Simple Nutrition Insights

Mindful Eating: Tune Into Your Body's Needs

• Leonila • Episode 44

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Are you ready to transform your eating habits and understand your body's hunger and satiety signals like never before? Join us on this captivating episode of the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast as we unravel the mysteries behind why we feel hungry and how we can manage our fullness. Discover the powerful roles of hormones like leptin and ghrelin, and learn how to utilize the hunger and satiety scale to make more informed eating decisions. We'll share practical mindfulness tips to help you slow down during meals and avoid the common pitfalls that lead to overeating.

But that's just the beginning! We also dive into effective strategies for managing your hunger and staying satisfied throughout the day. From the significance of including protein, fiber, and healthy fats in your meals, to understanding how hydration, physical activity, stress, and even menstrual cycles affect your hunger levels, we cover it all. Plus, we highlight the importance of self-care and maintaining a healthy routine, especially for those with flexible or non-traditional job settings. Don't miss out on these actionable insights to enhance your overall well-being and keep you properly fueled and energized. Tune in and take the first step towards a healthier, more mindful you!

Grelin and Leptin- Satiety and Hunger Hormones 

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Speaker 1:

Hey, hey, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonila Campos, and let's talk about hunger and satiety. I believe I mentioned it in the past, but I really wanted to provide some case studies, some examples of what that really looks like, because I've had some, you know, patients ask about, like, how do I know or how do I track that? Right Now, this is a very subjective concept, right, because my hunger is going to be different from your hunger and your friend's hunger and sister's hunger, whatever, your friend's hunger and sister's hunger, whatever and so it's really important to be in tune with yourself, right, and really pay attention to how does my body feel when I start to get hungry? Right, that could be okay. I start to think about food, or I can hear my stomach growl, or I start to salivate, or I don't really know, until I get to the point where I'm shaky and I have a headache or I'm hangry. Right Now, there's something called the hunger and satiety scale. I've talked about these in the past, I've done a podcast and I also provide the hunger and satiety scale podcast, and I also provide the hunger and satiety scale. Now, this scale is actually really useful because it can show you, it can guide you, right, it can guide you in terms of your hunger and satiety.

Speaker 1:

Now let me step back a bit. When we start to get hungry, right, there's not only the thought of hunger, there's so many physical, there's so many chemicals involved, right, so many hormones. And so, you know, as our blood sugars start to drop a little bit right, maybe we ate the digestion process happened and now you know blood sugars are dropping slightly and that, you know, sends signals like Okay, maybe we need to start sending signals to get hungry, right? So we have two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, which they are opposites, right? Leptin is usually the hormone that says, okay, we're satiated, we don't need to eat anymore. Ghrelin is the opposite, right, okay, we're hungry, we need to eat anymore. Ghrelin is the opposite, right, okay, we're hungry, we need to eat. And so I'll make sure to add, you know, description of those, so that way, you know them, you have them. And so as we eat, right, these hormones change and that sends signals to your brain and your brain sends the signals to your stomach like hey, you know, you're eating, you ate enough, you feel satiated, let's stop eating now, right?

Speaker 1:

Of course, there's many factors that affect that, but the first thing is to really be aware, right of like, how does my body feel as soon as I start eating, right, as I continue to eat, maybe in the middle of my meal, and as I finish my meal, how does my body feel through that transition? If we don't know that, it's a good way to start there. Start just by being aware of your body, you know, aware of how your body feels. Oftentimes we just go through the motions, right, and we're so, so busy and let me just have this meal, because that's you know, that that's all I can have right now. I'll worry about it later and sometimes we even forget that we eat, right, we sit down, we're like on a computer, we're distracted on watching tv, and we just forget, and so then we don't know what our bodies need, and so we really need to. So the awareness is super important, right, we really need to pay attention to our bodies, because if we don't listen to those first signals of, okay, we're getting hungry, we're getting really hungry, we're really hungry, right, we go into that extreme, and so then what happens is that we tend to eat really fast and then we bypass the signals of satiety, right, like, our tummies are satiated, we don't need to eat anymore. But because we bypass them, now we're super full. Right, we go from one stream to another extreme and so we also eat really fast, right. And so we don't allow those chemicals, we don't allow that connection from our brain and our stomach to happen, right, until we're really, really full, the satiety cues, right, usually kicking around about 20 minutes after we start eating.

Speaker 1:

You know, once we have our first bite, in order for us to be able to be aware of it, right again, we have to pay attention to how much we're eating, right, how fast we are eating and how our bodies are feeling throughout this process. Now you might ask okay, who has time for that? You have to make time, right, otherwise your body is going to make time, but you're not going to like that, right, because you're going to have digestive issues Right, where you're going to have these other health problems. And so now the condition is making you take the time when you had the opportunity to take the time. Your health should be a priority, right? You might see, you might think oh no, I have to pay bills and I have to do that, and I have to do that and I have to be nonstop. But the reality of things here is that if you don't make time for yourself, if you don't make time for your health, the disease is going to make you take time, right, and at that point now we have to manage things.

Speaker 1:

So really think about those things. Oh my gosh, I have a pile of files that I have to do. They're going to be there when you come back, regardless, and you legally have to take a lunch, right, have to take a break. So take that time to take care of yourself, right, sit down, have your meal be present. If possible, eat away from your desk, right, because you're going to be tempted to like to like oh, let me do this, oh, let me answer that email, or let me answer that text.

Speaker 1:

And where is that awareness? Right, we're still eating, so shoving food in our mouths, and we're not paying attention. Same thing when it comes to satiety, right, like, do you know when you feel satiated, know when you feel super full, that your tummy hurts, right, or that you feel so uncomfortable or that you ate so much tonight that you feel like you want to vomit because you ate too much. So really be paying attention to those things and so making sure that you know you are aware of those things. And how can we do that? Right? Again, the first thing is to be aware, right, be aware of your body.

Speaker 1:

It's not easy. It's not going to be easy at the beginning because this is something new, right, but you have to practice this. Practice it every time. If possible. Practice it at every breakfast right, or every lunch. Maybe you have more time at lunch If you're a mom, most likely lunch right, because kids are probably away. Breakfast and dinner are probably super chaotic, so it's going to be really hard to do it at that time. So, ideally, pick a meal right, or even a snack when you feel like I can practice that at this meal and do it consistently, even schedule it right, if that is going to make it easier for you schedule it. So you know it is a non-negotiable and slowly you continue to practice that and your body is going to be recognize it and you, your mind, is going to be aware of it.

Speaker 1:

Now you might ask why is this important? It's important number one, because it's going to help to know how much you're eating right when you are hungry, how fast you're eating. It's going to allow your digestive system to give it some time right to digest the food, but also that you know when you are really hungry, right, or when you've had enough, versus going from stream to stream, so thinking about those things. For sure, there are different foods right that help us with more satiety, and that is going to be your protein and your fiber right. Protein usually is going, and healthy fats fats too, they're usually going to digest slower, right. They don't increase your blood sugar significantly and so you're not going to have these sugars and insulin spike and then your blood sugars have to drop and then you're going to be hungry again. So it's more of a stable rise and that's what we want, right, because we don't want to have these sugar roller coasters. I suppose we want to be more stable with our blood sugars and protein, fiber right, coming from fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts, seeds, nuts and seeds and our healthy fats, right, which also are nuts and seeds, can help with that. So, adding them, adding that with every single one of your meal and this goes back to my 3-2-1 method right of nutrition, always adding protein, always adding veggies right or high fiber foods that are going to give you that satiety with your main meals, right? Because, again, we want to be able to maintain these blood sugars stable.

Speaker 1:

Now, usually, digestion your food is digested thoroughly for the most part, right about. It takes about four hours. Then you start to get hungry, and that is normal. If you're wanting to not be hungry for six hours, um, it is possible, right, but you're pushing the limits and you might get super hungry or hangry. So pay attention to those things too. Right, you don't have to be eating every two hours if you don't want to, but if you're having these well-balanced meals, you know your tidy should last for about three to four hours and then you can have your next meal or whatever. And so if you're finding yourself hungry every hour, then look at how the composition of your meals. Go back to that episode of the 3-2-1 method, because I talk all about that. And so tidy, right, it helps when we add a protein, when we add the fiber and the healthy fats.

Speaker 1:

But oftentimes too, when we are dehydrated, we think we're hungry, right? So let's say we had a meal and we're like, oh man, I'm so hungry. You have to be aware of the things that you do, right? Okay, am I hungry because maybe I didn't eat enough, maybe I skipped a meal, or because I'm thirsty, right, let me have some water, let me rehydrate, have water throughout the day and see how things go. But our appetite and our hunger is not going to be the same every single day. Right, it varies and that's totally normal. If you're maybe more active the day before, you might be a little hungrier today. Or maybe you did legs, right, a big muscle group, then you're probably going to be hungrier. And if you listen to your body, right, then you're aware and you can adjust your meals to fuel yourself properly, as opposed to like grazing throughout the day. Right, because thinking, oh my gosh, I can't control my hunger. But again, you know, it's maybe because you were extra active, right, and you need to fuel up yourself better or adjust your meals for that change.

Speaker 1:

Oftentimes, if we're sick, we might not be hungry. Right, our bodies are focusing only on getting you healthier and better, right, so sometimes we don't feel hungry. But the days leading after being sick, right, we start to get hungry because your body used, you know, few resources to heal you up. Usually, as a woman, right, our hunger also is going to vary as our cycle, you know our menstrual cycle. It varies on those phases, right, and so as we're getting closer to having a cycle right or having our period, we might be. We get hungrier, right, that is all normal. But if you're not tracking right your cycle, how do you know that could be thinking, oh my gosh, like I just feel like out of control, but maybe it's around that time of the month, right, and it's normal that you're going to feel that way because of these hormonal changes. So focus again on your making sure that you have high, really, these balanced meals, you're staying hydrated, and that is going to help.

Speaker 1:

I think I don't know, I can't remember we talked about cravings, but that's not a topic for another day. Awareness, right, can bring a huge factor right to making decisions and making a plan. Other things to other factors that affect our hunger. Is skipping meals, right. Oftentimes I hear you, my patients or my clients, say, oh, I'm not hungry first thing in the morning and I started to get hungry at 12, right, but then I'm super hungry throughout the evening, throughout the day. Why do you think that is Because, even though you're not hungry, right, or you think that you're not hungry, or maybe you're so used to not eating breakfast, but your body still needs the fuel, right, and so you're going to end up eating, probably sometimes even eating more, throughout the evening and throughout the night because you skipped that one meal.

Speaker 1:

So pay attention to that right, even if you start to get hungry around 10, right. You wake up I don't know at eight, you start to get hungry around 10. And you keep pushing that. You know, pushing that time all the way for lunch, you're going to be super hungry and then continue to be hungry. So have a balanced snack, right. I'm not telling you have breakfast. If you're like I'm not a breakfast person, fine. Have a balanced snack right, something with a protein or a healthy fat, a fruit or a vegetable that you can have, and it's going to hold you over until you have lunch. But you're not super hungry at lunchtime.

Speaker 1:

So usually we're not hungry first thing in the morning because we have these adrenaline endorphins that are searching through our system trying to wake us up, Right, alertness. And so we're not going to be super hungry, hungry, but we're going to start to get hungry right an hour, two hours after we wake up. If we're so used to not having anything, most likely your body is already adapted and used to that. But look at the patterns throughout the day and throughout the evening, and so just your meals, right, to help you that way. Okay, I think that's all I wanted to say about hunger and satiety.

Speaker 1:

Right, really pay attention to your body, right, like how your body feels. Right, sometimes we eat because we're really stressed and it's one of the ways to one of our coping mechanisms, to help us manage the stress. But we might not be aware of it. Right, it's not until you really pay attention to your body and you realize that, oh my gosh, every time I'm going to that meeting, I feel like I want to eat this whole box of crackers, right, or often, after I'm done with that call, I just want to have chocolate. Right, and it's not so much that we're hungry, right, it's just a mechanism, right, that our brains are using to help us manage the stress. Once you're aware of it, then you can work with a therapist, right? Or if you already know what to do when you're stressed, okay, let's practice those skills, let's practice those tools to help me manage the stress that I have, and then if I still want that specific food, then I'm gonna have it.

Speaker 1:

But there's not a linkage, right. And so think about those things, be aware of it and slowly learn about your body. Okay, slowly learn about your body and what your body needs, how your body feels right when you eat different foods, when you eat with different people, and it can help you so much long-term, right, health-wise. Make the time right, make the time to eat your meals, make the time to sit down, enjoy them, savor them right. Savor them right, because when you think about the value of food, right, not only the caloric value of it, but like how much it brings us, right, happiness or togetherness. But it provides so much more right, and so why not really give it that time?

Speaker 1:

So, take that time to take care of yourself, take care of your body schedule, you know, even if you want to add it on your calendar, right, if you don't have, like an actual job that says clock in, clock out for lunch, which is sometimes harder to do it, schedule it right, and so that can help. All right, my friend, I think that is it for today. Thank you so much for your time. Take care, I'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.