Wellness Myths

MYTH: Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full

Season 3 Episode 4

"Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full”… simple, right? Well, it sure doesn’t feel like it for most of us!

This week Vanessa is interviewing her co-host Emily who alongside being an RD is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor! Emily has expertise in breaking down both hunger and fullness cues and is here to share all the nuances around this topic.

Expect to learn about the different types of hunger, boredom eating, and mindful eating techniques to help bring back your inner wisdom of the body’s natural process of eating.

Emily is currently accepting clients for 1:1 nutrition counseling ++ intuitive eating counseling and can be reached via her website at www.emilyraewellness.com

You can learn more about becoming a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor here.


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You can find a computer generated show transcript at https://wellnessmyths.com

heinous. HeyEm So today we're going to talk all about hunger and fullness cues. And while we were setting this up, I was just thinking about how hungry you must be, because you just got home from work and we're I am really hungry. Like I have no promises people. I hope. I mean, hopefully Madras edits the shit out of this, but like, I don't know what's going to come out of my mouth. It might be weird. I am extremely hungry. I was just looking at my phone. Thumb was overhead and it was like, I feel like, this is going to make the conversation be like even better though, because you have like a real life example of not listening to your hunger cues or having to ignore them. And we're going to dive into like every. Aspect of hunger and fullness today. So I think it'll actually be a good thing. And this is a great reminder to everyone that yes, we are dietitians. Yes. We know what to do, but some days it, we don't quite meet the mark and that's okay. Because we're all human. Totally. Oh, that's per that's just going to go into all my messaging so, well, I'm excited. Okay. Let's get into it. Welcome to wellness Smith. So today we are going to be deep diving into intuitive eating. So for those of you who don't know, Emily is actually a certified, intuitive eating counselor. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. Okay, great. I got a little nervous that I got her credentials wrong for a moment. so we're going to be talking all about hunger and fullness and just in case anyone's wondering certified, intuitive eating counselors, go through training with the creator of intuitive eating while one of them Evelyn Tripoli, and we attend. Virtual seminars. And we have supervision where we discuss cases with clients. We have a whole workbook, we read the book, we take tests. So there's a lot that kind of goes into being a certified, intuitive eating counselor therapists can do it. Dieticians can do it. Acupuncturists can do it even just your regular person that isn't in healthcare can do it, but you'll just be. Lay facilitator. I believe the word is so anyways, everybody can do it. If you just wanted to even further your knowledge, it would be kind of interesting. We'll leave like a little link down in our show notes about being an intuitive eating counselor to. But what I really want to say before we start is intuitive. Eating is oftentimes boiled down to this really rudimentary view of like eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. And pretty much like, whenever I talk to me, I'll be like, do you know what intuitive eating is? And they're like, Yeah. right. It's like when you eat, when you're hungry and stop, when you're full, like, okay. Yeah, it is. And we spend a lot of times being like, no, it's, it's so much deeper than that, but truly a hunger and fullness are. Core tenants to intuitive eating. And it's also kind of the most accessible where people start to implement it into their lives. The other principals are a little more esoteric, like challenging the food police and you know, incorporating joyful movement. And those things are just kind of less practical than like, okay, how does. You know, engage with our hunger and fullness cues. And really intuitive eating is not so much a framework, but like it's a return to your natural state of being. So everything is really individualized for you. So yeah, I guess those are just my disclaimers before we start talking, Yeah. And I think, I mean, we did a whole podcast on this very early on. I think this is one of, one of our first ones, it was our first episode. both that yeah, we talked about a lot of misconceptions within. Because one thing that people popularly think is I can't do that because I'll just eat cupcakes all day, or I'll just eat things that are really not good for me or junk food all day long. And it's really interesting that people believe this about themselves and. Usually not true. Most people don't actually behave like that, but people actually have those thoughts about themselves. Like if I'm left to my own devices, I'll just, I'll lead everything. I'll eat everything that I'm not supposed to. Yeah. And it's really like a lot of times from that learned experience of like you're in this restricts binge cycle where you're like, okay, I'm not going to eat anything. I'm going to be. Quote unquote good today and not eat this certain food. And it's like, okay, well, yeah, but you're going to eat that food eventually. So how can we create something where it's supportive of you eating all the foods all the time? Including, you know, we call it, play food, intuitive eating rather than junk food. And like also the food that you're eating, that's, you know, doing the work of your body, like functioning your basic organs and supporting you, living your life. So for people that are interested in intuitive eating what should they look for in their bodies? When we think of. Or queues. So, you know, short of their belly grumbling, or those really obvious things w what do people need to look. Yeah, definitely the obvious, like you said, like, okay, you feel your stomach growling those things that were kind of like all aware of. And even when that starts to happen, sometimes we've gone too far Right? Like we almost want to hit it before we have like this super primal hunger is what we call it, reaction where you're like, oh my God, I just need any kind of food. It doesn't matter what it is. So sometimes. today. Yeah, Vanessa is in primal hunger literally right now. And I don't know, like, I think it's kind of good to unpack that because. When we're in that primal hunger state, we need something fast. And a lot of the times that's not like your full nourishing dinner and people S you know, stop on the way home at the grocery store and get like a bag of chips or something like that. Like, oh, let me get like a small snack. And it's like, yeah, the intention there is really good. Like you're taking care of the body. You're like, I'm hungry. I need to eat something. And then people find that the ate the whole bag and they're like, oh my God, I can't believe I ate this whole bag of chips. I'm so out of control around chips, this is horrible, whatever it, well, you were primally hungry, which means that you weren't able to think, right. You weren't in touch with your hunger cues. So I think right off the bat, we can say once we've been into that too far zone, Everything's off the table. We can't like eat intuitively really and listen to hunger or even fullness at that point because we've gone too, far. So I think it's good to keep that in mind and not like, and avoid over-indexing when we experienced food. When we're this hungry, right? Like not thinking. Okay. Just because I ate this huge amount of potato chips when I was primarily hungry, that means that's me and potato chips. Like that's my relationship when really, it was just about how hungry You were. Right. Well, and glucose or carbohydrates. That's what our brain loves. That's your brain's main source of fuel. So especially when you're that hungry, your brain is going to be like, oh, wow, this is great. This feels good. totally. Yup. And you're doing a decent thing for your body. It's just, oh, you don't want to eat 600 calories of potato chips because now you can't eat your dinner and like that. For a lot of reasons. And you might not feel the greatest after you eat 600 calories of potato chips. I don't know. That may or may not be true for you, but so, Yeah, Going back to like things that you can kind of, identify before you get too hungry when we're talking about physical hunger, you might feel. You know, decrease in mental clarity, you might start to have a headache. You might feel a little slow to react. You might start to feel like just those beginning hunger pains in your stomach, you might feel a sense of lightness. And those are kind of all things that we can look for. And I think for the most part, people are like pretty understanding. Those things. It's just learning to recognize when we really need to nurse ourselves versus waiting too long. And then we're getting in that primal space. Yeah, mood changes I'm hangry. You don't want to get hangry. That's the main thing. And I think that's, this is kind of a good time to talk about how there's four different types of hunger. There's physical hunger, which is what we kind of just talked about. And then there's emotional hunger taste and practical. Emotional hunger is when, you know, you might be boredom eating. We're going to talk a lot about that a little bit later. Or maybe, you know, you're eating for nostalgia or say you know, you have like kind of a, you're using food as a coping mechanism. And then we have taste hunger, which is when, like, I love to use the example of like you order dessert, even though you're completely full, right. You're physically satiated, but you're like, oh, I just want to taste dessert. So I decided to Well, there's always another compartment for desserts Yes. right? That's just how, That's what I always. Yeah. We're dieticians. Like we know that. I know the anatomy and I'm pretty sure that's what it is.. and Lastly, we have practical hunger, which is when you might not be feeling physically hungry at all, but you're like, I know that I have to eat. So we sort of already covered the physical hunger cues. Like those hunger pangs, the growling and your stomach. Emotional hunger would be like, you're feeling as though you. need some sort of comfort. We have like a whole episode devoted to emotional eating. So I'm not going to go like too far into that topic. That was so long ago. I almost forgot we recorded one of those. I know, I think it's called like emotional eating is never okay. Or something like that. Because it that's the myth because it I'm like brilliant name. Brilliant. Brilliant. That was amazing. But it's a really good episode and it'll dive way more into emotional eating. So if that's what you're here for, then you should go with that one. But taste hunger cues would be Like, oh, that looks really good. You're excited to try a new food or a different food, especially in like a restaurant environment. This comes into play a lot. Or if you're bored and you're like, oh, I'm looking for something like pleasurable to experience right now. It's sort of like a blend of the taste and emotional hungers. But it's one of those things where it's like, I personally never want like fruit as a late night snack. Like I'm Linda. And I'm like, yeah, I'm definitely using my taste hunger. like I want something like vegan mini corn dogs, or like French fries with me. And then lastly, we have practical hunger, which it's kind of difficult to say what the hunger cues are for those, because those really come out of practicality rather than a physical sensation or a desire. And that's like, when you wake up in the morning, you might not feel super hungry, but you know, you can't eat for a few hours until you get a break at work. So you have your Greek yogurt or your granola, your oatmeal or whatever. And you make sure that you feel yourself because if you don't. Yeah. Things will go poorly and then you'll be in primal hunger mode. So practical, practical hunger is really just there to avoid primal hunger. At times we might not be feeling super. We may not be feeling like we have the biggest appetite. So I think that's something people have a hard time with. Most people understand when they feel hungry. I think, you know, sometimes there are issues with not feeling hungry and then not eating and that kind of spiraling, but most people understand, like my stomach's growling, I'm starting to feel crabby. I'm headed, whatever the cue they're getting. It's pretty evident that that is hunger. I think something people really struggle with is fullness. What should I look forward to feel full? Should I gauge by my plate. Should I only eat half? Should I eat less than my partner? Does that mean I'm full? Should I wait until I feel like I'm going to puke? These are all awesome questions. yeah. So, talk a little bit about. Yeah. So there's physical sensations of fullness. Your belly might feel a little larger. You might have a sense of heaviness. Those hunger pangs will have vanished and hopefully you have a feeling of satisfaction. And I think this is really important to note that. You know, fullness cues are going to vary depending on the type of hunger. So it's like, okay, if you know, you have practical hunger, maybe you're like, all right, this seems like a pretty decent amount of oatmeal for me to eat in the morning. I'm using oatmeal because that's what I eat because I don't really actually like oatmeal very much. So like when my, I want, I actually really dislike it. But I have cardiac disease in my family and I'm like not trying to mess with that. So I'm trying to eat my oatmeal as much as I can. And So I usually tend to eat it when I'm feeling practical hunger, because I'm like, all right, this seems like a serving size of oatmeal to me. Right? Like I fill up about half a small Mason jar, add some fruit on it, whatever. And I go so then when I, I'm not really looking for an intense fullness cue, if I'm eating practical hunger, I'm just looking from it and like an, okay. This was like you know, three, 400 calorie breakfast. This is enough food to get me going for the day. So. You know, you might not constantly feel, or you might not feel super full from that. When you're having tastes or emotional hunger, right. Those fullness cues aren't really at play either. So then that's really important to know because we won't use fullness cues to decide when we'll stop eating. We'll use satisfaction. Emotionally and taste-wise and I, that's something that people that gets really confusing for people because they're like, well, like I just supposed to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. And Yeah. like that can be true to a certain extent, but it's really only extremely true for physical hunger. And that's when you'll get that like fullness in your belly, the hunger, Pang, Spanish, all of that stuff that we just mentioned. So I think it's important to kind of sit with yourself and be like, okay, why did I eat this in the first place? What am I doing? Nourishing myself, in which way am I doing that? And then it'll help you kind of decide how much do I need of this food. And one is like the time when I can stop eating. And like you said, it's like, okay, There's a lot of things that you interpret as hunger or fullness cues that have nothing to do with your body or how you inherently feel. And you know, that might be time and might be like, oh, 12 o'clock that's lunchtime. That's when you get your break, that's when you have to eat. And of course everybody has these different stipulations and you might be able to change that. You might not there's judgments on food, like food policing, like, oh, I can only eat this many crackers. So, you know, I must be full after this. And is everyone else eating or is no one else hungry like that comparison, but I see you mentioned like it, should I eat more than my partner? Whatever. I hear that a lot. Well, and I feel like, especially in like heterosexual relationships, Typically the woman feels like her partner should be eating more than her. And that's just not always true. I mean, just because, you know, even if they're clerk needs are typically more than yours, if they are maybe. A less the rest of the day. Maybe you ate less yesterday. Maybe you worked out today. There's just so many factors that go into it. So you definitely shouldn't be looking at other plates and comparing yours. That can be a deep dark hole to go down in. I remember even personally I used to like eating out or something. If I didn't eat my whole meal. Better about myself, even if I left hungry or even if I still left really full, if I had leftovers, I was like, oh, I just did something good. Like I should get a gold star because I didn't eat all my which is crazy. But you know, you know, a lot of people are leaving the dinner table or leaving the restaurant with those fields. definitely. And I think whether it's your partner or whether, especially as people are starting to work in person a little bit more people love talking about food. They love talking about dieting and that's a whole other conversation, but you know, there's So much comparison in that. In that space. And I think that what our listeners can watch out for is that. Are you hungry? Are you full, like, look at yourself, try not to look at all of these externalities because the externalities are what pulls you away from your inherent wisdom and knowledge on what you need. And of course, some of it's like, truly ask yourself, am I hungry? Am I full? And then it's taking all that critical thinking, getting into account, like the practical and the taste, hunger, emotional hunger. But none of them. Includes like, did the person next to you eat more than you? Like that's, that's just not really something that's going to help. You have a better relationship with hunger and fullness. And when we don't listen to hunger and fullness, the unfortunate thing is our relationship with that gets really screwy. Like. You know, folks with anorexia who haven't eaten regularly for a long time, it's very difficult for them to become back in touch with hunger and fullness. And I don't think you really need an anorexic diagnosis to even have sort of a separated relationship with that. But if you're somebody who's been, you know, following a calorie counting app or. You know, eating just when you kind of logically think rather than getting into that feeling space in the body, then it might be really challenging for you to access these feelings. And so just giving yourself grace with that. So what if you're someone who consistently feels like every time I eat, I feel like I'm eating past fullness and I don't know how to fix that. So I'm eating past the point where I feel comfortable. And I'm not sure what to do. I'm just so used to doing that. Yeah. So my number one thing for this is how distracted are you while you're eating? And it's really not about like, oh, you have to have every single meal without distraction at all. But I think Probably like 1% of the population that's currently eating their meals without their phone, without a book without TV, without a friend. Like literally when do you ever eat a meal like that? Where you're just sitting and eating nobody. But it could be worth it to try that out and see how it feels and notice these different tendencies in yourself and notice. The sensations of the food it's can be really helpful because lots of times we're just blowing right past that subtle cue. So if you have some meals with no distraction, just to kind of flex that muscle and learn how to actually listen to the body that can. You can apply that information when you're in a meal setting with other people, with distractions, all of that, you can kind of have that skill, like, oh yeah. I remember when I ate by myself and I realized that like my stomach started feeling like this when I was too full or it might be a conversation you need to have with yourself that, Hey, there's always more, if you grew up with food insecurity, If you grew up with, you know, a parent guardian that was really diet, obsessed, and was really on top of you all the time about eating and how much you were eating. If you have history of disordered eating, that's all gonna play into it. So knowing that. You kind of have to examine your own history and thinking, okay, why am I rushing to eat all of this? You know, what's the root of this problem? Do I think that I'm not going to be able to get this food again? Is that true? Is that false? Right? Like if we always blow past the fullness cues and eating cake. Okay. Well, do we not allow ourselves to eat cake normally? If the answer is yes, then, you know, the body can really easily go off the rails with it because it's just so excited. Like you finally got to eat. Yeah. And I think in a lot of situations, even just like giving yourself. Reminder, like I can have this tomorrow, like actually saying that to yourself. Obviously, you know it, but sometimes you have to give yourself an extra reminder that this is going to be here tomorrow and I can enjoy it tomorrow, yeah. And even telling yourself, like, listen, you can make this again. Like it feels in the moment sometimes, like you're like, oh my God, like, you know, The S I know we, we make this lemon dill tofu thing, and it's really good. It sounds like it's the. You know, really like light meal, but it's like double battered and we like spray it with oil and put it in the oven. They're air fried or something, and it's so good. And every time I'm like, wow, like I love this. And I think like, I have to tell myself really, like, I can make this again tomorrow if I want, like, if like, you know, I don't need to like rush to eat all of this or like, make sure I get enough. So like Matt doesn't eat at all. I can tell myself like, Relax, you can always make it tomorrow. And when we're dealing with people who are food secure, that's true. You can make that tomorrow. You can have that food again. And so whether do I ever actually make it the next day and no, of course not because I get tired of eating it. You know, usually that's the case, but really giving yourself that full permission to eat all foods at any time, it can help with that issue too. But everyone has a different reason why they blow past fullness. Sometimes it can even be like, Hey, it's kinda sad to stop eating. Like it really is. Fun thing to stop eating because you were having a good time. You know, if you were having a bad day and you start eating ice cream, that's like the best part of your day and you don't want that to be over. And then I think, you know, that becomes a deeper, more like therapeutic conversation of like, are you. Maybe not experiencing enough pleasure in your life. Are you somebody who has a hard time letting go of a fun experience to move on? Or is there any sort of emotional component with that too? So I think that's another. Thing to remember and to remember that. Yeah. Sometimes it's just about acknowledging that, like, yeah, it sucks. I'm kind of physically full and I know if I eat more, I'll be too full and that won't be fun. So sometimes it's coming to terms with that with yourself and then other times it's like, okay, what other fun thing can I go do? Like how can you meet that need without overindulging in food to the point where you feel. Well, and I think too, I, I don't, I think this was on one of the first podcasts we did about intuitive eating, an example that you used was. Eating ice cream for you. And it was like, you used to, you know, eat a whole bowl of ice cream or whatever it was, but then you realized after a certain number of bites, you weren't even tasting it. It just tasted cold and like triggering into those kinds of things. Like sometimes we almost convince ourselves, like, I love this and you can make yourself think you love something. Even when you don't. Or just because you used to love it. And sometimes, you know, when you're actually sitting there and tasting it, you're like, wait a minute. Like this isn't that. right. And that can come even from like putting food on a pedestal like that, like, oh, you know, this is such a. You know, bad food. I can't eat too much of this. It becomes like the forbidden fruit type of thing where you're like, oh my God, of course, I'm going to eat so much of this every time. And that happens sometimes. Like, it's not like, you know, I never overeat. That's. That's not possible. You aren't able to answer everybody Q perfectly every single time. Like it's just, the system is not meant to work that way. And a lot of the times I think that uncomfortable sensation that we get afterwards, people have so much guilt associated with that. And instead of using it as guilt, like. I see, like, you know, you better learn your lesson, you ate too many Oreos and you know, this is just terrible. You better not do that again. It's like, what if we approach that instead with like, oh, wow. Like, this is how I feel when I do that. And maybe I can use that as guidance next time. And guess what? You might make the exact same decision next time and still eat too many. Or I was like, you're just learning and figuring it out. And it's not easy to do this because we are so twisted up in diet culture and twisted up. You know, really society and the way that we view hunger and fullness and when it's time to eat and when it's time to stop, it's not inherent in our world. So you're really pushing back against a lot in this space. And so, really acknowledging that and knowing that. it might be challenging to do this, even though it seems so. So as always, we like to leave you guys with some nice practical tips. So we actually have a couple of listener questions, but first I want Emily, can you give. People, some practical tips that they can start. yes. I recommend everybody try eating with zero distraction that is going to teach you so much about your eating habits. It's not even funny. And sometimes it really just takes like literally one meal because we are so removed from it that like even experiencing this one time, it's like, whoa, this is so crazy. I'm thinking about what types of hunger are at play when you're eating. That one meal with no distractions and noticing everything about your food. Sometimes if we're eating for taste hunger and we're distracted, we blow right past uncomfortably full because we're not paying attention, right? Like we're not actually feeding the taste hunger. If we're eating something for the pleasure of eating and distracted during it, it's not going to work. That satisfaction is never going to hit. You're going to keep trying to eat more food and it's just not going to go well. Okay. So trying out a meal with no distractions. And then really when you're eating, think about what type of hunger is at play, emotional, physical, practical, and taste. It might be a blend. And also your fullness cues when you're starting to be done with whatever food experience that you're having. Okay. So I want to get into a couple of listener questions. You ready for this sun? Absolutely. I'm excited. Okay. So the first one is, how do you tell the difference between wanting to eat because of boredom or. This is a great That's a good So yeah, it really is because. People are like, oh my God, I'm so bored. Like, I'll just eat something. So what I want to ask this person is why are you bored? And can we address that with something differently than food? Like maybe you're watching something that you're not really enjoying on TV. You're looking for something else to do. Can we just flip the chair? Like, maybe it's just that you're bored. Maybe can you just go do something else? And there's kind of like a little. Bit of nuance here as there is everything, because, you know, I don't want to be like, oh, you're not hungry. You're just bored. Okay. If you're feeling physical hunger, pangs, of course you're hungry. That's bottom line. Whenever you're feeling physical hunger cues, you are hungry. You listened to them. That's it. There's nobody here. You know, everyone has this inherent knowledge and wisdom and listening to their body. It's just how we choose to respond. So if you're feeling physical hunger, then you know, I'm hungry. If you're feeling the hunger, pangs, you're feeling decreased, mental clarity, all that. So I think when you are feeling like, oh, is this hunger, is this boredom? Well, I'm not really feeling my personal hunger cues then. Okay. Can I try addressing my boredom a different way? If that doesn't work, then maybe try it. Right. Give yourself a amount of food that you feel like would maybe help you pay attention to the food, for sure. Because if you're looking for something interesting, you might as well be very present in that experience and then maybe the food will help you. But there's probably a lot of other things that you could be doing rather than meeting a biological need with food, that address boredom. And that goes for any emotion. I love that point that you made of, if you're bored. I have something interesting, like get, get into something that's going to stimulate your mind then, you know, don't, if you're already bored, don't just like my mindlessly throw some popcorn back. I mean, we all do it once in a while and that's okay. But if it's something you're doing consistently, yeah. Occupy your the problem is the problem is it's not addressing the root cause of the issue. It's just kind of like, band-aiding it like, oh, if I like eat something, that'll be interesting for a little bit. So then I can stop being bored. And it's not like, oh, the goal. I sometimes I struggle with this because it sounds like we're trying to be like, oh, well, don't eat, you know, like always just try something else. It almost feels like that. Like stupid thing. That's always like, if you're hungry, just drink a glass of water first and like, see if that stops it. You bet. You're probably thirsty. It's not that it's just that, I don't know if eating popcorn will solve your boredom every time. You're just not really meeting your emotional need in the appropriate way, if we use food in that situation sometimes. So it's, it's really individual, but I hope that. Yeah, you're doing yourself a disservice and multiple. Right. Exactly. And you might've already had like a big dinner that night and then that's not really, you know, then you might feel uncomfortable. Maybe if you haven't eaten a lot that day, you have a little more like room and you're not feeling super full. Then you can experiment with that a little bit more, but regardless, it's not gonna completely occupy your mind if you're truly being. Okay, the next one is kind of long. So buckle up. Are you ready? So I still struggle with my hunger cues and knowing when to stop eating slash the difference between being hungry in the urge to eat, especially when I'm bored or anxious. The more, I question it and pick at it. Am I hungry? Am I not? It tends to spiral into almost another disordered thought where I'm hyper focused on food. So then I just default to saying yes, just eat, but then I'm too full and feel sick. And I wish I wouldn't have eaten. That's what is so complex. And I really. is, it has multiple parts. And I really thank you to the person who sent this because it's, it's very rude. there really is. So, the first part, when we're talking about struggling with hunger cues, knowing when to stop eating the difference between being hungry and the urge to eat you know, I think those types of hunger, the explanation of the different types of hunger is really going to help this person. And especially with the anxiety, that's definitely a time when we do practical hunger. A lot of people can't eat when they're practic or when they're anxious. And so then we look at nutritionist self-care and we're like, okay, we need to like, get some food into The body, like something that's palatable and easy to eat. But if you're an anxious overeater then this is kind of like the unfortunate answer where we're like, we need to deal with the underlying anxiety because. We can try to use different things to cope with it, but unfortunately, that feeling isn't going to go away and food is like our previous listener's question. Food is sort of the band-aid for that. So I think just being kind of conscious of what those underlying issues are and seeing, oh, can I have a different coping mechanism before I turned to food? Like for example, if If you're feeling anxious, you have a lot of energy to move and maybe you're like, Oh, I want to eat, or I want to do something fun. Can you actually just pick up the phone call a friend? Could you go on a walk? Could you start reading a book? Could you watch a show that you've been wanting to watch for a while? Could you do something else first? And then if that doesn't help, then we can always turn to food. And I think it's important to know that like, food is there as a comfort at times. Like it can be a really. Nice calming thing to interface with that is really consistent, you know, like a box of Mac and cheese or something like that that might make you feel better. So it's not to say that food has no place in that. It's just food cannot be the only option. And when you're bored or anxious, hunger cues might not be as obvious. So just being really mindful while you're eating in those scenarios so that you don't have a situation where, you know, you eat too much. And you're not feeling good. And I also think too, this person with the more I question and pick at it, am I hungry? Am I not? Then it's sort of like hyper focus on the food, which we don't really want either. We eventually want you to get to a point where everything feels really natural and you're in the flow of intuitively eating. So I would say also this person is just kind of like in the midst of their intuitive eating journey. And there's definitely a portion of it where you're like, okay, You know, you're asking yourself all these introspective questions, but sometimes it can be too introspective and it's like, oh, let's just try eating. If it works. It does. If it doesn't, it doesn't like there's, it's really not that deep. And so then this person is saying that usually they default to just saying yes, just eat, but then they're too full and feel sick and wish they wouldn't have eaten. And my advice for that part would be to take a step back and maybe look at the portion of food that you're consuming and be like, okay, maybe, you know, let me. Pour myself out this bowl of chips to see if and mindfully either if this is going to kind of hit that emotional need that I have. And just being aware, like, okay, this is the amount that usually makes me feel like I've had too much. And you know, maybe I can adjust that here. And it's not from a restrictive standpoint. It's just from, this is what I might need in this moment. And what. Not. So I think just being aware of that too, and noting that, you know, different foods are going to be different in these situations. So overall, I think this person should definitely think about what types of hunger they're experiencing. We should look at other outlets for that anxiety or boredom. We should maybe lower the introspective a little bit and just try things And see what happens. And maybe taking off the pressure to like, have this perfect answer. And maybe that would decrease the hyper-focus a little bit. And then just trying to use that over full feeling as guidance rather than guilt. And you may want to address things diversity, a little more directly to. I have a feeling. If you have, you know, that much anxiety in that situation, there's probably a lot of other areas in your life that you're experiencing a lot of anxiety. So, you probably want to spear that head-on. Totally. And, you know, a lot of the times our interactions with food, it's really like a symptom rather than the root cause of the problem. So, intuitive eating just kind of brings all of those issues to the surface, which can be cool and also unpleasant at the same time. So definitely preparing yourself for that. And that's why it's so nice to work with a provider one-on-one who can definitely help guide you in those situations. So, if someone wants to work on intuitive eating, how can they work with. Yeah, you can definitely go to my website. It's Emily Ray wellness, E M I L Y R a e.com. And you can fill out my contact form and I am currently accepting private clients for one-on-one nutrition, counseling, and intuitive eating counseling. So if you feel like you struggle with all of these topics and you want to dive a little bit deeper, Shoot me a submission on my website and we will have. And please we'll try to post our topics before we do them more frequently. And please send us our, your questions. I think the listener questions at the end is really fun. So I want to continue doing that. So we will try to get our topics out to you sooner so you can. Let us know exactly what you want to hear on this podcast. Yes. We love hearing from every. All right. That is the conclusion of this one. We'll see you next time.