One of the most useful skills you can master on your health and fitness journey is how to tell the difference between emotional and physical hunger.
For some people this isn’t a huge problem, but for many others it can be a HUGE obstacle–keeping them STUCK and repeating the same ugly patterns over and over again.
When we are truly in tune with our hunger signals, we achieve optimal health.
If we eat when we are not hungry, the distraction and pleasure are only temporary. So as a result, we have to eat more to feel better, feeding the cycle.
On the other hand, if we do not eat when we are hungry, our body gets us back eventually by cranking up our appetite signals and smothering our fullness signals.
And the biggest trigger of binge eating? DIETING or following a strict meal plan.
But is it Emotional or Physical Hunger?
How to Tell the Difference…
If you aren’t sure whether you want to eat because you’re truly hungry or because your emotions need calming and soothing, do a quick self-check before starting to eat. Ask yourself if any of the following statements describe your hunger. Then add how many times you agree with these statements.
Observe whether you agree with more statements under EMOTIONAL HUNGER or BELLY HUNGER.
EMOTIONAL HUNGER
Emotional hunger is characterized by some or all of the following behaviors:
- Your desire to eat comes on QUICKLY and INTENSELY like an on/off switch.
- Your degree of hunger can go from ZERO to TEN in a matter of moments.
- Your hunger increases with certain feelings, particularly stress.
- You are very open to suggestions. For example, a coworker says she’s going out for tacos, and suddenly tacos sound VERY appealing to you. Or, you see a fast food commercial on TV and all of sudden you want some of that fast food.
- Your hunger can only be satisfied by ONE particular food; anything else just won’t do.
- You can’t think through your options. Your feeling of hunger is SO intense that you don’t care what your options are–until after you have eaten something.
- Your hunger is such that it urges you to engage in mindless eating–that is, scarfing or not really tasting your food or eating it an automatic, mechanical way. For example, mindlessly popping a container of Pringles into your mouth one by one.
- A sense of satisfaction is hard to reach, and it seems unrelated to how full or how empty your stomach is.
- You often have the fleeting thought BEFORE you begin eating that you may feel guilty AFTER you’ve eaten. Also, you often experience guilt after you finish eating.
BELLY HUNGER
- True physical hunger is related to blood sugar levels. Therefore, your physical need for food is based on what and when you ate last.
- You notice that your need for food grows gradually in accordance with the time and the number of meals you ate. For example, between breakfast and lunch your hunger increases at a slowly rising rate.
- You are looking for something filling, and you’re open to many different options including fruit and veggies to fill that hunger, rather than craving a specific taste.
- You experience distinct physiological hunger cues, like a rumbling stomach. In extreme cases you may feel cranky or even get a headache.
- You tend to quit eating when you are full.
- Your awareness of your body’s changing sensations as you move from hunger to satiety while you are eating, creates a sense of satisfaction.
- You know that feeding your physical hunger is essential as the fuel that nourishes you and keeps you going.
- You can wait a while to eat, instead of needing to eat compulsively at the very moment you feel the urge or desire to east.
- Your hunger is not in any way associated with guilt. You know that you need to eat and you feel OK about eating.
If you agreed with more statements under EMOTIONAL HUNGER than under BELLY HUNGER, then you would benefit more from a self-soothing technique (like going for a walk, calling a friend, or listening to your favorite music) than from reaching for food.
If this is something you feel like you struggle with, I recommend making a list of what it feels like when you’re physically hungry for food and what that feels like in your body. On the other side of the page, write down what your emotional hunger feels like. As you continue on this journey and start paying more attention, you will really be able to refine the list so there will be no question of what the difference is.
YES, this requires you to invest your time and energy into your relationship with food and your body. And for many of us, it is not in our programming to stay connected to ourselves because we are SO focused on the needs of others.
You and your body are on the same side. And you need to keep it that way if you want your body to cooperate, so you can work TOGETHER to achieve your goals. If you think an objective third-party would be helpful, this is one of the many habits I focus on with clients during my 1:1 nutrition coaching program over a period of 12 months.
But as long as you are fighting AGAINST your body, you will be in a fight that never ends!!
/// QUESTION OF THE DAY ///
How would you describe your relationship with food right now…good, bad, or meh?
Let us know in the Facebook group under the daily post here –> https://www.facebook.com/groups/290505694685477/permalink/477834485952596/