Mindful eating is a skill but once learned it can help you quiet the food noise and get your cravings under control. Here’s how.
Food. Ah, the language of love. Wining, dining, eating out – it’s a way to show our nearest and dearest how much gratitude we have for them, but do you extend that same act of love to yourself? Are you listening to what your stomach – or brain – is trying to tell you or is it lost in translation?
“Food noise is the ongoing mental chatter around eating – what to have, when, how much, whether something is ‘bad’ or allowed. It can come from internal worry or external cues such as smells in the office, snacks in a shop, a scroll through your feed. For some, it’s a background hum, for others it’s a constant, especially during stress or periods of low structure,” explains Camilla Pigozzi Garafalo, an anthropology of food expert and founder of Kurami. “We are surrounded by 24/7 access to food, conflicting nutritional advice and endless choice so it’s not surprising the body’s signals – hunger, fullness, even satisfaction become muted.”
The noise can also amplify if it’s being driven by a biological imbalance, says leading nutritionist, Kim Pearson. “When your blood sugar dips, when you're sleep-deprived, or when you're eating nutrient-poor foods, it will get louder. The more you regulate your physiology, the quieter that noise becomes.”
Alongside the stimulants that surround us, there’s our habits. Food and eating are ritualistic. “You might instinctively reach for crisps with a pint or crave chocolate every afternoon – not out of hunger but habit. These rhythms are deeply human but in today’s world, they are compounded by saturation,” continues Camilla.
This is where the idea of intuitive eating comes in. “It’s a non-diet approach that supports people in rebuilding trust with their body and food choices. It moves away from rigid rules or restrictions and instead encourages eating based on internal cues such as hunger, fullness and satisfaction,” says Ro Huntriss, registered dietitian and chief nutrition officer at Simple Life App. “It’s grounded in research and has been shown to support improved psychological and physical wellbeing.”
How to practice intuitive eating
Unfortunately, most of us can’t just silence the food noise that we’re subjected to, and it’s very rare that one can waltz through life without any cravings, but there are plenty of supportive habits you can build into your day that can at least lower the volume.
The first step every expert agrees with is that it’s crucial to eat balanced meals full of protein, fibre and healthy fats that will satiate your appetite. This is no place for calorie counting, it’s far more important to be loading your plate with foods that meet your body’s basic needs, rather than obsessing over the numbers on the back of the pack. “Protein regulates appetite, magnesium and B vitamins support energy metabolism and stress resilience and fibre helps moderate blood sugar and cholesterol levels,” explains Kim.
Deficiencies in these can also increase cravings as it will make you more susceptible to lean towards quick fixes, usually those more processed foods and high sugar options. That said, cravings shouldn’t be ignored as it’s very much your body trying to get the message across that it needs fuelling. “Intuitive eating is not anti-structure or anti-craving – it’s knowing what a nourishing meal looks like to help you avoid chaotic eating or nutrient gaps. That’s why intuitive eating can thrive when paired with nutritional understanding and cravings don’t need to be resisted, they just need to be met with the right structure, so your body feels seen and supported,” says Camilla.
So don’t forgo the snacks, just bridge the gap and try something that’s packed with protein and fibre – that way you acknowledge the fact your body is getting hangry and you’re supporting it with a thoughtful and nourishing snack.
Oh, and avoid any associations of foods being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. “Trying to fight cravings with substitutes doesn’t always work because sometimes you genuinely want chocolate or dessert so it’s about allowing yourself to enjoy it without guilt,” adds Ro. Which is also why intuitive eating can be a refreshing alternative to the ‘all or nothing’ mindset so commonly associated with dieting. “It allows for flexibility, enjoyment and health to coexist,” she says.
Helpful habits
By now you’ll realise that intuitive eating isn’t about resisting hunger, restricting food or eating by the clock. The latter I experienced firsthand whilst in Australia, staying with my friend who eats intuitively because one morning, we had lasagne for breakfast. Yes, it was leftovers (she wasn’t up at dawn making bechamel sauce) but it wouldn’t have even crossed my mind to have pasta for my first meal of the day. That said once I gave myself the permission to lose the ‘rules’ around what an ‘appropriate’ breakfast was, it was delightful. We’d only had a light dinner the previous evening, so she had woken up and realised her body needed more fuel to power her through the morning. It worked for me too. On my return home, I stopped pigeonholing food quite so much and started checking in to see what my body was actually calling for.
A practical tool you can use at home or when you’re out, is the hunger and fullness scale, suggests Ro: “Think of hunger as a scale from 1-10 where 1 is absolutely starving and 10 is uncomfortably full. Aiming to start eating around a 3 or 4 (gently hungry) and finish around a 7 (comfortable satisfied) can help prevent both overeating and undereating. It’s not about being perfect but learning to read your body’s signals and respond accordingly.”
Other ways to tune into your tummy? Eat slower, chew food thoroughly and give your meal 100% of your attention which means screens while you’re eating is a hard no, as they’ll distract your brain’s ‘full’ signals. Think about journaling too – not a food diary but a handy logbook. “Keeping a journal to track how different foods, sleep patterns or stress levels affect your appetite and mood can teach you a lot and help you learn the difference between true hunger and emotional hunger,” says Kim.
And when you’re at social gatherings or eating out, don’t ‘save yourself’ – have a snack beforehand that will allow you to approach the occasion with clarity, not urgency to eat because your hunger levels are off the charts, and you’ll wolf down anything that’s put in front of you.
Possibly the most crucial lesson of all is to be kind and be curious. It’s consistency over control. Nail this and you won’t need to second-guess your hunger, plug the gaps when you’ve ignored the signals, and you’ll trust what your body is telling you. Prioritise sleep, manage stress and build a regular eating routine that suits you. Everything else in the world is becoming bespoke so make your eating habits unique for you – and if that means if you want yoghurt and berries for dinner and sea bass for breakfast, so be it. You do you and you’ll be in synch with your stomach forever more.
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