Intuitive Eating for Eating Disorder Recovery: Honoring Your Hunger

Many people consider the act of honoring your hunger to be the backbone of intuitive eating — the idea that you eat only when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. What could be more intuitive than that? 

But wait: What is intuitive eating? 

As a reminder, intuitive eating is a non-diet, evidence-based framework to healing your relationship with food and your body. The idea is to move away from restrictive and disordered eating patterns as you adopt a more compassionate approach to eating, exercise, and body image. 

Intuitive eating has been thoroughly researched, proving its effectiveness for eating disorder recovery. Although individuals often adopt it for weight loss (and then complain that it doesn’t work!), it’s important to note that it’s not intended for this purpose. Rather, it’s meant to help people better recognize their hunger and fullness cues and ultimately find freedom in their eating habits and body concerns.

So what can get in the way of authentically honoring your hunger?

First, a lot of us simply ignore our hunger cues. 

Whether you’re dieting or struggling with disordered eating behaviors, you may feel your stomach rumbling but choose to ignore it or “wait it out.” You may also unintentionally push away your appetite, perhaps due to a busy day or not having food readily available. Over time, this behavior can naturally throw off energy regulation signals in the body and make hunger cues less reliable. 

Other times, you may numb out to your hunger cues. 

In this case, it’s not that you’re feeling it and ignoring it. Instead, your repeated disordered eating behaviors have actually suppressed your appetite. This choice, whether intentional or not, is typically caused by a heavy workload or high levels of focus and productivity as well as strong, intense emotional experiences, like anxiety, depression, or sadness. These occurrences disconnect us from the body, disrupting our internal cues. For reference, if you’re going longer than four or five hours without food, you’re most likely experiencing suppressed appetite. 

The third and final reason you may be missing your hunger cues is because you’re afraid to feel full. 

You may think that feeling full is a sign you’ve eaten too much; maybe you dislike it because it makes your stomach feel too big. If fear is present, you tend to eat just enough to not be hungry, which often leads to thinking about food or feeling hungry again after only two to three hours. This behavior creates a loop of never feeling satisfied with your appetite. 

If you find yourself in one of these situations, there are ways to restore more appropriate hunger and fullness cues.

To start, tune into your awareness around food and your body. Follow your body’s natural rhythm of blood glucose: Eat breakfast within an hour or two of waking up and then set a meal routine every four to five hours after that. Pay attention to how satisfied you feel after eating. Typically, after four to six weeks of a solid schedule, your body will adapt to your new eating habits and start sending hunger and fullness cues as needed.

It’s also important to understand your atypical hunger cues. If you don’t feel your stomach rumbling, what other ways does your body tell you that you need food? You may find yourself yawning frequently or struggling to focus. There are other ways that your body alerts you to your hunger; it’s your job to recognize them.

Want to know more about intuitive eating for eating disorder recovery? Check out our Intuitive Eating Series on YouTube!

To talk to a professional about eating disorder treatment, please reach out to our staff or schedule an appointment at The Kahm Clinic today.