The Ashes

That may sound like a stupid question, but for some of us it’s gotten a little distorted.

“Hunger is a physical cue that you need energy,”

It’s important to be mindfull about what you’re eating and why you’re eating. In the recovery process it can definitely help to be able to look at your hunger as something not born out of just desire, but rather out of necessity for the body to be able to run properly.  For me, a big part of my eating disorder was based around feelings of guilt and this desire to curb my own desires, but when I look at eating as a basic function of the body in order to run..ie, energy, it makes it a little easier to justify to my mind why I need to do it.

On that note, below are six stages of hunger that help identify when to eat and when not to…

Learn to identify your spot on the hunger scale:

Do you really know what hunger feels like? Before you can rein it in, you must learn to recognize the physical cues that signal a true need for nourishment. Prior to eating, use our hunger scale below to help figure out your true food needs:

Starving
An uncomfortable, empty feeling that may be accompanied by light-headedness or jitteriness caused by low blood sugar levels from lack of food. Binge risk: high.

Hungry
Your next meal is on your mind. If you don’t eat within the hour, you enter dangerous “starving” territory.

Moderately hungry
Your stomach may be growling, and you’re planning how you’ll put an end to that nagging feeling. This is optimal eating time.

Satisfied
You’re satiated, not full but not hungry either. You’re relaxed and comfortable and can wait to nosh.

Full
If you’re still eating, it’s more out of momentum than actual hunger. Your belly feels slightly bloated, and the food does not taste as good as it did in the first few bites.

Stuffed
You feel uncomfortable and might even have mild heartburn from your stomach acids creeping back up into your esophagus.