Some people have difficulty regulating their appetite and sticking to a healthy eating routine. There are a number of potential reasons for this:
- A hectic lifestyle where time for enjoying food is a low priority
- Possible imbalances in specific brain chemicals that influence hunger
- Emotional issues that cause comfort eating
The first step in dealing with appetite fluctuations is developing an awareness of why a person eats what they do when they do. Only then can you work on the causes of an appetite problem.
An effective way to gain awareness is using an eating diary to record food experiences over a number of days. By writing down what you eat and the factors influencing eating choices, such as your mood or the people you ate with, you may suddenly realise valuable information you can use to change your eating patterns.
For example, you may notice that you always eat chocolate when you get bored. This tells you its time to stop the boredom from developing, by planning stimulating activities. You may also need to have a lower fat `boredom food' ready for the times boredom strikes.
To give you an idea of what to monitor, here's the hunger / fullness scale developed by Matt O'Neill:
9 FEELING SICK
8 VERY FULL
7 FULL
6 FEELING SATISFIED
5 NEUTRAL
4 SLIGHTLY HUNGRY
3 HUNGRY
2 VERY HUNGRY
1 RAVENOUS
Ratings 1-5 mostly describe how you feel before you eat. Ratings 5-9 apply to when you're eating and after you've finished eating.
Take a minute to think about how hungry or full you are now. How did you feel just before, during and after your last meal? When you are in tune with your appetite you're in more natural control of what you eat, so you can trust your appetite.
