Up next in the Intuitive Eating series is principle #5 Feel Your Fullness. I am joined with Christine McPhail. A Registered Dietitian who is also working on her Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology. We start to review the various aspects when working on discovering what it means to find fullness.

Listen to the podcast episode here

Defining fullness

This is such a tricky thing to do as it is so specific to each person. Everyone has a different experience in their body when it comes to relearning how to feel your fullness. It may show up in your:

• Stomach- most people experience fullness in their stomach. Feeling distended, heavy or bloated.
• Mood- your mood may shift and you could feel more relaxed or neutral.
• Energy- you may feel energized but sometimes drowsy.
• Head- your thoughts may shift away from eating and food once you honour your hunger.

Intuitive eating works towards increasing your interoceptive awareness which is your ability to perceive physical sensations that occur in your body. A big part of noticing this is having attention.

Factors that influence fullness

There are lots of factors that may influence the volume of food it takes to feel comfortably full. This may change from day to day and that is okay! Some influential factors are your initial hunger level, timing of meals/snacks, social influences, if you’re giving yourself unconditional permission to eat (principle #3), and even the type or nutrient profile of the food.

What else is discussed?

In this episode Christine and I explore further about what discovering your fullness could look like.

Here is what else we discuss:

– Attempt to describe fullness 

– Describe common barriers to experiencing fullness

– Discuss the factors that influence fullness

– Explain the ways diet culture gets people to trick their fullness cues

– Reassure you that feeling fullness is a normal part of the eating experience 

You can connect with Christine by her group practice website or on Instagram at @christinemcphailrd or @blossom.counselling

Listen to the podcast episode here

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