Reclaim your Greatest Tool for Health and Wellness: Interoceptive Awareness
Why Can’t I Trust My Body?
If you have ever struggled with disordered eating, you might be familiar with the feeling of being disconnected from your own body. Hunger cues are unpredictable or absent, fullness feels foreign, and bodily sensations like fatigue or stress often go unnoticed, only being recognized when they feel overwhelming. This is not a personal failing or a quirk of your body; it is a learned disconnection.
At the heart of this experience is interoceptive awareness, the ability to recognize and interpret internal body signals like hunger, thirst, pain, and emotions. For many people in recovery, rebuilding this connection is one of the most challenging and essential parts of healing.
What Is Interoceptive Awareness?
Interoception is your body’s way of communicating its needs. Its the constant dialogue between our mind and body. It allows you to notice when you are hungry, thirsty, tired, hurt, sick, or emotionally overwhelmed. Ideally, our bodies send clear messages, and we respond by eating when we are hungry, drinking when we are thirsty, resting when we are tired, healing when we are hurt or sick, and seeking support when we are stressed. Like a child learns to trust their mother when she responds to their needs, our body learns to trust us when we feed it, nurture it, and honor it’s truth.
For individuals struggling with eating disorders, interoception is frequently disrupted. Behaviors such as restrictive eating, bingeing, purging, or excessive exercise can dull or distort these important signals. As a result, we may not recognize feelings of hunger or thirst until they become overwhelming, leading to lightheadedness or intense cravings. Many of my clients report returning from medical appointments surprised by findings such as hairline fractures, fevers, or other signs of illness, often because they were unaware of these symptoms until they required urgent attention. This disconnection stems from fragmented interoceptive awareness, which hinders our ability to recognize and respond to the crucial messages our bodies send us.
This disruption is not just psychological; it is neurological. Research shows that people with eating disorders often have reduced activity in the insula, the part of the brain responsible for processing internal sensations (Kaye et al., 2009; Kerr et al., 2016). This means that your body might be sending messages, but your brain has trouble interpreting them.
How Do We Become Disconnected from Our Bodies?
Diet Culture and External Food Rules
Diet culture teaches us that hunger is something to be controlled or ignored. From a young age, we are praised for eating based on calorie count, resisting cravings, and/or told to finish our plate even when our body says stop. Over time, this can erode trust in the body’s natural hunger and fullness signals (Harrison, 2019). It leads us rely on the newest diet trend or influencer to tell us what to eat as we can no longer discern what our body wants or needs.
Perfectionism and Overriding Physical Needs
Many people with eating disorders have a history of perfectionism, constantly pushing through discomfort and dismissing signals of hunger, fatigue, or stress (Fairburn et al., 2003). The need to "do everything right" often extends to eating, making it difficult to honor bodily cues.
Emotional Suppression
We learn through messages like, “You’re fine, stop crying” or “You’re overreacting,” or “Put mind over matter, just push through!” to suppress emotions rather than process them. If we are not given the space to process our emotions, or fear there will be severe consequences if we don’t suppress our feelings, we protect ourselves by severing ourselves from our emotional experience. Since emotions have physical sensations—like a tight chest from anxiety or a sinking feeling in the stomach from sadness—this suppression can lead to a general distrust of bodily cues (McBride, 2021).
Trauma and the Need to Disconnect
Trauma can be a major reason why someone dissociates from their body. For those who have experienced abuse, neglect, or medical trauma, being in the body can feel unsafe. The nervous system learns to numb or ignore internal sensations as a survival mechanism. Many survivors of trauma report feeling "out of body" or unaware of physical sensations like hunger or pain, making it difficult to reconnect in recovery (van der Kolk, 2014). If you have experienced trauma, it is essential to receive support from a trained professional to help you safely reconnect to your bodily experience.
Why Interoceptive Awareness Matters in Recovery
Healing from an eating disorder is not just about learning to eat again; it is about learning to listen again. Recovery involves rebuilding trust with your body and recognizing that its signals are not the enemy.
Developing interoceptive awareness can help:
Restore Hunger and Fullness Cues by making it easier to recognize and respond to subtle hunger before it becomes extreme and to honor fullness before discomfort sets in (Tribole & Resch, 2020).
Reduce Anxiety Around Food by reframing hunger as a biological cue rather than a failure of control (Kinavey & Sturtevant, 2021).
Improve Emotional Regulation by allowing yourself to recognize and process their emotions rather than suppressing or numbing them through disordered behaviors (McBride, 2021).
Using Somatic Exposure to Reduce Body Dysmorphia and Improve Body Image
For many people in eating disorder recovery, sensations related to digestion, fullness, or body awareness can feel overwhelming or even intolerable. Interoceptive exposure is a powerful tool that helps individuals gradually build tolerance to these sensations rather than reacting to them with fear, avoidance, or harmful behaviors.
What is Interoceptive Exposure?
Interoceptive exposure involves intentionally experiencing physical sensations in a controlled and safe environment to reduce fear and avoidance responses. Originally developed for anxiety and panic disorders, this technique is now being applied to eating disorders to help individuals become more comfortable with bodily sensations that trigger distress (Barlow et al., 2000).
How Somatic Exposure Helps with Body Image Distress
People with eating disorders and body dysmorphia often misinterpret neutral body sensations as negative or threatening. For example, a feeling of fullness after a meal may trigger anxiety about weight gain, leading to restrictive behaviors or purging (Vocks et al., 2011). Interoceptive exposure helps break this association by introducing these sensations in a neutral context, allowing the brain to relearn that they are not dangerous.
Examples of Somatic Exposure Exercises
These exercises help individuals become more comfortable with physical sensations related to digestion, body weight, and movement. They should always be done with the guidance of a trained clinician to ensure safety and effectiveness (Smith, 2024).
1. Digestive Sensations
Drinking a glass of water quickly to simulate a feeling of bloating
Pushing the stomach out slightly to increase awareness of gastric expansion
Sitting with post-meal fullness without engaging in compensatory behaviors
2. Body Awareness and Weight Perception
Wearing form-fitting clothing or heavier fabrics to increase comfort with body sensations
Using a weighted blanket to build tolerance to pressure on the body
Sitting in different postures to experience how the body naturally moves and shifts
3. Movement and Physical Sensations
Light jogging in place to raise heart rate and increase body warmth
Spinning in a chair to create mild dizziness, reducing fear of bodily sensations
Stretching to increase awareness of muscular tension and release
Breaking the Cycle of Avoidance
One of the key benefits of somatic exposure is reducing avoidance behaviors. Many people with eating disorders go to great lengths to avoid certain sensations, such as post-meal fullness or the pressure of clothing on the skin. Over time, this avoidance reinforces the fear, making these sensations feel even more intolerable. By gradually facing these sensations, individuals can break the cycle of fear and develop a more neutral, accepting relationship with their bodies.
You Can Learn to Trust Your Body Again
Interoceptive awareness is an inherent skill that resides within each of us. However, this connection can become disrupted when we receive praise or punishment for suppressing our body’s signals related to hunger, pain, and emotional distress. Tuning in to our bodies serves as the most reliable source of information to understand our needs and achieve overall health and wellness. By learning to listen to your body once more, you can reclaim one of your most essential tools for well-being.
If you find it challenging to recognize or trust your body’s signals, know that you are not alone. Healing is possible, and you don’t have to navigate this journey by yourself. Reach out to explore how our psychotherapy or coaching services can support you!
Resources
Barlow, D. H., Craske, M. G., & Cerny, J. A. (1989). Mastery of your anxiety and panic. Oxford University Press.
Fairburn, C. G., Cooper, Z., & Shafran, R. (2003). Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: A transdiagnostic theory and treatment.
Harrison, C. (2019). Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating.
Kinavey, H., & Sturtevant, D. (2021). Reclaiming Body Trust: A Path to Healing and Liberation.
McBride, H. L. (2021). The Wisdom of Your Body.
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score.
