Journey to Thinner Peace Blog

Listen to your body’s whispers

Have you ever heard the phrase; God speaks to us in whispers?  It’s true. Screaming just doesn’t seem to be God’s style unless nothing else he has to say gets our attention.  Well, I find our bodies are very similar.  If there’s screaming going on, it’s usually because there’s something so extreme that our body feels it must crank up the volume to get our attention. If we don’t hear the whispers – we’ll usually hear the screams.

What do I mean by the “body whispers?”  I usually give my clients a hunger scale to go by how their bodies talk to them with hunger.  This scale goes from a –10 (starving) to a +10 (stuffed). I find people who are dieting or are seriously limiting their food intake, either wait too long to eat or only let themselves eat a certain amount of food based on what they THINK they need to eat, not on what their body tells them it needs.

Because they usually wait too long to eat their bodies are not satisfied, which means they still think they are hungry.  So their body hunger is high, but they’re limiting what they can eat. So what happens? Their perception is, they’re hungry and not able to eat. And hunger, whether it is real or perceived, will make that good old reptilian brain perk up. You know what that means, an invitation by the brain to binge.

So how can you pay attention to whispers of your body? Simple. Begin to retrain it. First I teach that if one eats more often and starts at –2 (slight whisper of hunger) and stops at a +2 (slight whisper of satiety) people can start retraining the brain and body. If you watch children they eat often and don’t have to eat a lot.  I think they are in tune with the whispers of their bodies, which is the natural reaction of the body to hunger.

When you start paying attention to your body’s natural reactions you will retrain your brain to notice when it’s time to eat and when it’s time to stop eating.  Yes, your body needs to be retrained. Because your mind and body haven’t been working together for a long time this period is like boot camp for the body and mind.  And – it will feel hard or difficult at first – but if you persist, you will succeed. What happens in a well-trained body? It’s simple. Your body says:

“Oh I hear that whisper of hunger. Let’s feed you now. Oh! I feel that whisper of fullness, it’s time to stop eating.”

Pretty soon you won’t have to think about the whispers at all. You and your body will be back in sync. Yes it is possible. Let me give you an example of how this works in kids.  What would happen if you were taking your child or grandchild out for the day?  I know you would bring snacks (fuel food) because dealing a kid whose body is hungry is usually cranky, wild and no fun to be around.

YOU are no different, only you don’t pay attention to what your body is telling you. So you are not aware of your hunger until your body is screaming at you, which means you are starving and will not make good food choices. You won’t make good food choices because guess what? Your brain won’t let you.  It wants food right now. And since there are zillions of fast food place to help that brain demand out, it’s pretty hard to resist that drive-through window.

We must reconnect our minds and bodies so they are working in our best interest. When your body is whispering, nudging you about hunger, you can make wise choices for yourself and not feel deprived because you’re not deprived.

This is so much easier than summing up will-power. It’s nice to know that simply listening to our body can help us become thin and healthy. It’s r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g. Since there are no inner struggles about will-power to deal with, you’ll find you’re eating when you’re hungry, stopping when you’re full, and not having to struggle with having “off limit” foods.  You can eat whatever you want – as long as you’re listening to your body’s whispers.

Want some joy food?  Just pay attention to the joy you’re getting and stop when the enjoyment is over.  You’ll be surprised how little you need to feel like you’re enjoying a particular food when there are no inner struggles with your crazy brain. It might take one bite, or two. In the beginning it may take more. Just pay attention and stop when the joy is sated.

Baby step# 1 use the hunger scale and become very aware of your body’s hunger. This takes practice in the beginning. You’ll overeat and feel like you’ve failed, but you haven’t. “Failing” is how we learn. Notice how babies learn to walk? They fall down, get up, fall down, get up – and learn something about balance each time they do until they’re able to walk consistently. The same will happen with your eating. You’ll over eat a little, not eat enough, overeat a little until you figure out what works. It’s a process. Don’t expect to learn it in one day or even one week! Keep working at it!

Baby step #2 Eat often. When you’re paying attention to your body’s whispers, you will notice you will eat more often.  It’s okay. Eating more often will increase your metabolism, which will also help you shed pounds without thinking about it.  When you don’t eat often enough, or you starve your body, your cortisol levels go up. Elevated cortisol levels means no weight loss for you, and more fat around your belly.

So, the stress from NOT eating can make you fat! Who knew?? I think that’s why so many women tell me they are hardly eating, but find they are still not losing weight.  Another bonus of eating more often is your energy will be increased.  Increased energy means less or no desire for a sugar and caffeine boost because you already feel boosted.  Fuel food does that for you.  Don’t forget your whole foods are the fuel to your body’s engine. So now you know. Listen to your body’s whispers. Don’t wait for it to scream!

Baby step #3 What if you paid more attention to your body signs such as tired, thirsty, pain, etc.  I think if you paid attention to those whispers our Ears would not be so crowded.  Think about it!