“In order to honor your fullness, you need to trust that you will give yourself the foods that you desire. Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you’re comfortably full. Pause in the middle of eating and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what your current hunger level is.”
(From Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch)
The 6th principle in my intuitive eating series is Feel Your Fullness.
This one pairs nicely with Honor Your Hunger, without doing so it’s impossible to feel when you’re full!
I have always eaten in a way that honors when I’m full. It isn’t uncommon to leave food on my plate when I’ve filled up my stomach. So this principle has been easy for me!
Now that I’m on Trikafta, though, I don’t get as full as I used to when I lost my appetite in the past. So it’s been a new experience re-learning my fullness cues. Intuitive eating comes with a hunger/fullness scale that helps you gauge where you’re falling- where 1 is ravenously hungry 5 is neutral (neither hungry or full) and 10 is uncomfortably full.
Using this scale has helped me get back in touch with where my fullness falls. It often helps to eat mindfully and check in with myself as to how I’m doing. Once I’m full, I stop eating before I get uncomfortable.
One night I got a big delicious frappe (or a milkshake if you’re not from New England) from an ice cream place in town. I wasn’t very hungry and the frappe was HUGE delicious goodness. As I started drinking I realized pretty quickly that I was getting full. So instead of filling up on what was left of the frappe, I simply put it in my freezer to enjoy the next day.
I ALWAYS have leftovers after I go out to eat, even before intuitive eating. This is a sign that I’m feeling my fullness and it doesn’t go to waste because I’ll eat it for lunch the next day.
IE has taught me that it isn’t necessary to clean your plate especially if it’s going to make you uncomfortable to do so and if the food is no longer satisfying.
As I talked about in the “honor your hunger” part, I also now know that I need a mix of a fat, a protein, and a carb to fill me up. Plus fiber rich foods like vegetables and fruit help to keep me full!
After I ate the gourmet pizza we got the other day, I was still hungry as it was mostly carbs and didn’t have much protein. So I grabbed a leftover piece of chicken to round out the meal and included a Cesar salad in the side for some fiber. This kept me full for much longer than the pizza would have alone.
Feeling my fullness, together with the other principles, has definitely kept me from overeating especially as I’m getting back in touch with my hunger and fullness signals.
Check out Intuitive Eating and the Intuitive Eating Workbook for more details about how to start your journey.
