Hunger scale

The hunger scale is a simple tool to help you sense again when you're really hungry and when you're full. It runs from 1 to 10: at 1 you're ravenous, shaky and irritable, at 5 neutral, at 7 comfortably full and at 10 so stuffed that you feel sick. Scales like this are used in mindful and intuitive eating programmes and in nutrition counselling; the exact levels vary slightly from programme to programme.

The rule of thumb: eat when you're at 3 or 4 – clearly hungry, but not ravenous. Stop when you're at 6 or 7 – comfortably full, not stuffed. If you wait until you're at 1 or 2, you often eat hastily and more than you planned, because by then the hunger is overwhelming. If you regularly eat until you're at 9 or 10, you override your feeling of fullness, which takes 15 to 20 minutes to reach your brain anyway.

How to use it: before eating, briefly ask yourself “Where am I right now?” and note the number. At 5 or higher, it's probably not physical hunger but appetite, habit or an emotion – a glass of water and a short pause can help. Ask again in the middle of the meal, and a third time when you stop. After one or two weeks you'll often hardly need the numbers any more – the feeling comes back. If hunger and fullness have become hard to sense after lots of diets or because of an eating disorder, that's not a failure – a dietitian or therapist can help you rediscover them.

For children, the scale is worth its weight in gold because it's playful: “How full is your tank?” or a traffic light going from green (hungry) through amber (full) to red (too full). Children are born with a good sense of hunger and fullness; the parents' job is not to override it with “You have to clear your plate.”