Tune in to Your Hunger Signals

Hello Everyone! I apolgize for not sending this out last Friday - I was in Boston at a conference and didn't return until Saturday night. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Tune in to Your Hunger Signals
Mind Hunger vs. Body Hunger
Adapted from Prevention.com (6/10/2011)

Today, most of us know where our next meal is coming from, yet our reaction to hunger has not evolved with our convenience-centered world. This is why even the thought of being hungry may send you running to the nearest cupboard or corner store to find sustenance.

If you want to lose weight, however, you must tune into your body's signal to eat. "Hunger is a physical cue that you need energy,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of the Flexitarian Diet. It can be your best weight loss ally, and if you listen to your body you'll instinctively feed it the right amount. Fall out of touch though, and hunger becomes weight loss enemy number one: you may eat more than you need or get too hungry and increase out-of-control cravings.

Here are six tips to help you spot hunger and eat to stay satisfied:

1. Use the hunger scale.

Do you know what hunger really 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 the jitters. This feeling is caused by low blood sugar levels. Binge risk: high.

Hungry: Your next meal is on your mind. If you don't eat within the hour, you enter the 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 eat.

Full: If you're still eating, it's more out of momentum that 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.

2. Refuel every 3-4 hours.

Still can't tell what true hunger feels like? Set your watch. Moderate to full- fledged hunger (our ideal window for eating) is most likely to hit 4 to 5 hours after a balanced meal. Waiting too long to eat can send you on an emergency hunt for energy – and the willpower to make healthy choices plummets. "Regular eating keeps blood sugar and energy stable, which prevents you from feeling an extreme need for fuel,” says Kate Geagan, RD, author of Go Green Get Lean: Trim Your Waistline with the Ultimate Low-Carbon Footprint Diet (Rodale, 2009).

3. Eat breakfast without fail.

A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition tracked the diets of nearly 900 adults and found that when people ate more food in the morning (including protein & fat), they stayed more satisfied and ate less over the course of the day than those who ate their bigger meals later on. Unfortunately many people start off on an empty stomach. In one survey, consumers reported that even when they eat in the morning, the meal is a full breakfast only about one-third of the time.

4. Build low-cal, high-volume meals.

Solid foods that have a high fluid content can help you suppress hunger. "When we eat foods with high water content like vegetables, versus low water–content foods like crackers and pretzels, we get bigger portions for fewer calories,” says author Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan and a professor of nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University. Bottom line: You consume more food but cut calories at the same time. Rolls found a similar effect in foods with a lot of air.

Tips:
• Start dinner with a salad, or make it your meal (be sure to include protein, such as lean meat, beans or tofu).
• Choose fresh fruit over dried. For around the same amount of calories, you can have a whole cup of grapes or a measly three tablespoons of raisins.

5. Include healthy protein at each meal.

When researchers at Purdue University asked 46 dieting women to eat either 30% or 18% of their calories from protein, the high-protein eaters felt more satisfied and less hungry. Plus, over the course of 12 weeks, the women preserved more lean body mass, which includes calorie-burning muscle.

Tips:
• Have protein such as egg whites, chunk light tuna, lean beef or skinless chicken at each meal.
• Incorporate beans into your meals. Black beans, chickpeas, and edamame (whole soybeans) are low in fat, high in fiber, and packed with protein.

The journey to a healthier lifestyle is never easy or straightforward – it's packed with obstacles that we must strive to overcome. By tuning into our hunger signals and eating foods that keep us satisfied, we can maintain healthy eating habits long term. Developing these habits can help us get through situations that throw us off track. Remind yourself that no matter what happens, you can and WILL succeed on this journey! Feel empowered by the fact that you're working towards a healthier you. Although the road may not be easy, the successes along the way make it worthwhile. You CAN accomplish your goals!

Dr. Doug