Some days it can just take forever to figure out what you want to eat. Maybe you don’t know what you want to eat because genuinely nothing sounds good, or perhaps you just don’t think you should be eating the food you really want.
When you’re always on a diet, that constant plan can make it more difficult to get in touch with what you actually want to eat.
And even now as an intuitive eater, I still have days where I just don’t know what I want to eat.
Whichever reason, I have some tips to help you nail down what you’re hungry for.
Check in with the type of hunger you’re experiencing
I always recommend starting by checking in with the 3 main types of hunger – physical, mental, and taste.
Physical hunger includes your body’s hunger and fullness cues, while taste is more of the satisfaction and pleasure based on our taste buds. Mental or emotional hunger is a deeper and more spiritual hunger that can be satisfied by more than just food.
I do have an honorable mention type called practical hunger.
Practical hunger is when you choose to eat based on future and predicted needs. Your schedule may not always allow you to eat when hungry. For example, you could have an event that isn’t serving food and need to eat dinner a couple hours later than normal so you decide to eat something before the event even though you aren’t hungry yet, that way you don’t feel like you’re starving when you finally sit down for dinner.
When deciding what to eat, it helps to understand what type of hunger you’re trying to fulfill because it could change what kind of food you’re looking for.
Questions to ask yourself when you don’t know what to eat
When you don’t know what you want to eat, the trick is just to get clear on what seems like a good option. There won’t always be a strong craving for something.
In fact, the more I’ve practiced intuitive eating the fewer strong cravings I’ve had for food. Often for snacks, I just go with what’s convenient and sounds decent at the moment. Whereas when I was dieting I would ignore my cravings for so long that I always felt like strong cravings were driving my food choices.
These are my top 6 questions I ask myself and teach to my clients when they’re working through not knowing what they want to eat.
What’s the purpose or need I’m fulfilling?
This question is mostly about what type of hunger (or multiple) you’ll fulfill with this meal or snack. It can be a helpful guide, so I like to start here.
How physically hungry am I?
This question can guide how much food you’ll be looking for. If you’re very hungry, you’ll likely want a larger meal with multiple food groups to satisfy your hunger. But if you’re just a little hungry and maybe have a taste craving, it might just be a smaller snack.
What texture do I want? (crunchy, soft, smooth, etc)
Figuring if you’re looking for crunchy, soft, or smooth foods (or even a combination) helps to narrow down your options for what type of food you want to eat.
What flavor or combination of flavors do I want? (salty, sweet, savory, fruity, etc)
Like food texture, deciding what flavor(s) you want makes it easier to find a good option.
What does my body need?
It always amazes me how smart the human body is, and when you become connected to your body’s needs you’ll start to get a sense of what food will sit with your body the best. Sometimes you can just tell when your body needs fiber, protein, and other nutrients. Or when you need something lighter or more substantial to eat.
What options are available?
Sometimes the easiest place to default to when you don’t know what you want to eat is with what’s available. Not every single meal has to be a delicious satisfying experience. It’s alright to sometimes have a little less interest, it just happens sometimes.
So, it’s alright to just check in with what you have available in your kitchen and choose from those options.
And if you’re still stuck not knowing what you want to eat, there’s no wrong answer. Sometimes it works just to pick anything to satisfy your hunger and move on to what’s next.