Does anyone else wonder when we lose the ability to 'eat to our needs'?

[Geekster1963]

DD who is seven varies with how hungry she is and how much she eats. When she is entering a growth spurt she will eat a big dinner for a week or two then go back to eating much less again. She doesn't think about it it's automatic. We seem to lose this as we get older. Not everyone does but my DH will eat his dinner even if he's not that hungry.

My dd1 is 20 and is still like this, if she isn't all that hungry she doesn't eat much. I was very similar until my mid 30's or thereabouts.

DH can easily turn down cake or biscuits if he isn't peckish and I used to be able to do that as well!

I think eating just what you need goes really early actually, as does sleeping when you're tired.

If DD was full and you offered her ice cream/cake/chocolate/sweets would she turn them down because she's full? That's the real test. I think are very few people who only eat what they need!

I don't know, once I have had enough I can't eat another bite. Just don't fancy it.

I have had a cheese sandwich for dinner the past few days as haven't been fussed. Another day I might be ravenous and have to stop at the shop on the way home for a snack.

Yes she would turn it down if she's full. I'm still like it if I'm full I'm full, but DH doesn't see to be like that.

I eat like this and so do my kids. If they aren't hungry I don't force them to eat a large dinner. We all go through hungry and not hungry phases!

I eat like this. DS (6) and I will turn down cake/icecream etc if too full (he might accept it but then won't eat it).

DP isn't. Looking at how he behaves when DS leaves food, I think that you lose the ability to do that when you are taught to clear your plate, or that diets are cool, etc. I.e. when external factors become more important than paying attention to your own needs.

Yes I consciously don't make DD clear her plate. She might only have two pieces of pasta left some days but if she says she's full she's full.

I also think what you eat plays a big part. there has been some interesting research that suggests that eating things with glucose-fructose syrup in (found in many many items) actually makes you feel hungrier despite being calorie heavy.
Diet and hunger is also tied up with other factors such as habit, emotions, tiredness etc

I think it varies by person. I can’t remember a time when given a chance I wouldn’t eat until I felt ill if the right kind of food was freely available. I was the child at the birthday party who’d rather keep eating than go and play.

My DD is 11, she still eats to her needs, she’s got sweets left over from last Halloween and Christmas, she hardly ever snacks or asks for food and stops eating when full. While I find all this wonderful it’s not something I’ve taught her, although I have never made her clear her plate, I’ve never used food as a reward or removal of it a punishment and I’ve never made any food forbidden.