Use the Hunger Scale

Do you really know what hunger feels like? Before you can rein it in, you must learn to recognize the physical cues that signal a true need for nourishment. BEFORE you eat use the hunger scale to help figure out your true food needs:

Starving: An uncomfortable, empty feeling that may be accompanied by light-headedness or the jitters caused by low blood sugar levels from lack of food. Binge risk: high.

Hungry: Your next meal is on your mind. If you don't eat within the hour, you enter dangerous "starving" territory.

Moderately hungry: Your stomach may be growling, and you're planning how you'll put an end to that nagging feeling. This is optimal eating time.

Satisfied: You're satiated, not full, but not hungry, either. You're relaxed and comfortable.

Full: If you're still eating, it's more out of momentum than actual hunger. Your belly feels slightly bloated, and the food does not taste as good as it did in the first few bites.

Stuffed: You feel uncomfortable and might even have mild heartburn from your stomach acids creeping back up into your esophagus.  By: Jen Harris