Physical Versus Head Hunger

Do you ever find yourself mindlessly munching on a bag of popcorn in front of the TV only to stop after the bag is gone and realize you weren’t truly hungry?

You’re not alone! Many people struggle with different emotions that trigger them to use food as a coping technique even if they’re not hungry.

You can read more here about specific techniques to try when dealing with emotional eating, but I also wanted to give you a quick roadmap outlining physical versus emotional hunger and some choices you can make.

Physical Hunger

To gauge whether you are physically hungry, look for signs like:

• Stomach growling

• Thinking/considering options

• Low energy

• Hunger grows slowly

• Time has passed since last meal

• Food is satisfying

If you answered yes to any of these, then it’s a good sign that you are hungry and should eat.

The choice from there is to decide what to eat. This is where I suggest that you never allow yourself to become starving because it’s harder to make sound food choices. Instead, recognize when you are ready for a light meal or snack or a complete meal. This is the best time to eat since you are able to be fully present and aware in your food choices. You are more likely to choose something that you will feel good about after eating.

Emotional Hunger

This one is going to require you to really be honest with yourself and put in the time to recognize what’s truly going on.

Signs that point to an emotional reason for eating include:

• What emotions triggered the situation? (anger, boredom, stress)

• How strong were the emotions? (mild? intense?)

• When did the feeling start?

• What did you hope food would do? (soothe/escape feelings, make you feel better?)

If these questions resonate with you, then chances are that it’s not physical hunger, but something else.

This is a good time to ask yourself what you can do to help the emotion you are feeling. For example, would a distraction help? Try calling a friend, catching up on emails, planning your next vacation or dream vacation, or going for a walk to clear your head.

Perhaps you recognize that you need to relax. You can try deep breathing, laying down for five minutes, unplugging from devices, or something that soothes your senses like a bath, aromatics, or lighting.

The more you recognize physical versus emotional hunger, the more you’ll grow in your confidence to make choices that you will feel good about afterwards.

What’s one of your go-to techniques when you recognize you are experiencing emotional hunger? Mine is to connect with someone :)