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Intuitive Eating Principle #6: Feel Your Fullness

Feeling your fullness goes beyond the physical sensation of satiety; it encompasses a deeper connection with your body and emotions, fostering a balanced and mindful approach to nourishment. In a world often driven by external cues and societal pressures, tuning into your body's signals and recognizing what foods you desire and when you're truly satisfied can lead to a more harmonious relationship with food and self. This principle of intuitive eating encourages you to shift from rigid diets and portion control to attaining a profound understanding of YOUR individual needs. By embarking on a journey to feel your fullness, you embark on a path of self-discovery and well-being that transcends mere consumption and nourishes your entire being.


How to Respect Your Fullness

The key to moving away from external cues to internal body cues is conscious awareness eating - being fully present and attentive while consuming food, engaging your senses, thoughts and emotions during meals:

  • Pause in the middle of a meal or snack for a time-out:
    How does the food taste? Are you beginning to feel full?

  • When you finish eating, check-in with yourself and your fullness level:
    Is your fullness pleasant, unpleasant or neutral?

  • Explore your sense of fullness, recognizing your point of satisfaction for those final few bites
    Remember to Honor Your Hunger (Principle #2)

  • It’s ok to leave food on your plate
    Give yourself unconditional permission to eat (Principle #3), but do not make it a rule that you must leave food on your plate (there are no rules in Intuitive Eating!)

How to Increase Your Conscious Awareness

  • Eat without distraction

  • Reinforce your conscious decision to stop

  • Defend yourself from obligatory eating

Factors that Influence Fullness

  • The amount of time that has past since you last ate

  • The kind of food you ate

  • The amount of food still remaining in the stomach when you start eating

  • Initial Hunger Level

  • Social influences

Ready to learn more about feeling your fullness and healing your relationship with food? Not sure where to start? Click on the link below to schedule your FREE health discovery session today.