It's one of those days: Time flies by and you're buried in work, chores or errands, and suddenly your stomach is growling. You missed lunch and haven't eaten for hours.
Or maybe you're experiencing that feeling where you're bursting and could not possibly take another bite, but it feels impossible to put the fork down because your meal is just too good to give up. When is the right time to stop eating: When you stop feeling hungry, or when your belly feels completely full?
With all of life's demands and pleasures, many of us have lost touch with our own body's hunger and fullness cues. But keeping a regular eating schedule is important for a variety of reasons, including maintaining balanced blood sugar, aiding digestion, keeping energy levels high and getting adequate rest. By learning your body's signs of hunger and fullness, you can make sure to get enough nutrition to be your best self -- and what's called the hunger-fullness scale makes it easy to keep track.
Below, dietitians and nutritionists explain how to use the hunger-fullness scale for healthier eating habits.
It's not as simple as it seems
Many people rely on external metrics to figure out how much to eat and when to stop, like calorie budgets, macronutrient tracking or even diet apps. It's also easy to be swayed by other external factors, including social media influencers, family, friends and partners, according to Valerie A. Della Longa, a registered dietitian nutritionist.
"Therefore, many of us have lost touch with our internal cues of what and how much to eat," Della Longa explains. "This is where the hunger-fullness scale comes in, so people can check in before, during and after a meal to gauge how hungry and full they really are."
Eating habits are a sensitive subject for many, because of diet culture's constant pressure to be thin. That pressure can make feelings of hunger or fullness feel fraught -- feeling full, for example, might trigger guilt instead of satisfaction. Some diets may even teach you to ignore your hunger and skip meals on purpose.
