the first key

eat when you are hungry

Eat when you are hungry. Don't wait until you are very very hungry or starving. If you have no idea when you are hungry, do not eat. It means you aren't hungry. You may have messed about so much with your hunger signals that you have to relearn about them again. In either case, do not eat unless you feel hunger pangs. Learning to discover your hunger signals can take a bit of practice and a lot of attention. Your aim is to get your hunger signals to work as clearly as the one that tells you when to pee. This signal tells you that: Sometimes you need to pee a lot. Sometimes there's just a trickle. Whatever the volume, your body tells you and you respond. So too with hunger. Your hunger signals can tell you that: Sometimes your body will want to eat a lot. Sometimes your body wants just a little. It isn't always the same and there may not be a pattern. But whatever the amount your body needs, it can give you the right signal.

hints

The hunger mechanism will be there if you let it emerge and then treat it right when it does. Some people feel hunger in their belly. Some in their chest. Some in their throat. As long as you don't interrupt the process by eating before you feel it, you'll get your personal eating before you feel it, you'll get your personal signal, the one that lets you know it is time for you to eat.

if you are not used to recognising your hunger, don't despair; there are reasons...

Perhaps you don't know when you are hungry because:

you eat before you get hungry

you eat because everyone else is eating

you eat because you are miserable, weepy, angry

you eat because you are happy

you eat because you passed a bakery with wonderful smells

you eat because it's mealtime

you eat because you feel fat and helpless

you eat because you're bored

you eat the food your child left over

Sometimes we can be afraid to feel our hunger. The very sensation frightens us and so we eat in advance of it or try to ignore it.

That can happen because as children:

We didn't have enough food.

We were taught by our mothers to clear our plates as there are starving people in the world, whether we wanted to or not. We sensed disapproval from others if we said we weren't hungry. Eating was a daily shared family activity we had to share in.

These keys will help you find out the personal emotional reasons why hunger is something you might be reluctant to feel. Knowing these reasons clears the way for you to use your hunger to guide your eating.