I am one of those people who thought i never felt hungry. I get shaky and foggy brained before I feel hungry. It never occurred to me until I watched this that those feelings ARE my hunger sensation. Light bulb moment!
Hello my friends!! Welcome back to our second video in the 10-Week Intuitive Eating Series. This week is ALL about Honoring Your Hunger. #SoGood! Pease share any thoughts, questions, experiences or/and aha! moments down in the comments below. Can't wait to hear what you think. XO - Dani
I ordered the book when you first recommended it and started reading it but I'm slowing down to keep pace with the videos and taking the time to really work through these things. I'm definitely not one of those people who don't feel hunger. So since I started paying attention to my hunger I found that I don't always eat at noon and 6 p.m. Sometimes I don't want lunch until 1 or 2 and I don't want dinner until 7 or 8. This was quite a surprise to me and I found that I don't get hungry late at night anymore. I also made brownies this week because I had been telling myself that I shouldn't do that. Amazing how giving myself permission took away the desire to eat them and they actually went stale before they were finished.
Janette Metzger the same thing for me!! I always ate a ton at night, and since doing this I’ve cut down the amount tremendously because I listen to my body during the day and eat more frequently if needed! It’s been such a lifesaver!
When Dani first spoke of this book, it didn't take long for me to decide to purchase it. I've never finished a single book throughout my school years/life/anything, because I do not like reading. Like, AT ALL (lol). I just want to say that I cannot put this book down. It is so informative and relevant to so many situations I find or have found myself facing. I am so excited for this journey and to connect with like minded people. I don't ever find myself having a desire to "journal" either, but because of this series, I feel greatly inspired to begin doing so. Thank you Dani, and I hope to connect with more of you.
Wow this is so great! I've often wished someone would say exactly HOW we listen to our bodies, and your scale of hunger and other questions helped a lot.
This is the best way to make peace with food and lose weight. Since I started intuitive eating I am losing weight and feeling good not because of the weight but because I do not binge anymore
I so need this talk now. I'm working on stopping my emotional hunger/ binging. So far, not making myself throw up after binging for a month now. Yr video ll help to reinforce my brain not to act on my emotional hunger. Thank u❤🙏
I just want to say thank you so much for doing this series. I have followed you now for over 3 years. I found you along the way on this journey I have been on to practice self love and to be healthy from a place of love. You resignated with me and really matched what I felt was right. Which is just a very balanced way of eating fueled by self love. I actually got the book Intuitive Eating a couple weeks before you decided to do this series. So I was yet again so happy with the fact that you seemed to be in sync with what I have decided is another healthy and true piece of the puzzle I have been putting together along my journey. I am very choosey with who I follow in regards to health. Your actually the only person I follow on this topic. The diet mentality is so hard to get away from. But I feel safe following you. So thank you for being you and all the effort you put into helping others.
Hi Dani, I really appreciate your intuitive input on eating! You are a real inspiration. At 55 most of my life I have skipped meals because I get busy and forget to eat. ( this habbit has made a serious mess of my metabolism!) I have always struggled to be in touch with my hunger! This being said recently over the past couple of years I decided to allow rather push myself to eat "something" in order to form a habit. In the beginning I actually set a timer to remind myself. Whether it be a simple breakfast muffin or a quick protein shake. It has begun signaling the brain to make hunger happen! This has put me on a schedule that prohibits me from skipping meals. It is forming a habit more than anything that makes eating happen for people like me. Actively deciding to eat just a quick shake or a breakfast muffin has made all the difference! Now I recognize that when I try to skip my body pushes me to extremely hungry very quickly. I Just thought this might help others struggling with the same problem. Thanks again for your videos! They are so helpful!
Dani, thank you for this series! I am reading the book along with your series and I am already experiencing a freedom and true care for myself that I haven’t had in a really long time. I am working on being able to know my body's hunger/fullness signals. I seem to be missing my cues for hunger until I am REALLY hungry, so your tips were very helpful. Connie C
Great information ! I think I really need to tune in to my natural signs of hunger more efficiently. One of my self talks beliefs is that "I'm always hungry" but I think the truth is I do like to eat and I really don't always feel hungry so I need to become more mindful of those times I really am hungry. Another thing I'm learning is that feeling full takes a short while to register in my brain. In other words it takes less to fill me up than I realize and so by the time I feel full I've already ate too much!
Yes - telling yourself I am always hungry can definitely make you 'feel' like you're hungry. And I agree, often when we start tuning in we discover we actually need a lot less food then we tend to think.
Good video as always. Doing intermittent fasting has helped me get in tune with my true hunger. Before I started fasting I just ate when it was the socially accepted times to eat, whether I was hungry or not. I think the human body has very powerful self healing capabilities but if you are constantly eating you are diverting your bodys' attention to the processing of food. Every time you eat you are cranking up your bodys' organs. The more times you crank a machine the sooner it wears out. I have also found that when you eat truly nutritional whole foods you stay full for longer periods of time without eating as much. Not saying this is for everybody but it has helped me.
But if you are eating according to an IF schedule, then aren't you risking not eating when you are truly biologically hungry and therefore not honoring your hunger? Not criticizing- just trying to see how IE and IF works from that perspective.
For me I have to be at work at 4 a.m. so I am up at 3 a.m. I just don't feel like eating that early so I don't and I find I really don't get hungry till about 11 a.m. and that is when I eat. The less frequent you eat and the better quality food you do eat when you do eat is the key to getting your body and mind accustomed to IF.
I always love watching ur videos...u seem so compassionate in wanting to help others on their food journey...ur passion for healthy eating &living really shows &im grateful for ppl like u...thanks for being so insightful
Dani. I love you. Making a number or a mountain out of a molehill is the thing that hurts the most. Mum's family felt better when they had a meal on their own.Eating is not always a socially positive thing. I love your recipes.💕
Mind hunger is definitely my biggest issue. I get really anxious when I don’t eat regularly, because I worry that I’ll get a “hunger headache” or light-headed when I’m out and about somewhere and eating isn’t possible or would be disruptive. I think the worry makes me feel false hunger, but I don’t know how to stop that anxiety. At this point, I just carry a snack with me wherever I go (usually some kind of nut bar), but I hate knowing that my body is reacting negatively to something that almost always is caused by my mind, not real hunger.
Yes! I’m happy you catered to us folks who don’t get hungry and can’t rely on hunger signals and eat intuitively. I think it’s a great idea to have set times for meals, but in practice I usually fail at them... I want to do better.
Dear Dani, I have been trying this approach out since the start of the week with some anxiety that I might end up stuffing myself I have to say but that actually didn't happen. I think I am eating less rather than more but not because I am deliberately starving myself but because I am only eating when I am hungry. I would like to say that not all methods for slimming are diets as such. In the UK we have an organisation called 'Slimming World' and my husband has lost 3 stones over the period of more than a year with them. He feels so much better for it (not to talk about loving now wearing medium sized men's clothes rather than extra large). But what has happened is that he has been taught how to eat a lot more healthily and he loves it and finds it easy to stick with it. I lost just a little less than he has a year before him doing calorie counting but I found that I got out at the same place, namely teaching myself to eat more healthily (because by and large you can eat a lot more food that's good for you than eating high fat, high sugar, highly processed food). I no longer calorie count but try to stick with healthy food. The reason I am following your videos is that I have a tendency to eat when I am stressed (especially at work) so bringing mindfulness to that situation is helpful. It also has a side effect of checking out how I am and again, I think that's helpful because I also have a bit of of a tendency to live on auto-pilot when things are hectic and that's not so great either. Haven't seen a recipe on your channel I haven't liked yet and I probably won't.
Within maybe 3-4 days one is bound to become somewhat intuitive to seek options for grabbing a bite. I am not proud of myself for having been there. I prayed to find my way back to eating. I won.
Hi Dani. Thanks for this series, I'm definitely looking forward to a new episode every week. I have purchased the book as well and so far it's been an eye-opener. I've been dieting for half of my life, alternating periods of restriction and periods of binge. I don't know what 'normal' is, I either restrict my food or overeat. I think intuitive eating is what I need, but I have to say I am very scared at this stage. I have been trying for a few months to stop overthinking food and to stop thinking of foods as either good or bad. The result is that I am definitely overeating, eating like a 10 year old when left alone in the house (cakes, chocolate, chips...) and consequently I have gained weight. Honoring my hunger is really scary as I feel 'hungry' all the time. Hopefully things will improve with time. Thanks again!
My takeaway from principle 2 was that you should make an effort to introspectively gauge your body's hunger level before and after every meal. The book has a satiety rating system (2=ravenous, 5=neutral, 8=full) if you want to log it. What the chapter doesn't mention, but should IMHO, is that it can be worthwhile to "save up" hunger (i.e. choose to eat less right now) so that your next meal will be all the more satisfying.
I'm really enjoying your videos and I'm also reading the book. I'm still not quite clear what intuitive eating is, but I'll keep reading and watching. As far as hunger, I rarely feel hungry, but I eat because it's what we do. I'm home all day with my kids and I feel like all I do is make food and clean the kitchen. I think about food alot, food I like, meals to make, recipes to try, etc. I eat when I think, oh, that sounds good. I guess I have emotional hunger. I'll be paying more attention to it this week. Thanks!!
Thank you for bringing this information forward. I just purchased this book today and I am looking forward to exploring more of this concept. The other book I just finished is Always Hungry by Dr. Ludwig. Totally hit home for me. I am looking at myself and food in a different light. One big “simple” thing is I no longer use the word cheat, it’s a treat. And I no longer obsess over weighing myself. It’s been a month and my pants are loose, that’s what I go by, not a number on the scale. I’m sharing your video to everyone I know💖. Always waiting anxiously for your videos ....Christine
Dani, God blesses you. You look beautifully healthy. I watched your videos e few years ago, and you look today more beautiful, and younger. Your skin is looking radiant. I am happy for you. Be blessed. :-)
Enjoying this series but I wonder what your stance is on craving? I often eat my evening meal and crave something sweet afterwards. I try and wait 20 minutes or so to give my meal time to settle and this can work but at other times it does not and I give in and have a small dessert. Sometimes fruit but sometimes something small and relatively healthy. I'm not hungry but I do need something more. What's your stance on this x
Hi Stephanie, I have a similar problem -- I feel a meal hasn't concluded until I have something sweet. Sounds like you are satisfying your craving in a reasonable way -- I try to deny my craving for the chocolate and eat a piece of fruit or granola bar BUT it rarely works, most time I end up eating the chocolate anyway! I've decided as long as I'm not eating an entire pint of ice cream, it's okay if I have a couple of squares of chocolate to finish off a meal. Having said that, I realize that the craving is more likely a habit... I'm certainly not hungry after a meal, but I do look forward to that small treat. I'd also like Dani's take on habits, true cravings and how to address it all in the context of Intuitive eating.
Hello everybody! This video make it clear to me my ideas about hunger. Since a week, I 'm trying to change my food habits and cravings which is the hardest thing. I have noticed that give up on white sugar and other white ingredients is the most important way to avoid cravings. I replaced it with a piece of dark chocolate, or some grapes or any fruit, a few nuts. Now I like snacking on veggies and drink more water, I become more active: make my self busy. I can cook myself easy healthy meals and I enjoy it and my kids like too. Wish you succes.
Listening to the body is more than just honoring physical hunger. Maybe on days that you try waiting out the craving but can't do it, your body is saying that it needs a little more. It could be that the apple has the extra carbohydrates and micronutrients your body still needs. Sometimes, your cravings can indicate that you are lacking in something. At times, your body is in tune and will guide you towards something that will give it the specific nutrients it needs. At other times, your body just pushes you to eat more (with physical hunger symptoms even if you logically shouldn't be hungry) because it's missing something, but it won't pinpoint anything in particular). Eating intuitively means eating for the whole body- not just your physical hunger. Yes, you are supposed to eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full, and work towards making sure that you are not using food instead of dealing with your feelings. However, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a slice of cake or a piece of chocolate even if you aren't particularly hungry. Sometimes, my body is telling me that I need to enjoy a couple shortbread cookies and a glass of cold, raw milk (which I smuggle into NJ from PA because it's illegal to sell here). I eat it slowly and savor every bite without guilt. I do think your approach of eating dinner and waiting a little while before having a dessert/snack is a great idea, Stephanie. I find that when I do that, I enjoy my dessert more because I can focus on that without having the taste of dinner in my mouth. Sometimes, I'll even have a dessert a couple hours after dinner. When that happens, I like to get involved in an activity such as knitting, watching videos on RU-vid, or even going for a short walk. Sometimes, I find that drinking a mug of herbal tea (my favorite is mint) is enough. (And sometimes, just need a single bite of dessert. I've heard of people allowing 3 bites of a dessert because the first bite tastes best and only remember the last bite of what you eat).
Stephanie Hitchings have you considered making fruit or a dessert part of your evening meal routine? That may help you feel satisfied when the meal is done.
Great video series so far and love the tip of keeping a hunger journal, never thought of that before. Thanks for the great info, looking forward to next week!
Feeling true hunger really confuses me!!! I never actually know when I am "truly , physically hungry!! " Hunger comes in waves and then it passes and I'm like hmmmm was that true hunger ?? Great video and look forward to the rest of the series Dani xxxx
I think it's something you just have to continue to experiment with. IF you think you are hungry and then you eat, do you notice if it gives you increased energy and clarity? Try noticing how you feel after you eat... this may help you to know if it was true hunger.
When I was a child I was a picky eater. To the point I was underweight and physically behind other children my age. To overcome that pickiness my parents took control by serving me plates at their discretion (which at dinner usually included a second helping) and forcing me to eat them. This usually meant I had to continue eating even though I felt full, and being forced to ignore the "Stomach to brain I'm full" and keep eating. Sometimes to the point I vomited onto the dinner table because my stomach couldn't handle the amount of food. This kind of re-wired me to calling the sensation of being stuffed as "being full" and "no longer being stuffed" as "being peckish" and I still can't leave food on a plate and dinner doesn't feel complete unless I had two helping, no matter how big the first helping was. The result: I went from scrawny and underweight to morbidly obese by the time I was a teenager. I think as long as I'm unable to kick those habits my food intutions are divorced from my real hunger and I shouldn't trust them about quantities, at least not blindly. But I think I found a way to get my intuitions a little closer to "real hunger". I made two changes: I started eating smaller portions from smaller plates and food only leaves the kitchen on the plates it's eaten from. For some reason two small servings on small plates seem to be as satisfying as two large servings on large plates and more satisfying than small servings on large plates. I'm still not getting a "stop eating signal", but I don't get myself a third helping unless I my body gives me a clear "I need MORE!" signal and the result is: I eat significantly less. It's hard to name a figure; with foods that go on flat plates the reduction is different that with foods that go in bowls, and some with food the helpings don't get reduced at all (if I eat an apple or a banana or a head of lettuce I'll always eat the whole thing, because a half apple or banana that sat for a day or wilted lettuce aren't appealing anymore), but I guess it's something in between a 30% to 50% reduction in calorie intake. Combined with some exercise (weekly hikes of increasing distance; I can now do 30km in five hours -not including drinking breaks - without a problem) I managed to lose almost 20kg in about nine months which took me from being clearly obese to "just" being overweight. You might wonder why I think that would help you; your habits and goals probably differ from mine: I started to use the number helpings after the second to sort of quantify and measure my hunger. If I don't feed like I absolutely need a third helping, after I finished the second, I wasn't feeling really hungry before I started eating. By now I'm able to tell before I start eating "I'm two, three, or four helpings hungry". I think this approach could be adapted. Observe your eating habits, reduce serving sizes and if feel the urge to break with your habit to get more servings than you would have gotten before the size reduction, you're really hungry, if you don't feel that urge, you're not really hungry, and in time you might be able to quantify your hunger, too.
Hey Dani! You might have answered this already, but for people who don't feel hungry very often, like, once a day, because of a past pattern of intermittent fasting, should you try to eat anyway to get out of that habit of fasting then bingeing? And if you do, like you mentioned in the video eating 3 x a day, then what if you start eating way too much? I'm just starting to admit that I have a messed up relationship with food and eating and I'm very excited to learn about intuitive eating, but I've got to say, it's actually a bit scary to let go of all that old conditioning. Looking forward to watching and hearing more from you.
This is something I am trying hard to do! I am curious about one thing: do you ever have a situation in which it's dinnertime and your family is ready to eat but you're not hungry yet? I want to sit down and enjoy dinner with my family but I'm not necessarily hungry enough that I would eat if I was on my own.
I think one of my biggest fears (dieting rule) that I am having a hard time letting go of, is the "eat every 2-3 hour so your metabolism doesn't slow down" rule. Will metabolism truly NOT suffer if you aren't eating on a time schedule?
How do you encourage intuitive eating for the family? I need to eat and fairly regular times, my two toddlers always claim to be hungry and my husband could go all day only eating once. Is there any hope for having family meals together when we're all only eating when we're hungry?
Hi Dani, What about the times when we are just starving constantly. I have had two days this week where I’ve been so hungry. At the moment I’m going with it , thinking ‘my body is telling me I need this extra fuel today ‘. It’s not something that happens often. Would love your input.
Thank you so much for the information, Dani! I do need to be better in tune with my biological hunger. Side question... it's camping season, and my husband and I will be camping with his family several times. Do you have any suggestions on clean & delicious snacks and meals that could be used when in the outdoors? I find that I often eat TERRIBLY when we go camping, mainly because my husband's family uses price as the primary driver for meal planning, versus actual ingredients. They enjoy cooking for everyone. By the end of the trip, I've eaten a lot of hot dogs, fried fish, and other junk. I don't want to insult them by not eating any of it, but I do pass on some. It would be lovely to have some better ideas that I could offer to cook up for them that are clean and delicious. That way I am not imposing any of my requests on them, but I'm in charge of the ingredients. Love your videos!
Hi Angie - I love a good camping trip! There are lots of great options you can make. Some of my favorites are turkey burgers, kebabs, any type of grilled chicken (drumsticks, thighs, breasts!), veggie kebabs, you can even bring along some easy peasy veggie burgers! As for snacks, I like to do baked chips, popcorn, pop chips - all the kinds of snacks that are fun to eat but slightly higher quality options. You can also bring a big bin of chopped veggie with some fun store bought dips like hummus, tzaziki and or babaganoush. I hope that helps a bit!
If you never feel hungry, honor that. Drink healthy fluids and simply don’t eat. Fast. Trust your body. Trust me, when you’re really hungry, you will feel it. Also- maybe your food choices aren’t nourishing to you. Introduce your body to better or more nourishing good choices so your body knows what to crave.
Thank you! I am finding this very informative. I was wondering, how I can apply this now that I've been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and there are certain foods I shouldn't eat as the inhibit the absorption of tyrosine?
I will feel hungry and believe but if I don't eat in relative short time frame of recognizing those eating cues, I then am not hungry. I can go long periods of not eating too while not feeling hungry. So, I will feed my kids in the morning and most of the time I won't eat due to not being hungry. Then we go for a walk where I'll start to feel hungry for a while, but don't have anything to eat. By the time I get home (1.5-2 hours later), I no longer feel hungry. So, do I eat when I'm no longer feeling hungry?
I Know this is about eating but if you could help with dealing with stress that would be great. I find even when I watch what I eat my weight can go up when I am stressed. I don't understand this.
It makes perfect sense because eating food does feel pleasurable and relaxing in the moment which absolutely gives us a momentary distraction from our stress. I would try researching some stress relieving techniques. I know things that help me are talking something out with a friend, going for walk, reading something that helps center me, and sipping hot tea. :)
Hi Dani - I have noticed that I also experience something I call “sugar hunger.” If my diet is high in refined carbs my hunger feels different than when it’s not. Sugar hunger feels more “urgent” to me, like what I imagine an addict feels when they need a “fix”. Weaning myself off sugar has helped me in the past know when I’m hungry for fuel vs. Hungry for a fix.
I think it's a bad rule that we aren't allowed to snack in class. Of course, noone should like eat an entire burger and distract everyone, but little snacks should be allowed imo.
It's TV!!!!!🤬🤬🤬 I could be sitting there minding myowndam busyness🤬....and a commerical for pizza will come on...wtf now I'm looking on Google lists and uber eats to see who will bring me a pizza....cause obviously I'm not getting up to go get it..... can't afford to lose my park👎😤
