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However, physical hunger will not go away, even if you try to distract yourself. Also, hunger will only stop when you eat. If you are hungry, a small snack can cause hunger to go away instead of it growing into an undeniable urge to eat. When physical hunger is present, you have to move past non-eating to the next phase in the cycle.
The preparation phase of eating is when you prepare a meal or snack, or make a food choice. The preparation phase can be hours before you eat (like when you pack a lunch in the morning) or minutes, such as ordering at a restaurant or selecting food at a buffet. The preparation phase incorporates two critical decisions: what to eat
AND how much. In the preparation phase, you can bring mindful awareness to either what you choose or how much you choose. The key to mindful eating is choice, and it starts by asking, “ Do I want to focus on what or how much I eat?
”
There isn
’ t a single answer to this question, which is why mindful eating allows you to make it each and every time. How can you make so many choices? To understand what to eat, you will again “ check in
” and ask questions about your current thoughts, desires and needs. Questions help you learn, “
What do I want to eat?
” “ What would taste good to me, right now?
” “ What would help my body?
” In this phase, seek to find a balance between your knowledge of nutrition, your preferences, and your cravings (3) for the food available.
Now that you know what you want to eat, ask, “ How much food will fill but not overfill my hunger?
” Hunger is an effective guide (4) to knowing how much food to select. If you are not sure how to evaluate your hunger, use a hunger rating scale. There are many types of hunger rating scales. Some have been designed for children (5) (free examples you can download: https://mindfuleatingforkids.wordpress.com/keep-learning/ professional-handouts/ ) and others for adults or people with diabetes. Most hunger scales typically start at
10 (starving) and go to 1 (not at all hungry). However, there are many that will incorporate both hunger and fullness in a single scale, starting at 1 (starving) and going to 10 (stuffed) with 5 representing a comfortable level. Using a hunger rating scale will assist you in determining how much food you need to fill but not overfill your current level of hunger.
The pause is the next aspect of the meal and it is described by mindful eating experts as the most powerful moment in a meal. Why? This is the place where you can set your intention. Your intention when eating is amazingly powerful because it creates the mood and the outcome for an action. You can create the intentional thought to eat everything or choose to pause often during the meal and stop eating when you are comfortably full. This small shift in thinking is another effective weapon against memories of “ The Clean Plate Club, ” which many people were forced to join as kids. Changing this childhood behavior is challenging because for many it requires you to redefine your definition of “ being good
” that was associated with eating everything provided.
If you are struggling with eating past fullness, mindful eating can help you replace old thinking with new, more effective thoughts and behaviors. These can combat the tiny voice that whispers, “
It
’ s the last bite
” or
“
I have to eat everything.
”
It is hard to believe but this is the first time you are actually taking a bite! Are you amazed to realize that the first three phases are not about eating? These first three phases are all mental changes and they direct you toward recognizing psychological and physical hunger--toward thinking about what and how much to eat and setting a clear intention to fill but not overfill your stomach.
Realize that when you are at the meal, hunger is present and it is seen as an invited guest who will be leaving the meal soon. With each mouthful, hunger is easing himself out the door. Joining the guest of hunger is another diner called sensory-specific satiety (6). This is the guy who, when you are eating brown M&M’s, whispers that the colored M&M’s will taste better or will offer you more enjoyment. Sensory-specific satiety refers to a decrease in sensory pleasure derived from consuming a specific food or drink, relative to the consumer’s liking for unconsumed foods and drinks (7). For example, if you were presented with just a very www.SkellySkills.com

large steak for dinner, and nothing else, you might experience satiety earlier than if you were eating a smaller steak with 3 side dishes. Just like hunger, satiety is a guest at the meal and these two guests seem to want different things. Sensory-specific satiety wants to satisfy your senses, but really doesn’t care about hunger.
Jan Bays writes in the book Mindful Eating
about seven kinds of sensory hunger (8). Understanding that your senses also want to be filled and stimulated at a meal can have an influence on the amount of food eaten (9).
This guest is searching for a variety of foods that are sensory stimulating and eating only one food at a meal, or the same old foods, is boring for him. Look for options, ideas and ways to challenge yourself such as having two or three vegetables on your plate, and notice if eating more vegetables feels more satisfying than if you had only one vegetable. This little tip could be helpful to remember in the preparation phase of eating. Engage and play with the guest of sensory-specific satiety. You can increase or decrease the number of choices of a specific food, for example vegetables or dessert, to learn if having a single choice or choosing between two or three options helps you meet your health goals.
Now, let’s turn your attention to the guest of hunger. Hunger is often described as both a physical need for food and a psychological desire to eat. Focusing on physical hunger can help you recognize when it is time to stop eating. How? Remember that hunger is leaving the party with each bite you take. Imagine hunger as if it were a sound that becomes fainter and fainter with each and every bite until it is silent. The moment when physical hunger ends is when you shift to the next phase. Many people notice that physical hunger ends sooner than psychological hunger does. The desire to keep eating is a complex process that has many influences. Mindful eating isn ’ t defined by your bite size or speed of eating; however, slowing down can help you become more aware if the desire to keep eating is driven by physical or psychological hunger. Just like in sports, for a referee to review a call or play, he or she will watch a slow-motion replay. Slowing down when eating increases the ease with which you can observe your behaviors and choices, helping you make the
“ right
” call.
The end of meal phase is about trying to find a comfortable level of fullness. If fullness were a sound, it would start out quiet and grow louder and louder with each bite. An effective strategy to finding a comfortable level of fullness is pausing when half of the meal has been eaten to notice the shift to fullness.
Some people assume that you stop eating when hunger has ended. However, this is not helpful. When hunger has ended, you don
’ t stop eating. Instead, you shift your attention to finding fullness. I like to describe fullness as a beloved guest, and your goal is to help your guest become comfortable, not uncomfortable. It is a relaxed time: no need to rush or push food onto your guest! If you are not sure if your guest is comfortable, talk with your guest, ask questions: “ Are you comfortable now? Would another bite make you more
comfortable?
”
When your
“ guest
” has reached a comfortable level of fullness, it is time to stop eating. The last phase is the clean up and it is a lot like the initial non-hunger eating phase. However, because food is around, there are a lot of environmental cues to eat if you are not mindful. Creating a clear intention is important in helping you resist the temptation to “ have a bite
”.
This sense of joy will stop opening the door to other feelings like discomfort, guilt and frustration.
Keep the reason why you are not eating clear in your mind: that is, to maintain a level of comfort and enjoyment that is associated with not eating past fullness. This means desires to sneak in a few bites or not waste food are in conflict with your current pleasant experience. Being present and focusing on your current experience of contentment can help you maintain your enjoyment, resisting additional eating which causes you to become uncomfortable. Instead of eating, direct your thoughts to effective ways you can be around food.
Ideas include packing up any leftovers or preparing meals for your lunch or dinner the next day.
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8. Final Critical Thinking Question:
In the above mindful eating article, the act of eating was divided into six distinct phases where only two aspects included the consumption of calories. Consider the below, answering the questions in bold for the exam:
• Consider how breaking eating into six phases that include both non-eating and eating sections could assist clients in understanding food and eating choices and/or struggles. (Note: this is reflection only; no answer required).
• Now, reflecting on your own counseling, does having six phases of eating create more educational and counseling opportunities for you to share with your clients? Briefly (1-2 sentences), explain why you feel this is true (or untrue).
• In the last graphic, the Six Phases of Eating was made into a continuous cycle that describes eating.
Reflect on your own counseling. Now, list at least one benefit to seeing eating as a continuous cycle.
Getting your 1.5 CPEUs:
Once you're ready, go to this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6SimpleSteps
The CE quiz questions listed above will display. Answer them and then use the answer key provided to score yourself. Once you've reviewed your progress and corrected any wrong answers, complete the feedback survey and reporting form. Once you submit that, you'll be provided with your 1.5 CE Certificate of Completion.
Questions? Contact us at info@SkellySkills.com
!
Learn more about all our CE courses for RD/RDNs, CDEs and DTRs at www.SkellySkills.com
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Provider
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CE credit available through February 1, 2019.