you get to a healthy weight and stay there. Hunger signals tell us when to eat, what to eat, and when to stop. There are three types of hunger signals: • Hunger is a sensation (stomach growling, feeling hunger pangs) that makes you want to eat. It is partly controlled by a region of your brain called the hypothalamus, your blood sugar level, how empty your stomach and intestines are, and certain hormone levels in your body. • Fullness is also called satiety. Its a feeling of satisfaction. Nerves in your stomach send signals to the brain that the stomach is filled. Increased blood sugar, the activity of the hypothalamus, and the presence of food in the intestines all lead to this feeling of fullness. • Appetite is a desire for or an interest in food. It is linked with the sight, smell, or thought of food. Appetite can override hunger and satiety, such as when you continue to eat even after you feel full. You can also have no appetite for food even though you are hungry, which may happen in a stressful situation or during an illness. Learning to get back in touch with your hunger signals can be one of your best tools for getting to a healthy weight and staying there. Your hunger and fullness signals are still there. You just have to learn how to listen to them again. Use a hunger scale A hunger scale can help you learn how to tell the difference between true, physical hunger and hunger thats really just in your head. Psychological hunger is a desire to eat that is caused by emotions, like stress, boredom, sadness, or happiness. When you feel hungry even though you recently ate, check to see if what youre feeling is really a craving brought on by something psychological. When you start feeling like you want something to eat, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being starving and 10 being so full you feel sick. A rating of 5 or 6 means youre comfortable-neither too hungry nor too full. 1-Starving, weak, dizzy 2-Very hungry, cranky, low energy, lots of stomach growling 3-Pretty hungry, stomach is growling a little 4-Starting to feel a little hungry 5-Satisfied, neither hungry nor full 6-A little full, pleasantly full 7-A little uncomfortable 8-Feeling stuffed 9-Very uncomfortable, stomach hurts 10-So full you feel sick To eat naturally, the way a baby does, eat when your hunger is at 3 or 4. Dont wait until your hunger gets down to 1 or 2. Getting too hungry can lead to overeating. When you sit down to a scheduled meal, stop and think how hungry you are. If you feel less hungry than usual, make a conscious effort to eat less food than usual. Stop eating when you reach 5 or 6 on the scale. When its time to eat, make healthy choices For your body to be truly satisfied, your meals need to be balanced. This means that each meal should contain: • Carbohydrate. You get this from grains, fruits, and vegetables. • Protein. You get this from meat, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, dry beans, and nuts. • Fat. You get the kinds of fat that help you stay healthy from: o Fish, walnuts, and flaxseeds and flaxseed oil. These have omega-3 fatty acids. o Olive, canola, and peanut oils; most nuts; avocados; and olives. These have monounsaturated fats. o Safflower, corn, sunflower, sesame, soybean, and cottonseed oils. These have polyunsaturated fats. Your meals should contain tastes that you like and want. This also helps you feel satisfied. Learn when to stop eating Try to stop eating before you get too full. Too full is uncomfortable. It means you ate too much. Get in touch with what satisfied, or pleasantly full, feels like for you. • Relax before you start eating, and then eat slowly. Remember that it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that youre full. • Stop a quarter of the way through your meal, and check your hunger level. If youre still hungry, keep eating, but stop again at the halfway point. No matter what your parents taught you, you dont have to clean your plate. • Learn what proper portions are. Were used to restaurant portions, but restaurant portions usually contain much more food than we need. Dont deny yourself Lots of people think that healthy eating means never having dessert or french fries or any of the things they love to eat. Thats wrong. Your appetite, which can include a desire for sweets or other less-than-healthy treats, is a strong body signal. And part of keeping your body at that satisfied level on the hunger scale is eating tastes that you like and want. If we try to have an eating plan that cuts out all treats, we probably wont stay with that plan. In fact, were more likely to go off the wagon and eat too much of those foods. But its important to recognize when its your appetite talking instead of your true hunger. Knowing which body signal is talking can help you control what you are eating. If youre eating healthy and listening to your body signals, a piece of birthday cake or an occasional order of french fries can fit into your healthy eating plan. When the holidays come around, its okay to eat the traditional foods you love. Just keep listening to your body signals and eat only enough to reach that satisfied level. Intrigued and want to learn more about your own hunger signals? Keep a food journal for 2 weeks, or longer if you need to. Write down not only when and what you eat but also what you were doing and feeling before you started eating. Using the hunger scale below, write down where you were on the scale before you ate and where you were afterwards. When you look back at your food journal, you may see some eating patterns. For example, you may find that you almost always eat dinner in front of the TV. You may find that you always eat an evening snack, even when youre not hungry. You may find that you often snack when you feel like you want to eat (because of boredom, stress, or some other emotion), but youre not truly hungry. Good Luck- have a great week!
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 14:55:19 +0000
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