In today’s diet-obsessed culture, it’s easy for people to lose touch with their bodies’ natural wisdom. We’re bombarded with messages about the latest fads, restrictive meal plans, and calorie-counting apps. This constant noise can drown out the very signals our bodies send us, the essential hunger and fullness cues that guide healthy eating.

But what if there was a way to reconnect with your intuition and ditch the diet mentality? This is where the intuitive eating hunger and fullness scale comes in. This powerful tool, a cornerstone of intuitive eating, empowers you to trust your body’s natural signals and have a healthy, balanced relationship with food and helps you reconnect with your innate cues. This isn’t another diet tool! It’s the key that helps you make peace with food, ditch the guilt and anxiety, and finally feel confident about your eating choices. 

Are you ready to break free from the diet cycle and reconnect with your inner wisdom?  In this blog post, we’ll explore the power of the intuitive eating hunger scale and how you can use it to reap its benefits. Let’s get to it! 

What is the Hunger Fullness Scale?

Dieting can disrupt your hunger fullness cues, leading to a disconnection from how our bodies naturally regulate food intake. Constantly counting calories, restrictive meal plans, and external rules can drown out our internal cues which causes a cycle of unhealthy eating habits such as ignoring hunger cues, misinterpreting fullness cues, or even Emotional eating. 

The scale is designed to guide you back to listening to your body, distinguishing between actual hunger cues and other triggers that may lead you to eat when you’re not truly hungry. It’s not a rigid set of rules, but rather a tool to help you reconnect with your body’s natural wisdom. The hunger scale 1-10 scale typically ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 representing ravenous hunger and 10 signifying uncomfortable fullness. 

By learning to identify where you fall on this scale throughout the day, you can make conscious eating choices based on your internal cues, not external pressures.

How to Use the Intuitive Eating Hunger Scale

The intuitive eating hunger scale is a simple tool, but it can be incredibly powerful in helping you develop a healthy relationship with food.  Here are the key steps to using it:

First Step: Identify Your Hunger Level Before Eating

Before reaching for food, take a moment to tune into your body and ask yourself, “Am I hungry?”. Ideally, you want to start eating when you’re somewhere between a 3 (gentle hunger) and a 5 (moderately hungry). This range signifies that your body is sending you signals it needs fuel, but you’re not ravenous and more likely to make mindful choices.

Second Step: Check-in Halfway

Halfway through your meal, pause for a moment. Ask yourself, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how hungry am I feeling right now?”  Are you still in that comfortable range of 3-5 on the hunger scale, or are you starting to feel closer to a 6 or 7 (comfortably full)?

This mid-meal check-in allows you to adjust your pace or portion size if needed.  If you’re still feeling pleasantly hungry, continue enjoying your food.  However, if you’re starting to feel comfortably full, this is a good sign to slow down or put your utensils down altogether. Remember, there’s no shame in leaving some food on your plate if you’ve reached a satisfied state. You can keep the leftovers for later, when hunger strikes again! 

Third Step: Feel and honor your fullness

As you eat, continue to check in with your body’s hunger cues. Notice the physical sensations that tell you you’re starting to feel full.  This might be a feeling of satisfaction in your stomach, a decrease in your appetite, or a slight feeling of fullness.  Aim to stop eating when you reach a comfortable fullness, around a 6 or 7 on the scale.

Remember, fullness is a natural and positive feeling. It’s your body’s way of telling you it has had enough energy for now.  Honoring your fullness cues prevents overeating and allows you to develop trust in your body’s ability to regulate itself.

Identifying Your Intuitive Eating Hunger Cues

While the hunger scale is a helpful tool, it’s important to recognize that feeling hungry doesn’t always manifest as a growling stomach. There are different types of hunger cues that your body uses to communicate its needs. We can identify 4 types of hunger: 

Physical Hunger

This is the most familiar type of hunger and often the easiest to identify. It’s a biological response triggered by your body needing fuel to function. Physical hunger often presents through a combination of physical sensations in your body, like stomach growling, rumbling, or emptiness. It can also manifest in headaches, stomachaches, or even irritability and low energy. 

Emotional Hunger

Emotional hunger is a bit trickier to identify because it’s driven by emotions rather than physical needs. We often turn to food for comfort, boredom relief, or to manage stress or negative emotions. It’s when you reach for that bag of cookies when you’re sad, or that bag of chips when you’re bored. Emotional hunger cravings often center around sugary or high-fat foods, which can provide a temporary mood boost but don’t offer sustained energy or address the underlying emotional issue. It can also drive you to eat even when you’re not physically hungry. It feels like nothing would ever satisfy you but that specific food.

Taste Hunger

Sometimes, the sight or smell of a particular food can trigger a craving, even if you’re not physically hungry. This type of hunger can be managed by practicing mindful eating and focusing on the enjoyment of the food itself. Remember that it’s perfectly okay to enjoy food simply because it’s appealing, even if you’re not experiencing strong physical hunger pangs.

Practical Hunger

Practical hunger isn’t quite the same as true hunger. It’s more like your body’s way of anticipating a future need for fuel. It arises when you haven’t eaten in a while and know you won’t have another chance to refuel soon, and your body tells you to eat to prevent future hunger pangs.

Identifying Fullness With Intuitive Eating

Just as important as recognizing hunger cues is learning to identify your body’s fullness signals. Intuitive eating emphasizes honoring these signals to prevent overeating and feeling uncomfortably full. But what exactly happens in your body to feel your fullness? Here’s a glimpse of the process: The moment you take a bite and food enters your stomach, The muscles surrounding your stomach take action, stretching to accommodate the incoming food.  As these muscles expand, nerves around your stomach fire up, sending messages to your brain that you’re filling up. But how to feel satisfied after eating? This is where mindful eating is key! By setting your intention for the meal, knowing your hunger and limiting distractions, you’d be setting the stage for fullness AND satisfaction! 

Here are some key signs that your body is telling you it’s time to stop eating:

• A full feeling in Stomach: This is a feeling of pleasant fullness, not uncomfortable distension. It’s more of a gentle pressure, rather than a tightness.

• Decrease in Appetite: As you eat and your body receives the fuel it needs, your appetite will naturally decrease. You may notice a lessening of cravings or a loss of interest in the food on your plate.
• Slowing Down or Putting Your Utensils Down: Pay attention to your eating pace. As fullness sets in, you may find yourself naturally slowing down your eating or taking breaks between bites. 

How honoring hunger and fullness helps your body

Tuning into your body’s hunger and fullness cues and using the hunger satiety scale benefits you in many different ways:

Optimal Digestion and Nutrient Absorption

When you practice gentle nutrition by eating in response to true hunger and stop at comfortable fullness, your digestive system isn’t overloaded. This allows your body to focus its energy on efficiently breaking down food and absorbing essential nutrients, promoting overall health and well-being.

Stable Blood Sugar Levels 

The constant cycle of restriction and overeating caused by ignoring hunger and fullness cues can lead to blood sugar spikes and crashes. However, honoring these signals allows for a more balanced approach to eating, resulting in steadier blood sugar levels throughout the day. This translates to sustained energy, improved focus, and reduced mood swings.

Reduced Cravings

When you consistently nourish your body with adequate food throughout the day, your blood sugar stays stable, and your body doesn’t feel the need to send out intense hunger pangs or cravings. This can help you avoid emotional or mindless eating, leading to more mindful and balanced food choices, as well as a healthier weight. 

Rebuilt trust in yourself and in food 

By letting go of restrictive diets and listening to your body’s wisdom, you break free from the cycle of guilt and deprivation. You learn to trust your body’s ability to regulate its needs, and food becomes a source of nourishment and enjoyment, not a source of anxiety or control.

Fewer disordered eating symptoms

Disordered eating encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy eating behaviors, often fueled by rigid dieting and a disconnect from your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals. When you start listening to your body, you would be improving your relationship with food, boosting body positivity and increasing self-esteem. 

How to start using the intuitive eating hunger scale

The hunger fullness scale intuitive eating is a powerful tool, but it takes practice to become familiar with it and integrate it into your daily routine. Here are some actionable steps to get you started:

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Scale: Spend some time getting comfortable with the concept. There are also visual representations you can find.
2. Check-in Before Eating: Before reaching for food, take a moment to pause and ask yourself, “Am I hungry?” Identify your hunger level on the scale. 
3. Practice Mindful Eating: Create a mindful eating experience. Sit down at a table, free from distractions, and focus on the act of eating itself.
4. Stop When Comfortably Full: Notice your body’s fullness cues. Aim to stop eating when you reach a comfortable fullness, around a 6 or 7 on the scale. 

Bottom Line

The hunger fullness scale isn’t a rigid ruler, but a tool to reconnect with your body’s natural wisdom and ditch the constant battle with food. 

Sure, there might be days when you eat a little more or less than you planned. No worries! Just be kind to yourself, learn from it, and keep going.  The more you practice with the hunger fullness scale, the cooler it gets. You’ll enjoy food more, trust your body better, and finally ditch the food obsession.

The Restore Program is designed to guide you through the mindful eating process, offering personalized support according to your body needs, practical tools, and a supportive community. Get on the waitlist here and take the first step towards a more mindful and fulfilling relationship with food!

Do you experience bloating, gas, abdominal pain, or diarrhea after eating? These symptoms could be indicative of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), a condition affecting millions worldwide. It represents a significant yet often overlooked gut health issue that impacts digestive efficiency and overall well-being. 

The small intestine plays a crucial role in digestion and nutrient absorption. However, an imbalance in the gut microbiome, with an excessive presence of bacteria in the small intestine, can disrupt this process and lead to SIBO. 

In this blog post, we’ll dive deeper into understanding SIBO, its impact on gut health, and effective strategies for managing it through diet and natural approaches. Let’s get to it! 

Understanding Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

SIBO is a digestive disorder where excessive bacteria from the large intestine migrate into the small intestine. This overgrowth can disrupt normal gut function, leading to uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, gas, abdominal pain, constipation, or diarrhea. SIBO can significantly impact your quality of life and overall health, making prompt diagnosis and treatment essential.

Understanding the types of SIBO and their respective symptoms is crucial for effective diagnosis and treatment. SIBO is primarily categorized based on the predominant gas produced by the overgrown bacteria in the small intestine. While the science is still evolving, SIBO is generally categorized into three main types:

Hydrogen-dominant

The most common form, where excess hydrogen-producing bacteria are present in the small intestine. Primary hydrogen SIBO symptoms include diarrhea, bloating and gas, and abdominal discomfort. 

Methane-dominant

This type of SIBO is often referred to as Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowth (IMO). It involves an overgrowth of archaea (a type of microorganism distinct from bacteria) that produce methane gas. Methane SIBO symptoms are often more specific and include constipation, bloating, and abdominal pain as well as weight gain. 

Hydrogen sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide SIBO is a proposed type of SIBO, suggested by some researchers, characterized by the production of hydrogen sulfide gas. It’s less understood than the other types, with ongoing research into its impact. 

How Do You Get Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth?

The path to developing SIBO often involves a combination of dietary habits, lifestyle factors, and medical conditions that disrupt the natural bacterial balance in the gut. Understanding these contributors can aid in prevention and tailored treatment approaches.

Causes and risk factors include: 

• Complications of abdominal surgery like gastric bypass and gastrectomy which can alter digestion and create environments conducive to bacterial overgrowth.
• Structural abnormalities in the small intestine, such as adhesions or diverticula, can create pockets where bacteria can accumulate.
• Underlying medical conditions including Crohn’s disease, radiation enteritis, IBS, celiac disease, diabetes…

Diagnosing SIBO

Diagnosing SIBO can be challenging due to its overlapping symptoms with other digestive disorders. The present benchmark for diagnosing SIBO involves jejunal aspirate samples through endoscopy. However, because this method is invasive, a sibo breath test using substrates like glucose or lactulose (LBT) has become a more common and preferred option. 

Breath tests measure the amount of hydrogen or methane gas exhaled after ingesting a specific sugar solution. A quick increase in the amount of hydrogen or methane gas you breathe out could be a sign of bacterial overgrowth. 

Treatment for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

SIBO Diet Plan: The Foundation of Treatment

While antibiotics are often the first line of defense against bacterial overgrowth, they may not provide a long-term solution. Because the bacteria can return after antibiotic treatment, a SIBO diet plan is crucial for lasting improvement:

• Limiting fermentable carbohydrates: These carbohydrates, like FODMAPs, are readily broken down by bacteria, potentially worsening SIBO symptoms.
• Focusing on easily digestible foods: Foods like cooked vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats are easier for the body to digest and reduce the burden on the digestive system.
• Tailoring the diet based on individual needs: Identifying and eliminating specific triggers through an elimination diet can further personalize the approach.

Adopting a SIBO-specific diet can significantly alleviate symptoms, improve nutrient absorption, and restore digestive health. Personalizing the diet according to your tolerances and nutritional needs is key to long-term management. Also, you can find tons of SIBO diet recipes online to make your life easier! 

Natural SIBO treatment options 

In addition to dietary adjustments, natural SIBO treatment by incorporating lifestyle modifications such as stress management, regular physical activity, herbs, and optimizing gut motility can enhance the effectiveness of SIBO treatment.

SIBO Diet Food List: What to Eat and Avoid

Here’s a SIBO diet food list as a guide if you’re following a SIBO diet meal plan. 

Comprehensive list of foods recommended for SIBO patients:

• Low-FODMAP vegetables: Leafy greens, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, and green beans.
• Low-FODMAP fruits: Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, oranges, and cantaloupe.
• All meats and poultry: Choose lean options and avoid processed meats.
• Healthy fats: Olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds.
• Fermented foods: Kefir, yogurt, and sauerkraut (in moderation).

Foods to avoid to prevent SIBO symptom flare-ups: 

• High-FODMAP foods: Wheat, dairy products, legumes, certain fruits and vegetables, and artificial sweeteners.
• Sugary drinks and processed foods: These can contribute to inflammation and worsen symptoms.
• Alcohol: Alcohol can disrupt gut motility and exacerbate SIBO.

SIBO, though challenging, can be effectively managed through a combination of dietary modifications, natural remedies, and lifestyle changes. Remember, this blog provides general information, and consulting with a qualified healthcare professional, including a registered dietitian, is crucial for personalized guidance and treatment. 

If you’re struggling with SIBO and looking for a structured, effective approach to restore your gut health, my Restore Program is perfect for you! Join the waitlist here.