How Do I Know If I Am Really Hungry?

Do you remember a time when you naturally trusted your bodies hunger and fullness cues? Maybe it was as far back as childhood, or perhaps you were pretty good up until college when foods started being labeled as “good” and “bad.” Whatever the story looks like for you, sometimes we all need to go back to the basics and learn the skill of mindful eating again.

What is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is the process of being attentive of our food experience and all the sensations involved. This allows you to be fully aware of your natural hunger and fullness cues, cravings, and emotions. This forces you to slow down and make eating an intentional act, discerning between actual, true hunger and emotional hunger, naturally increasing awareness to any food triggers and allowing you the choice of how to respond to them.

How will I know when I am truly hungry versus emotional hunger?

As with any skill we have not used in a while, we need to go back to the basics and relearn the skill. As with learning anything, we need to continuously practice it over and over again until it forms a natural habit and routine.

With natural signs of hunger, we need to learn what they are and how to identify them. Some signs of hunger are very subtle and that is why we need to be present to identify what your true needs are.

Here are 4 tips to guide you through the process.

1) Move away from the place/situation you associate with food

When you are trying to gauge your hunger, you will want to move away from food or a room associated with food. For example, if a batch of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies are sitting right in front of you while you are trying to discern your hunger, it will be hard to tell whether you want to eat or need to eat. Smelling food, and seeing food or others eating food can confuse you! Try to take yourself away from the situation and go to a place that you do not typically associate with food. This can be your room, a bathroom, or even your car.

2) Calm yourself

Once away from the food distractions, tune out your surroundings. If you are spiritual, this can look like saying a mealtime prayer to focus on what you are thankful for. Take a few breathes and think of what emotions might cause you to feel stressed, anxious, excited being around food.

3) Look to your physical sensations

Hunger is a physical sensation, and so you need to identify that feeling. Your stomach is roughly the size of a fist when it is empty. Think of a balloon when you are determining how empty or full your stomach is feeling. Do you have any physical or audible hunger feelings like tummy growls or pangs? Does your stomach feel empty, full or bloated? Do you feel lightheaded, weak, or “hangry?” Do you think your feelings are coming from hunger or something else? Are you thirsty or tired? This is a great way to go over a physical and mental checklist to determine if you are hungry.

4) Focus on your thoughts and emotions

If you find your thoughts leaning towards justifying or rationalizing why you are hungry, like “I had breakfast at 7am and so I better have a snack now that it’s 9am” or if you have any doubts whether or not you are hungry, you most likely aren’t.

If you find yourself using food to cope with certain emotions, it’s time to learn new ways to handle these moments. For example, if you are bored and typically watch a show and eat a snack, try to think of other activities to entertain yourself. What about calling a friend and catching up? Or learning something new and fun?

After you have run through your emotional tool kit, and if you still feel that food is what will help with the emotion you are experiencing, that’s ok too. It’s learning that hunger is a normal sensation and recognizing and understanding what to look for and how to find it. The choice is ultimately yours as to what you do from there.

What are some new strategies you will try for emotional eating?