Are you ready to break free from diet culture and find true wellness through intuitive eating? Today, I am joined by Elizabeth Harris, a dietitian and an intuitive eating counselor, to talk about hunger and fullness cues when it comes to intuitive eating. Elizabeth is the co-host of the podcast Wellness: Rebranded and is passionate about empowering women to opt out of diet culture and reimagine their relationships with food, movement, and their bodies. On today’s episode, we discuss how to care for your body without obsessing over the number on the scale, and inspire you to approach your body with kindness and grace. This is an episode you aren’t going to want to miss!
Thank you so much for tuning in today! I’d love to connect with you on my email list, blog atloveyourbodywell.net or on Instagram @loveyourbodywell
Check out the show notes for links and resources mentioned in today’s episode.
SHOW NOTES: www.loveyourbodywell.net/episode34
Are you ready to break free from diet culture and find true wellness through intuitive eating? Today, I am joined by Elizabeth Harris, a dietitian and an intuitive eating counselor, to talk about hunger and fullness cues when it comes to intuitive eating. Elizabeth is the co-host of the podcast Wellness: Rebranded and is passionate about empowering women to opt out of diet culture and reimagine their relationships with food, movement, and their bodies. On today’s episode, we discuss how to care for your body without obsessing over the number on the scale, and inspire you to approach your body with kindness and grace. This is an episode you aren’t going to want to miss!
Thank you so much for tuning in today! I’d love to connect with you on my email list, blog atloveyourbodywell.net or on Instagram @loveyourbodywell
Check out the show notes for links and resources mentioned in today’s episode.
SHOW NOTES: www.loveyourbodywell.net/episode34
Hi, my name is Amy Reineke and I'm here to help you learn to love your body well. Love Your Body Well is a podcast designed to encourage women to find the beauty in caring for their bodies without obsession, guilt and shame. We are ditching the perfection mindset and embracing the season of life you are in, all while figuring out what works best for you on your wellness journey. Join me for weekly episodes as we navigate this journey together and let's start a revolution of women who are focused on wellness while also being compassionate and kind to their bodies. Are you ready to love your body well?
Amy Reinecke:Today is going to be a really enlightening conversation. I just had to finally hit record because we were having such good conversation prior to even hitting record that I said stop, we have to get all this where my listeners can see it. I am so excited to have Elizabeth Harris here with me today. She is a registered dietitian and an intuitive eating counselor, and her insight aligns so well with mine. I know that you are going to leave listening to this episode feeling empowered and that you can approach your body with kindness and grace. I just am so excited, Elizabeth. thank you so much for coming on the Love Your Body Well podcast.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here and continue this conversation. We already started, actually.
Amy Reinecke:I know Yes, so let's do that. First and foremost, I would love for you to share just a little bit about your story with my listeners so they can learn more about you and your practice.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, thank you. I am a dietitian. It is a second career for me. I became well, it is a second career for me. I was always really passionate about nutrition and wellness Went back to school eventually to become a dietitian, and for a hot second, and I immediately opened up a private practice And for a very hot second I was working in weight loss and was sharing with you a moment ago that that just did not feel authentic to me.
Elizabeth Harris:I didn't want to talk about it. I kind of knew that I didn't want to do that, but it somehow felt in my mind like that was what I had to do if I wanted to have a successful private practice. So for a very hot second I did that and I noticed that my own personal reaction to it I just didn't feel authentic to me. I didn't feel good about it. I noticed that I was working with people who were focused on weight loss and they could be making all sorts of really great changes to their plates, to how they were moving, to how they you know their health behaviors. But if the number on the scale wasn't moving or didn't go where they wanted, they would sort of feel frustrated and say things like it's not working And I would be thinking, of course it's working, like you're doing all these things that are great for you.
Elizabeth Harris:And then, at the same time, i have three kids. They were entering middle school and high school and just really started to become aware of how many people around us, in our orbit have really fragile relationships with food and their bodies. And I kind of put those three things together, my personal reaction, what I was noticing with people I was working with or weight loss, eating behaviors, and then just thinking about the message I wanted to put in front of my family and my children and my peers, and I just really dove into intuitive eating and all of the research on weight neutral approaches to health and leading with having a happy, healthy relationship with food in your body and completely transitioned into intuitive eating and really have never looked back And it's so much more aligned with who I am and the version of health and well-being that I feel good about putting out into the world and believe in.
Amy Reinecke:I'm so thankful that you went towards your gut and followed that intuition to help, because I think that we are surrounded by a lot of messages of weight loss and diet culture, and I think that when we say those words weight loss and diet culture some people are like no big deal. But there's a lot of us, myself included, who have histories with either eating disorders or just disordered thoughts about our body and food, and so thinking about being as healthy as we can be and that always being tied to only weight loss can feel pretty defeating, because for a lot of us that's triggering And it's hard to only focus on that number on the scale as your only term of health. Or you either are or you aren't based on what that number says. And so I appreciate people like you who are putting this message out in the world, like myself, that you are more than just what that number says And no matter what that number says, you can still take care of your body. That's a really important piece of it And that your body your right now body deserves to be taken care of exactly as it is today and the best way that you are capable of doing.
Amy Reinecke:And so thank you for shifting and pivoting, not just like your career, but then to your message as well, because I do believe that we need more people who are willing to meet and help people in that space. I always say, like, come home to themselves, come home to their body and become a friend to your body, and intuitive eating really is a much more gentle way of taking care of yourself. So how about you start a little bit with sharing exactly what intuitive eating is and how you define it?
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah.
Elizabeth Harris:So intuitive eating is an approach to food and nutrition and health that was created by two dietitians in the late 1990s Evelyn Trively and Elise Resch.
Elizabeth Harris:They wrote the book intuitive eating, gone through four separate editions now, and it really is a framework to help people heal their relationship with food in their bodies and really get in touch with well tune out diet culture right Dieting and diet culture, first and foremost, because that is a huge disruptor for many, many people for actually connecting with your body and its cues and trusting yourself. So tuning out diet culture, then really relearning how to connect with your body, and, for sure, hunger and fullness cues but there's so many other messages our bodies and our minds send us every day that can really help us get our needs met. And intuitive eating is about clearing away the things that block you and building the things that can help you tune in, so that the way that I describe it is sort of eaten away that tastes good, feels good and honors your health and well-being in the way that's most meaningful for you, without letting someone else define that for you or make you feel as though you're doing it wrong. There is no wrong way to listen to your body.
Amy Reinecke:Right, right, and it is a very personal journey that I think, when you begin this journey of intuitive eating, can feel a little overwhelming if you are used to being on a diet, i know for me, the first time I was exposed to intuitive eating was in 2008. I was in eating disorder therapy for binge eating disorder, and I had no idea what hunger and fullness cues were necessarily. I remember sitting down, i actually had an intuitive eating dietitian working with me And she said to me I don't think you really know, even like your hunger and fullness. And I was like, no, no, i don't, because I would let myself get way too hungry. But then I would. I would binge to the point that I was so uncomfortably full but I still wouldn't stop. And so that was kind of the dance that I did for many years was being in that space, and so learning with those were were.
Amy Reinecke:It was a challenging time, i believe, in my journey because I had suppressed those for so long. But I do think that tuning in and learning your hunger and fullness cues are kind of one of the foundations of intuitive eating that we have to come home to ourselves and ask ourselves like what do you need right now. So what are your thoughts on the hunger and fullness cues and how do you help people navigate that if they've kind of lost touch with what their hunger and fullness cues even are like? what's it supposed to feel like?
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, and it's such a common I describe kind of okay, so you decide that you're going to not diet anymore. But if you're used to dieting right, if you're used to following quote unquote rules for how you should eat, you can feel really untethered. Now, right, it's sort of like, okay, i'm not going to do that, but what the heck am I supposed to be doing? And it can be really confusing and overwhelming and, frankly, scary, because it's probably coming out of dieting or diet culture like that. you likely don't yet have the trust with your body. It feels chaotic.
Amy Reinecke:Yeah, definitely It feels, very chaotic and, like you're almost being rebellious.
Amy Reinecke:I remember that feeling very well, like because at any time I would be on a diet and then say, okay, i'm off. my diet right now was like no holds barred, like we're going for the gold here, like I'm eating whatever I want. And then you got like tighten it back up real quick. You know so, like it was always this very all or nothing or black or white mentality that has talked about a lot in this space. And when you're intuitive eating, you're like walking into the gray and you're saying there Yeah, yeah, and it is overwhelming and it is scary And I think.
Elizabeth Harris:Well, first of all, i think it's a misconception of intuitive eating that it's either just eat whatever you want, right, the opposite of dieting, which it isn't Exactly. It's eat whatever you want, with attunement. But when we're trying to help someone learn how to eat intuitively, i think we need to recognize that they may not be able to start with tuning into their hunger and fullness cues. You're literally disconnected from them And so a lot of times it feels counterintuitive. But actually eating on a regular schedule is sometimes depending on the person and their situation, and the very first step to setting you up so that eventually you will be able to know what hunger feels like in your body and then eventually fullness. So I guess I would say first thing, just right out of the gate, is understand that that's maybe not where you start.
Amy Reinecke:Right.
Elizabeth Harris:Being able to listen to hunger and fullness. It's often not where you start.
Amy Reinecke:Right And I think giving yourself grace with that. I know that that is leaving diet culture, that we come into this space and you're like okay, so I'm going to do this, this and this, and it works very differently. It's a much more gentle approach And I think being willing to sit in the gentle approach of it is getting your mindset in that right space that there was a reason that you left diet culture. There's a reason that the diet felt suffocating or it wasn't serving you. There's a reason that you've stepped into intuitive eating And so understanding that the way that you approach it is also going to look different.
Elizabeth Harris:Right And also understanding that for many people, dieting is a coping mechanism right, and so there's a reason why we try to diet. It's like what are we feeling underneath? So the process of becoming an intuitive eater, of moving away from diet culture, is understanding and exploring what it is you are actually searching for with the dieting, and that's hard.
Amy Reinecke:Well, yeah, because you're faced with your thoughts that you're probably suppressing anyways, and those are hard anytime that we have to be faced with like our true emotion. Because a lot of times I think that we use food to kind of shove down those emotions. Food is used as a crutch, as a coping mechanism, like you said, to help us not feel something. We don't want to feel something, and so food can serve as this thing to kind of like just shove it down Right. And I know we get like a mental image of that.
Amy Reinecke:But, like my own personal experience, i think of the times that I feel the most chaotic around food. It's generally when my life is chaotic, it's when I feel a little bit out of control, it's when I feel a little emotional. I started binging in grade school, so I struggled with binging for many, many years. I'm 40 now And so even at 40, i can feel myself like, as things are getting tense or whatever in the house, i can feel myself like going towards the pantry and having to ask myself is this going to help the problem or is it going to make it worse? Like, are you actually hungry or are you just trying to like not feel something. What else can you do instead? And I think, knowing that that is a normal feeling. Okay, let me say this It's a common feeling for women In men I don't want to say that men never struggle with this, because they do But it is a common feeling, but it's not a normal feeling. So I think we have to stop normalizing, that we should struggle with food. I think that we can come to a place that I hope. I mean.
Amy Reinecke:The whole goal of this podcast is to help women come to terms and come to peace with food. That food is nourishment, it is fuel, it is meant to be enjoyed. It is not meant to be like to being restrictive or leaving us feeling like we've done something wrong by a food choice, but like it was designed to give us joy and nourishment and we need to get back to that space that it can have that idea surrounding it now, instead of being this shameful thing that I know many, many women have struggled with. Food has been shameful, and I'm speaking from personal experience today and sharing that. That food has felt shameful for me for so many years in different times, and I'd be sitting here lying if I said that I still didn't have days that that came up, that I didn't have that, and I'm sure, elizabeth, that you can speak to that too that when you start this path, know that you're always a work in progress and that healing is always the goal, and sometimes that looks different based on the season that you're in.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, absolutely. I agree with all of that And also knowing that healing is a process, right, it's not necessarily a destination. I think in diet culture we're so used to sort of having an end point or an end goal that we're working towards. And what does it look like just to really be working from a place of loving and caring for yourself as best you can, going forward Yeah, very different than trying to achieve an outcome with dieting.
Amy Reinecke:It is because it's always like, well, i want to get thin for this or I want to be this way for that, like you're kind of working towards something always And that being the goal. Instead of with intuitive eating, it's just like, well, the goal is just overall happiness and health. That's been something that I've done too here. I had my third baby in 2019. And I think when you're in the childbearing years and all of that, that can feel kind of mucky And like you do want to feel like yourself again and all of that. So we can kind of dive into that too, because I think that would be important to talk about.
Amy Reinecke:But during that time, you really don't have a ton of control of what your body's doing, how it's going to respond to pregnancy, how it's going to respond to postpartum. I'm still postpartum. I would call myself still postpartum. She's four And so I'm still on the postpartum years. I think that they say postpartum. They want us to believe that it's like a year after, but I've heard things like postpartum is like five to 10 years after having your baby. So there's some grace for anybody listening who is beating yourself up if you don't have the baby weight off. Like let's quit with this whole like I have to bounce back idea. As women, our bodies go through so much And I think diet culture just feeds that like that we have to bounce back that we have to get somewhere by a certain date or a certain time or a certain event And I think what intuitive eating does is it just says why can't you just take care of yourself because you want to feel good on a random Tuesday.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, Yeah. And why can't it be okay that our bodies change after giving birth? Of course they do. You just birthed a whole human And your body went through tremendous process. It doesn't have to go back to where it was. It's you're always postpartum. I mean, really right, Like I know there's that sort of medical definition of it, But really where? if you've had a baby, you're always postpartum and your body can and should change through that process. So can we just normalize that?
Amy Reinecke:I think we need to speaking of that. I mean, do we want to go back to being who we were in our 20s?
Elizabeth Harris:Do we want to go back to being?
Amy Reinecke:who we were in our teens? No, so why is it that our bodies are the only things that are never supposed to change? Yeah, isn't it interesting when we really think about that? That's just interesting to think like I'm supposed to look the way I did the day I got married.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, it's crazy and I can't help but think about you. You posed the question Why is it that our bodies are never supposed to change? Well, i can't help but think it's because someone's profiting massively Off of the idea that it shouldn't right. Yeah, there's people out there Very clearly building that message that our bodies quote unquote, shouldn't change and, by the way, those are the same organizations and companies and people that are profiting, yeah, off of the insecurities that are being seated.
Amy Reinecke:Yep, 100% agree with you there, and that was something that I did not see when I was in Greston diet culture. Mm-hmm, didn't realize it like yeah, i don't think you do, until you get out. And then it becomes clear as day and you're like, oh my gosh, not only that, but they stripped away any intuition that I had surrounding my own body.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, yeah, if you're dieting, you are not listening to your body. By its very nature, dieting draws your focus Outside of your body, off of your hunger and fullness cues. Think about how often, when dieting, you're trying to ignore your hunger, right, yes, you think you're. You shouldn't quote-unquote be hungry, or you're second-guessing it, or you're hot quote-unquote hacking it, which, by the way, is drawing you away from Tuning into your hunger and fullness cues, but it's actually also setting you up to miss your fullness cues right on both ends.
Elizabeth Harris:It's. It's not helpful, right, it's drawing your focus outside.
Amy Reinecke:Yeah, let's dive a little bit more into this. Let's say that you're a person who's listening right now, who is dieting, and you're dieting because you are at what you would consider an unhealthy weight, or you've been told that by a doctor And you know that in order to be healthier, you need to probably lose some weight. How do you approach that with intuitive eating, and what is your thought process behind Losing weight?
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah. So I think the first thing is just I would invite anyone who's out there Feeling that way to just consider a couple of things. And may I press us up by saying you're not wrong or it's not bad, or there's no judgment if you are or have been dieting. We are all stuck in diet culture and are presented that as the solution. So just first off, note all judgment off the table right. Then I would invite you to consider what is your ex? what has your experience with dieting been? Has it given you the long-term results that it promised you? Maybe lose weight in the short term, but did you keep it off, and And at what cost did that come?
Elizabeth Harris:what other areas of your life or your health or well-being Physical, mental, emotional well-being have been impacted by that? What's your self-talk like, for example? Are you kind to yourself? Are you beating yourself up when? do you feel a lot of guilt or stress or anxiety Around your food choices? Are you blaming yourself and feeling like a failure when a diet doesn't work? Do you feel like you struggle with massive cravings or you're overeating or binging? Do you Feel like you can go to a restaurant or a holiday or you know a special event and really truly be present. Or are you in your head, worrying about your diet, being fearful about what foods are there or trying to Restrict in control? so just really looking at the total picture of How has it impacted you and, by the way, if you are or have experienced any of those things, know that you are not the problem. It's not you.
Elizabeth Harris:There's a very common and predictable cycle of dieting and There's a lot of gas lighting that goes on. So when we feel like we're failing the diet, the messages, you just didn't want it bad enough, or you didn't have enough willpower, or you need more. Trying hard enough, right? You're not trying hard enough when in reality, that was never designed to work. It was never going to work because our bodies need nourishment and they're really well equipped to get it and defend your own unique weight set range and bodies come in a wide range of shapes and sizes and so, really, just knowing or exploring how dieting has impacted you with fresh eyes So like peeling back the curtain a little bit, if that's happening to the vast majority of people that go on a diet And you're experiencing it to be able to say, okay, if it's not me, then am I ready to get out of the cycle, and what can I replace it with?
Amy Reinecke:yeah, I think that that's a common question of just well, if I need to, then then what?
Amy Reinecke:but I think that I like where you just went With that is that you've got to check in with yourself first and get honest with yourself. If you don't want to, you don't have to share that the way that you feel with anybody else. You can just ask yourself, like, how am I feeling about where I am right now? Or if you're considering going back on a diet because you're maybe in a body that doesn't feel as good as it once did, ask yourself, what did it do for me in the past? How did I feel, was I able to sustain it? And I think that then then you can move forward with that information To say, okay, it likely didn't work, because I'm here again and I've been here, you know, 22 other times, so what can I do different? and so I would love to hear what do you feel is the difference? How does it make it different when somebody decides to intuitively ask themselves what they need and how they can show up for their bodies?
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah. So I think the difference is, once you recognize that dieting isn't working for you And it hasn't worked and it's not likely to work in the future because of dieting itself, then what do you do next and what do you replace it with? and in my mind, dieting comes from this place of Self-punishment, right, you're kind of like have this sense that you're battling food. You're battling what your weight, you're battling your body, and I think a really great first step is just to a Recognize that. Do I feel like I'm in a battle with my body? and if so, do I want to continue that? right? Do I want to continue battling it?
Elizabeth Harris:And if not, how can I start to make peace with food and with my body? that's really the invitation of intuitive eating and opting out and breaking up with dieting is the opportunity to make peace with food and yourself. And And and the very first step is a just to decide that that sounds Appealing enough to you, that you're willing to give it a try, right, knowing that it's going to be scary, that you're gonna feel untethered, that you're Probably often gonna be pulled back towards dieting Because the messaging is really loud and toxic and pervasive, and that's what we know and then to really start asking the question What would it look like to partner with my body? Can I even conceive of that being a possibility?
Amy Reinecke:Yep yep, and you said a while back, like in the beginning, something about weight neutral. And I think that having a neutral because I know it's really hard, and I know it's hard because I've been there going from this place of I Hate my body, i hate everything about it It is disappointed me, it does not look the way that I think it should look and you look in the mirror and you cannot find one single thing that you like about it. It's really hard when a person is sitting there in that space and then somebody saying you need to love and accept your body And you're like how in the heck am I gonna get there? like from where I am today, like that feels like Literally backpacking through the Sahara Desert, you know, like that feels like it would be lonely and and miserable. What if you just accept that that journey doesn't have to swing once again, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can actually take a break at neutrality. Yeah, maybe you can look in the mirror and not completely hate yourself, but you can say my body woke up. Today I have been able to hug my children. Today I have been able to go on a walk. Today I have been able to walk up the stairs today. What if you just say the things out loud that your body is actually doing for you, instead of looking at it Like it's a piece of art? It doesn't need to be that way and that I think my goal is overall to to help people understand, to move into that loving relationship with your body. But to know that that alone could take several years, and I want to normalize that.
Amy Reinecke:I Started this work in 2008. It is currently 2023. I am still working. That is 15 years. It has ebbed and flowed. I have been thinner, i have been fatter, i have been somewhere in the middle.
Amy Reinecke:No one stop on the journey doesn't have a purpose. Like it always It's all had a purpose. Like I wouldn't be where I am today in my body if I didn't have my, my third child. So I'm carrying a lot of extra weight on my body right now because I was pregnant and because of the way that my body Has responded to pregnancy.
Amy Reinecke:So what am I gonna do? like tell myself that I wish that I didn't have her Absolutely not. Like I'd have her again a million times and I would go through everything that I've gone through since having her and It is coming to that neutral space, like you gave a sacrifice To bring a baby into this world, three babies into this world, and it's okay if your body needs time to catch up, and that's the message that I just wanted to like, shot from the rooftops, instead of this bouncing back or women feeling like they have to look the way they did when they got mirrored, or even five years ago, just giving yourself grace that it's gonna look different and that we can feel neutral Before we move into love.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah. And if even neutral feels really hard because it might in the very beginning, right, even just getting control may feel hard, yes, so Maybe it's. Can you hate it a little bit less today, right, yeah. Or Can you accept that you don't actually have to like your body ever? Maybe liking it isn't the goal, right, it could just be acceptance.
Elizabeth Harris:We get to a place of acceptance. I don't have to like it, but this is what it is. And how do I want to take care of myself in this moment? I like to think of it as going micro, right, like kind of like the opposite of macro, right, how can we just go micro and like what do I need? How can I take care of myself right now, even if I don't really love the way that my body looks, and I think it helps me to think about it, as we're in a Relationship with our body will think about any other relationship you have in your life, whether it's with you know, your child or a partner, or your best friend or your parent. Relationships ebb and slow and they have ups and downs, and so the goal of body acceptance and body neutrality is not realistic, especially as humans living in diet culture, to think that one day we're gonna wake up and magically never struggle with body image again.
Elizabeth Harris:Never have a challenging moment never not like something about our body. But when that happens and we're in a relationship with someone right, we don't expect to love everything about our partner every single day. Right, we accept that there are gonna be days where they're driving us crazy, but it doesn't mean that we necessarily hopefully break up with them and bash them and kick them to the curb. Right, we know to expect it and to kind of work through it. The goal of when it comes to the body image piece of intuitive eating, or the body acceptance, is can we get you to a place where You have the tools to cope with those challenging moments when they do come up? and I like to give the analogy that it's like diet cultures, like a storm, and We we can't change the weather, but we can make sure we have the right gear to weather us, to ride out the storm. And Again, that's the invitation of the body image work of intuitive eating.
Amy Reinecke:I love that analogy Because you are, you will always be surrounded by the storm. It's not going anywhere. I think that we can, we can try to get this message out there, but at the end of the day, like Diet culture is still going to be there. It comes up in really sneaky ways. I mean it's everywhere, you know. But knowing that you're kind of putting on this suit of armor, i'm not letting this get to me today, and some days it might get to you more than others. Some days you might ask yourself, gosh, maybe I should just even to lose like 10 pounds, like go back, you know whatever. But I just want to ask you again, like how has that served you in the past? What is that left your mindset being? like, how has that actually benefited your body in the past? and ask yourself those important questions and then ask yourself how, like how you're honestly feeling about that deep down, but knowing that you're going to be Surrounded by those messages and we can't we can't really control that, but you can control, like, where your mindset is.
Amy Reinecke:I do think that your mindset is such an important part of this journey. I think that our mindset can make or break us. I think it's something that we have to continue to work on and I think that, like you said, at different seasons It's going to be easier even thinking about, like our menstrual cycle and the way that that all ebbs and flows. There's different times of the month that we can feel a little more comfortable in our bodies And there's times of the month that we're going to feel more uncomfortable in our bodies. And just knowing that, so you can expect it, and Then you're not surprised when you're like, why am I feeling so bloated today? Well, if you're around your menstrual cycle, it's probably not anything you ate or it might have been, but that's okay because that's just the time that you're in right now And your body shows up differently, not just year by year, but day by day, because we're women and we're cyclical and that's the way that God designed our bodies to be.
Amy Reinecke:So, when someone is working through their mindset, and now they're kind of wanting to work more into the hunger and fullness, what are some signals of satiety? Because if anybody out there was like I was in 2008, when I started, i really didn't know what I was doing. My dietician had given me like a hunger and fullness scale and told me like I didn't have to track my food, but I had. You know, when I had a meal I needed to ask myself like where I was at the beginning of the meal and where I was at the end of the meal, based on, like, hunger and what I felt in my body. So how does somebody begin to kind of tune into those feelings, because they've likely been turned off.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, so I think there is a wonderful hunger fullness scale and intuitive eating. that is awesome. But I think we can keep it really simple in the beginning of just checking in before you eat and just asking how hungry am I? Am I not hungry at all? Am I neutral? Am I a little bit hungry or very hungry?
Amy Reinecke:Right.
Elizabeth Harris:Just like come up with some sort of way of framing it in your own mind so that you can start to understand the differences between being kind of pleasantly hungry versus unpleasantly hungry, right, and then the same with fullness. And I think one key is just to understand that hunger and fullness go together. I think a lot of times, people again coming out of diet culture, we want to jump right to fullness cues, right, how do I not overeat? But understanding they go together and really you need to focus on the hunger piece first, making sure that you're getting consistent, adequate enough nourishment throughout the day, because otherwise it will just be really, really hard to tune in and that will block some of those things.
Elizabeth Harris:But in answer to your specific question, what does satiety feel like? How do you know? Well, one I would start to ask is this pleasant, unpleasant or neutral? at the end of the meal, like, do I feel pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, kind of in terms of fullness, and then know that there's some very it's not just physical sensations, i suppose, is what I want to say. So, yeah, you may experience, i think. can we talk about hunger? what signs of hunger? and then signs of fullness? Is that okay?
Amy Reinecke:Totally.
Elizabeth Harris:Okay, so it's not just physical for either of them, right, hunger yes, you may experience a hollowness in your stomach or you may experience that kind of rumbling of your belly, or you may feel kind of like an emptiness in your throat or something, but it might just be more mental. One of the earliest signs of hunger is actually just starting to think about food more often, like oh, i wonder what's going to be for lunch today. Or tuning into smells or the presence of food around you more than you were before when you weren't hungry. Having a heightened awareness of food, essentially, is often one of the earliest signs of hunger. Then you may start to notice that emptiness in your stomach. Maybe you notice your focus is dipping a little bit, maybe you're having trouble concentrating or you're just really thinking about food more often.
Elizabeth Harris:Right, those are probably still more pleasant signs of hunger. If you start dipping into feeling hangry, getting irritable, your stomach really growling a lot, that's probably you may be missed some of the earlier signs of hunger In it. That is more likely to be unpleasant hunger. Then, obviously, if you're feeling faint or weak or dizzy, or if your blood sugar is really very low and you're feeling nauseous, then you've really gone more towards the very unpleasant signs of hunger. So I guess first thing is just know yes, there's physical signs, but there's also mental and emotional signs of hunger as well.
Amy Reinecke:So in regards to that, if somebody's like, okay, what would be the ideal time to know? Is it at the first moment that I feel any of those things Like I need to run and go to the pantry and grab something to eat, or when is it ideal? What is the ideal time for blood sugar purposes and all of that, to go nourish your body?
Elizabeth Harris:So this is where the nuance of intuitive eating comes in. There's not just one answer, There's not a formula that I can say, but some things to consider are, first of all, just circumstantial. Right, If you're starting to notice those early signs, well, is it getting close to mealtime for you? Are you just trying to have a snack to tide you over? Are you heading into a meeting? and therefore maybe you need to respond to those earlier signs a little bit more early than you. Otherwise might You sort of have to be able to interpret and look at the picture of what's happening for you. But in general, the easiest target that I can give is to say try to respond when it's pleasant hunger. If you're veering off into, you're getting hangry, your stomach is really growling, you're having trouble thinking about anything else. Probably you've gone a little bit too far And the reason why it matters is one.
Elizabeth Harris:we just need that nourishment. We want to keep our blood sugar up, we want to feel good in our bodies. But also it is really really difficult to make a mindful and intentional choice when you get to that overly hungry spot. That's when you're going to open up the fridge, open up the pantry, grab the first thing in there, eat it really quickly and likely miss a fullness cue too, because your body is responding to that urgent need for food. So we want to avoid getting to urgent hunger as much as we can.
Amy Reinecke:Yep, and I hope that what you're hearing as she's explaining this is that this is going to be very, very personal. I used to be so preoccupied with what everybody else had on their plate, and that was telling me how much I should or shouldn't eat. I would tell you to put your blinders on, and you need to. You might be hungrier than the person next to you if you're working or whatever, or a family member, and you might need more fuel, or you might need less fuel, and that is A OK, and just know that that is. I think that too often we compare our plates, compare our journeys, and somebody else is like this measure of success And they're not. You have your own cues that you need to tune into, and the only way that you're going to find success is when you're honoring your cues, not the cues of someone else.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, and I love that you brought that up. So we want to try to avoid comparison. We also want to try to avoid judging our hunger. It is OK to be hungrier. It is totally normal for hunger to fluctuate from day to day. Some days you're just plain hungrier than others, and that is normal and OK. And can you really approach it with curiosity There?
Elizabeth Harris:is no right or wrong And really it's about getting curious. Getting curious of what hunger feels like in your body, getting curious about the difference between pleasant and unpleasant, getting curious about meal hunger versus snack hunger, getting curious about how foods make you feel and also know you're going to miss the mark. You're going to get to unpleasant hunger and you're going to get to unpleasant fullness, even when you really have the intuitive eating thing figured out. It is normal part of eating to sometimes miss a hunger or fullness cue And that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong.
Elizabeth Harris:And I always like to say there's no failure when it comes to nourishing your body. There's only feedback. So if you got overly hungry and you did do some of that like eating that doesn't feel mindful and intentional or good in your body, that doesn't mean you did something wrong. It's just feedback. That's something about that eating event didn't work well for you And can you unpack it or get help to unpack it? I like to think of it as like a giant ball of like knotted up thread right, and what are the threads we can pull out from each eating experience that are helpful to us? not to judge it, just to learn.
Amy Reinecke:Yeah, and I think as we stack those eating experiences on top of each other, you continue to just learn more and more and more and more, and I think you can gain some like really important insight. So I'll share a story. I might have shared this on the podcast already, but I used to have a really big issue with donuts. That was my thing back that I really I ate donuts every morning for breakfast When I was at the height of my eating disorder. It was something I felt so, so shameful about. But it was also this thing I didn't feel like I could quite control either. Like I would go to a gas station and get donuts and a diet coke, like every morning, and the second I would have them. It was like this high that I was almost getting on by getting the food, and then I would get them and then I would feel like crap. But I did not know how to stop that cycle. I was in a horrible cycle for a really long time there And I talked to my dietitian about this and she said have the donuts, it's fine, just do this. I want you to add a protein with it And I want you to see how you feel differently. And so I did. I started doing that And now today you're not ever going to catch me eating a donut with a protein pair to it, because I learned how much different I felt after just having the donuts and a diet Coke versus if I had choose to have a donut today and I'm going to pair it with, like sausage or eggs or bacon. I feel so much different and so much better and I don't need as much donut that I did before, just you know. And there isn't a crash later.
Amy Reinecke:So I think it's being willing to be curious, like you said, and I really like this food, but I tend to struggle with this food, or I feel out of control with this food. Don't tell yourself, can't ever have them again, like, okay, if I just cannot have that food because it's not healthy or whatever, i would just ask yourself, like, how do you physically feel with it? And then be curious about that and know that, like your body really is talking to you and telling you what you need to hear in order to make an informed decision the next time. But you're never going to get to the next time unless you're curious about it this time and being willing to like, sit with the feeling, and maybe that means like sitting there and like closing your eyes and asking yourself, like how do I physically feel after eating this or after having this or whatever It really is tuning in in that way? But as you do this for a longer period of time, you begin to realize I just don't feel good with that.
Amy Reinecke:Like coffee became that for me. I don't feel good when I drink coffee, i just don't. It does not make me feel good and so I don't drink it. I'm not restricting something, i just physically don't feel good. I think that with intuitive eating, that that's kind of the hairy situation too. When somebody is an intuitive eater and they're like well, like me, i don't drink coffee. It's like, are you restricting? No, i'm listening to my cues, i'm listening to what my body is telling me. So that doesn't mean that intuitive eating is like a free for all, like that you get whatever you want whenever you want it. It means that you're tuning in to the needs of your specific body, and I think that that is really an area that it gets really misinterpreted, i think, with intuitive eating.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah, i totally agree. I think it often gets misinterpreted as just to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, with no regard for anything else. And what I love about the advice that your dietitian gave you is that one. She advised you to get curious right, what happens when you have a parrot with a protein.
Elizabeth Harris:But also it was about adding The solution to that is about adding something in, not taking something away, which is how I try to approach nutrition and lifestyle changes with my clients. It's like let's focus first and foremost on what you can add It just feels better and it's more fun.
Amy Reinecke:frankly, Absolutely.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah.
Elizabeth Harris:So I love that she kind of steered you in that direction and that you were able to make those conclusions or to discern that feedback, really, that your body was giving you.
Elizabeth Harris:And then also, i think, in relation to what you said, yeah, i think the difference and it gets confusing Am I restricting or am I eating intuitively Often goes back to the intention behind the choice. You can be choosing the same food but for very different reasons. If I'm having a salad because that's what genuinely sounds good to me and I want the crisp and the cold and the crunch, and I throw in, you know, lots of protein and add-ins that make it really satisfying and enjoyable for me, that's an intuitive eating choice. If I choose a salad because I believe it's going to make me lose weight or help me control my body, or I'm trying to control my eating and I, you know, i'm just eating nothing but raw veggies and low fat dressing and that's not satisfying or enjoyable to me, well, it's still a salad, but totally different scenario. Yes, so a lot of times it's about exploring the intention behind the choice.
Amy Reinecke:I love that. I love that so much because that's so true. I think that we can approach our entire wellness journey with that same question is what is my intention? Is it rooted in self-love or is it rooted in self-hatred? and ask yourself that And I recognize, you guys, that that could be uncomfortable to hear the answer or to understand the answer but know that it really is an important part of this journey, because this is a healing journey. If you're working on your relationship with food and your body, this is a healing journey that you're on and being willing to get curious and asking yourself those important questions and being willing to have no judgment when you find the answer and just ask yourself well, how can I make that feel better to me mentally or physically, and how can I answer change next time?
Amy Reinecke:I want to circle back and give them some tips on fullness, and so let's chat about that. Like what can somebody if they're used to? I mean, i know for me I lived off points forever. So then when it was like eat intuitively, that was a little bit weird. Like I don't know when to stop, like I stopped when I was out of points. So if they sit down to a meal. What are some things that they can think about in regards to when do I know how to stop or how long how long I wait before I realize I'm either still hungry or full?
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah. So I think some helpful things are, again, to know that it may be physical, but it may also be mental or emotional cues. I think it's helpful to slow down right. When you're trying to focus on fullness, it's also helpful to think about what are the things that might distract you from feeling fullness in your body. So if you're, you know, standing up as you're eating and running out the door to go pick up your kids from carpool, that's probably going to be a time where it's going to be more challenging and difficult to tune into your fullness cues And sometimes that's just reality and going to happen. But when you really want to practice it, can you make those meals be the ones where it's a little more quiet. You turn off distractions. Maybe you're not scrolling social media or you know eating in the car or racing around. So set the scene, in other words, set the stage to help you make this a little bit easier and then also slow down and check in with yourself and know that it's okay to put your fork down for a few minutes, not with the intention to stop eating, but with the intention to just allow your body and your brain to catch up and for you to then check back in with genuine curiosity Do I still feel hungry And, if so, have some more and just start to explore Again you can go back to. Is this pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feelings of fullness?
Elizabeth Harris:I also think sometimes you may, just as you start to fill up, you may just experience like a more calm feeling, right? Maybe you don't have that same urgency around continuing to eat. Maybe the food isn't tasting quite as good as it did in the beginning. Maybe your mood is a little better, right? You've just sort of like repleted your energy and there is going to be trial and error here too. Sometimes you may go a little bit past your comfort fullness point. That's just, again, feedback. How can you unpack it? Sometimes you may not quite fill up enough and realize I'm hungry an hour later. So I think it's tuning into what does it feel like in your body? but it's also some trial and error of okay, if I just if I have half a bagel for breakfast, how long does that sustain me, right? How long before I start to notice that I feel hungry again, versus if I have a half a bagel with some eggs and some fruit? Do you notice the difference in how those two meals feel in your body and how long they keep you going and satisfied. So, again, experimenting with trial and error, and I think the last piece of advice that I can give around fullness or things to think about is to understand the difference between fullness and satisfaction.
Elizabeth Harris:Fulness is like that physical feeling of having enough. Right, your stomach is full, your energy is repleted, you physically have had enough food. But satisfaction is that sense of that. I feel good, i feel comfortable, i've had enough. That meal hit the spot And the reason why it matters is because you can be full but not satisfied. I can eat that you know salad that I talked about, with just raw veggies and low fat dressing, and maybe I eat enough to be full. It probably won't last me super long, but maybe I eat enough to feel full. But if what I really wanted was a sandwich instead of a salad at that meal, probably that meal didn't hit the spot. I'm not going to be emotionally satisfied, emotionally content, and I'm more likely then to go grazing and searching and keep looking for other things to find the thing that does hit the spot. So it's really important, when you're thinking about fullness, to also give yourself permission to eat the thing you really want.
Amy Reinecke:Yes, because you don't need to attach morality to food. If you want a sandwich over a salad, you're not bad. Like carbs are not likely, unless you have, like, a health condition going to kill you. You know we all need energy and that's essentially what carbohydrates are, and so don't be afraid of giving your body the fuel that it needs.
Elizabeth Harris:Yeah.
Amy Reinecke:Okay, this has just been such a great conversation I could keep you on here for like three more hours because I feel so good about what we've shared that I know that it's going to breed some curiosity, and that's what the goal definitely was to share you today with my audience, and I would love for you to tell them where they can connect with you, elizabeth.
Elizabeth Harris:Oh yeah, thank you. So you can find me on Instagram or Facebook at Elizabeth Harris Nutrition. I also have a Facebook community that I run called Health and Healing with Intuitive Eating And I like to describe it. It's the little corner of the internet where you can come, get positive food and body vibes and just feel good. Overall, i try to keep it really, really positive. It's a really nice community. And then I also have a podcast called Wellness Rebranded. I co-host it with a personal trainer and a mental health therapist who are both committed to this intuitive eating, weight neutral body, neutral, body positive space, and it's really just about rethinking and zooming out on wellness and what's really well and helpful and helpful and what is toxic diet culture and being able to really separate the two.
Amy Reinecke:Well, thank you so much And thanks for being a voice in this community sharing that message that I think so many women can benefit from. We're not supposed to have to struggle our whole lives with food or body image, and I think people like you sharing that message is really important. So thank you for the work that you're doing and going against the grain. I know personally it's not always that easy to do, but we know that this is really important work, and so thanks for sharing it with my audience And thanks for being here. Please go check out everywhere that Elizabeth shared. I will put all of those in the show notes, but make sure to connect with her. And I just want to say, if you feel at all a tug with anything that we've talked about today, get curious. Ask yourself what area that Elizabeth shared today could use a little bit more curiosity. Where could I start? possibly And maybe part of that is just self-awareness and how you feel, and so today's was all about curious, not judgment. So I asked that you just not judge yourself or the point that you're at in your journey, but just ask yourself where do I want to be next year, next month, tomorrow, how do I want to feel about myself and my body And then be brave enough to go seek more answers and tune in to yourself, because it is a beautiful journey when you commit to it. So thanks so much for listening to the podcast today.
Amy Reinecke:Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Love Your Body Well podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, i would appreciate it if you would leave a rating and review and let me know what resonated with you the most. This helps more people connect to the show and allows me to continue encouraging women. Just like you, i love when you share episodes that impacted you on social media or with your friends and family. It truly helps spread the word of compassion and kindness that all women need more of. I invite you to continue the conversation with me on my blog, loveyourbodywellnet, or on Instagram at LoveYourBodyWell. Thank you for being here today. I know you have a lot of podcasts to choose from and I'm honored that you listened to me. This podcast is for informational purposes only and not intended to provide a diagnosis or replace medical care.