How would you like to get through this festive season eating what you like but without feeling guilty? What if you could step on to the scales on the 5th January and you are the same weight you were on the 5th December?
Well you can, welcome to the hunger scale.
At this time of the year we often tend to ignore the signal that tells us we have had enough to eat and often find ourselves eating to the stage where we feel stuffed or nauseous. It’s so easy to eat with your eyes and ignore your mind. But before you take another bite of that pavlova or cheesecake ask yourself the following questions to bring yourself into a conscious state of mind:
- are you hungry at all, do you need to eat this
- when will you have your next meal or snack
- how many kilojoules/calories have you consumed already
- are you eating for other reasons than hunger
- how will you feel in the morning
The hunger scale has been designed to allow you to assess exactly where you are on this scale at any point in time and then allows you to choose what action you will take.
- Light headed,starving, empty
- Ravenous
- Very Hungry, stomach is growling
- Hunger Pangs, ready to eat
- Comfortable, satisfied, neutral
- Satisfied – have no desire to eat
- Perfectly comfortable – could eat something small
- Full, a bit uncomfortable
- Uncomfortably full, have that bloating feeling
- Very uncomfortably full, clothes feeling tight nauseous
You should eat only when you feel 1,2,3 or 4 however beware of waiting until you are 1 or 2 since you will tend to eat quickly and mindlessly. The best time to eat is when you are at 4. Put your fork down at 6 or 7 and ask yourself the question at this point – do I need to eat any more?
It can be so easy to eat to 8,9,10 over the festive season. Bear in mind that the more you eat the more your body wants, your tummy expands and before you realise it you have put on a couple of kgs.
This Christmas do yourself a favour and eat whatever you like but always with the hunger scale in mind.