What If Every Choice Could Teach You Something?

Part 5 of Food As A Path—Guided from Within, a six-part arc about shifting our relationship with food from external influence toward inner wisdom.

I know better than to go grocery shopping before dinner when I’m hungry.

When I do, I spend way too much money on things I wouldn’t usually buy. And it usually includes something gooey and sweet, like a doughnut to eat in the car on the way home.

Hunger is one of the more obvious ways our bodies communicate with us. We feel it. Our stomach growls. Our energy may drop. Food starts looking increasingly interesting.

Maybe you notice that you're comfortably full halfway through what is still on your plate. Or that one lunch leaves you clear-headed and energized through the afternoon, while another leaves you ready for a nap. Perhaps you feel satisfied for hours after breakfast—or hungry again surprisingly soon. You may notice that a particular meal feels comfortable in your stomach, while another leaves you feeling heavy, bloated or just...off.

There is useful information here.

The information can be easy to miss.

We eat while working, driving, watching television or scrolling through our phones. We may eat quickly because we’re hungry, rushed or simply accustomed to eating that way. Sometimes our attention is everywhere except on the experience of eating.

And sometimes we’ve become so accustomed to how we feel that we barely register it.

That afternoon slump? Normal.

Feeling overly full after dinner? Normal.

Needing something sweet an hour later? Normal.

Eating because it’s noon, even though we aren’t particularly hungry? That’s lunchtime.

What if...

Before you eat, you notice what is happening in my body?

While you eat, what changes?

And afterward, how do I feel?

Hungry? Satisfied? Still wanting something? Energized? Sleepy? Comfortable? Heavy? Clear-headed? Foggy?

Your lived experience is wiser than Dr. Mom

We receive plenty of information about what we should eat—from nutrition research, experts, headlines, labels, friends, family and whatever happens to be trending this week.

But there is another source of information available to you that no article, food label or expert can provide: your experience of living in your body.

What happens when you eat? What gives you energy? What satisfies you? When are you actually hungry? When have you had enough? What feels comfortable? What doesn't?

You may not have an answer to every question. But you can notice.

Noticing gives you information. What you do with that information is a choice. The information doesn’t have to become another rigid food rule. It can simply help inform your next choice.

Next Wednesday, we’ll take the final step in Guided From Within and explore what can happen when we bring love into that choice.

AEO Snippet

Q: What is your body telling you about the way you eat?

A: Your body is providing information about the way you eat all day long. Hunger may be obvious. But what about fullness, energy, satisfaction, comfort—or simply feeling a little off? What might you learn if you started noticing?