Intuitive Eating Principle #2 – Honor Your Hunger
The joy of the Lord is my strength
Honor your hunger. Sounds easy. Right?
Of course it sounds easy, but let’s take a moment to unpack why it’s not as easy as it sounds as we dive into Intuitive Eating Principle #2.
A history of dieting can disrupt your body's natural ability to recognize and respond to hunger cues. Repeatedly ignoring hunger triggers your body’s survival mode, raising cortisol (the stress hormone) and making you think about food even more. Over time, this can throw off your ghrelin levels (the hunger hormone), making hunger cues feel harder to notice or trust. Chronic restriction also shifts your focus from internal signals to external food rules, leaving you feeling out of touch with your body. As a result, your hunger signals can start to feel fuzzy, inconsistent, confusing, or even nonexistent.
When we are entrenched in diet culture, we spend so much time convincing ourselves we aren’t hungry, or it isn’t time to eat, that we lose trust in our body’s natural ability to communicate what it needs to feel well and function at its best.
I think back over my diet history to years when extreme hunger felt like a badge of honor, when I was on diets that were so restrictive that hunger pangs felt like a win for weight loss, and moments where I did “so good” all day only to binge while I was making dinner because I was so hungry. I was severely lacking joy when it came to food. It felt like an uphill battle that I was losing but I could maybe conquer with my next diet.
In order to learn to honor my hunger, I *had* to get back in touch with my hunger cues.
Before we dive into hunger, let’s think about some other cues that your body gives you.
How do you know when you need to use the bathroom? You probably feel a sensation or pressure. What happens when you ignore that feeling? It might pass, temporarily, before coming back more urgently than before.
How can you tell you need to take a nap? You might feel it in your head, or your eyes might get heavy. You might start to yawn. If you can’t take a nap, think about how you feel until you’re able to get to bed. Your brain and body signal to you that it’s time to rest.
Now, consider what hunger might feel like.
Where do you experience hunger in your body? Your stomach? Your throat? Is it a feeling of lower energy, irritability, lightheadedness, or difficulty concentrating? Is it a physical sensation like a slight shakiness, headache, or weakness? What about your thoughts? Did you know that increased thoughts about food or even thoughts about a specific food could be a sign of hunger?
It may be helpful to start to think of hunger and fullness on a scale. We’re focusing on hunger this week but I’m going to share the full scale for it to make sense.
When we talk about hunger we will consider the sensation of hunger on a scale from 5 down to 0, thinking of our stomach gradually getting emptier to the point of being empty (0). We will think of how we’re feeling (from 5 → 0) and we willconsider if the sensation is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.
5 – You are neither hungry nor full. Simply neutral.
4 – You might begin to feel hunger cues, but this is a neutral hunger.
3 – You are hungry and ready to eat but it’s not emergent. This is a pleasant hunger.
2 – At this point, hunger is still classified as pleasant. You are quite hungry and looking forward to a meal or a snack.
1 –You are irritable and ravenous. This hunger is unpleasant.
0 – If you are at a zero, you are painfully hungry. This hunger is intense and very unpleasant.
As we begin to get in touch with our hunger cues, and as we start to get curious and notice our hunger on a scale of 0 (ravenously hungry) to 5 (neutral), we will begin to recognize when we’re in our ideal eating window. An ideal eating window is between a 2 and 4. It might surprise you that you don’t wait until you are unpleasantly hungry to nourish your body but if you wait until you are a 1 or 0, you can risk falling into a pattern of bingeing or not nourishing your body well because you are emergently needing food.
How are you feeling? No, I’m not asking if you’re hungry right now (although, good job for considering where you’re at on the hunger scale – it’s 10:46 here and I’m trending down toward a 2). How are you feeling about getting back in touch with your hunger? Are you feeling hopeful? Is it feeling impossible? Are you feeling neutral?
The best way to re-learn your hunger cues is through practice. Get curious. Be patient with yourself.
Maybe even grab a piece of paper and a pen and try this journaling activity:
Hunger Scale Journaling Activity
Use this 5→0 scale to check in with your hunger before and during eating.
Hunger Scale (5→0):
5 – Neutral (body feels fully nourished)
3 – Pleasant (gentle emptiness, thinking about food)
4 – Neutral (subtly hungry)
2 – Pleasant (very hungry, ready for a meal or snack)
1 – Unpleasant (stomach growling, low energy)
0 – Unpleasant (dizzy, shaky, irritable)
📝 Reflect Before Eating:
Where am I on the hunger scale (5→0)?
Does my hunger feel pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral?
Where do I feel hunger in my body (stomach, head, mood, energy)?
📝 During Eating Pause & Consider:
Where am I now on the hunger scale?
Is my hunger shifting? How does it feel?
Reconnect with your body's natural hunger cues without judgment.
As I learned to recognize my hunger cues and began to honor my hunger, I found a new sense of freedom from anxiety that I had previously felt around food. I was able to enjoy food in a new way and eating became a joyful experience.
I love this glimpse of joy from Nehemiah 8:10:
“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’”
The joy of the Lord is my strength and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I can find joy in learning to trust my body’s cues. I can find joy in honoring my hunger. I can find joy as I slow down and enjoy my eating experience, checking in to truly honor my hunger. I can find joy in letting go of diet culture – SO much joy!
True joy comes from Jesus, and I am so thankful for the ways that I have been able to experience joy more fully and completely as an Intuitive Eater.
I’d love to hear from you. How has your joy increased on your Intuitive Eating journey or how hopeful are you to increase your joy as dive deeper into the principles of Intuitive Eating?
Blessings as you journey,
Emily
Intuitive Eating Counselor & Coach at IE with Emily
If tuning into your hunger cues feels foreign or unreliable, that’s completely normal—especially after years of dieting or ignoring them. Coaching can help you rebuild that trust with your body in a grounded, sustainable way. You can find more details about working with me at www.iewithemily.com.
P.S. Here’s the link to Principle #3 - Make Peace with Food.
I am currently on a trip. Before IE, trips were VERY stressful where food is concerned. Now I travel and don't worry about planning every meal. When needed, God will provide what I need. He meets my hunger needs every time. It is getting easier to discern my hunger.