Do You REALLY Know When You’re Hungry?
Are you trying to eat healthier and lose weight? While these are worthwhile goals to have, as a registered dietitian, I often get clients booking with me because they’re having a hard time achieving them. Maybe you’re encountering challenges with your goals as well. Based on experiences in my practice, I can tell you that there are many factors that get in the way of achieving health and wellness goals. One of the first questions I address with my clients is: do you know when you’re hungry?
You might scoff at this question. “Of course I know when I’m hungry!” But do you REALLY know? Your stomach sends your brain signals when you are hungry, but these cues can get silenced by several factors. When hunger silencing happens, your body is trying to tell your brain it needs energy, but that message is getting shut out of your mind. You can be biologically hungry and yet not consciously aware of that hunger.
How does this relate to healthy eating and weight loss? Think of hunger signals like a child asking to go outside to play. At first, they’ll ask politely, using their please and thank yous (just pretend that they will - for the sake of the analogy). If they’re ignored, they’ll ask in a louder voice in an attempt to get your attention. As they continue to be ignored, they’ll get more and more disruptive. Until they finally reach the point of tears and a total meltdown.
Your hunger works in a similar way. At first, the sensations will be subtle. If your hunger is pushed to the side, your body’s signals will gradually increase in intensity. Your body is wired for survival. It needs food and will make sure it gets it, one way or another. If you continually silence your hunger, you will eventually reach the point of extreme, ravenous hunger. At that point, aren’t all bets off? Healthy food choices don’t tend to happen at this level of hunger and overeating often occurs.
If you are having difficulty making healthy choices and losing weight, it could be because you are silencing your hunger. It’s totally possible that you’re not even aware that this is happening! Here are the most common reasons why a person could be tuning out their hunger cues. Check them out to see if any of them apply to you.
Dieting
Dieting and denying hunger go hand in hand. Whether you’re fasting or drastically cutting down your portion sizes, dieting inherently involves shutting out hunger when it comes knocking on your door. If you have a history of dieting, you might be used to ignoring your gentle to moderate hunger sensations. As a result, you might only realize you are hungry when you experience extreme hunger: intense stomach pains, headache, dizziness, etc.
If you’re feeling like you cannot control yourself around food, this could be why! If you only stop to eat when you experience primal hunger, your body will be in survival mode at meal times. When your body gets in that mode, it will be searching for large amounts of high calorie foods because it is desperate to meet its energy needs. This might defy what you thought was true but, dieting actually gets in the way of eating healthy and losing weight. Dieting causes hunger silencing, which leads to unhealthy food choices and overeating, which gets in the way of achieving your goals.
Has dieting silenced your hunger? You can get back in touch with your body’s signals by rejecting the diet mentality. Focus on building healthy habits rather than restricting the amount of food you eat. Be sure to eat 3 meals and at least 1 snack each day. Eating regularly will help you to become aware of your hunger cues because your body will get used to being fed at certain times. Tune in to how your body feels before and after you eat so that you can learn your individual hunger and fullness signals.
Numbing
When trying to lose weight, some people try to trick their body into thinking it’s full. This could be done by drinking calorie-free beverages, like diet sodas, coffee, and tea. Or, a person might eat very low calorie foods, like raw vegetables or rice cakes. Filling the stomach with these items will numb hunger pangs and temporarily tricks your body into thinking you are full. However, because these food items have little to no calories, you’ll likely find that feelings of hunger soon return. Your body is smart! Even if you eat a large volume of food, if you do not meet your body’s energy needs, it will still be hungry.
If you find you are constantly hungry even after eating, it could be that you are numbing your hunger. Take a look at what you are eating at meals and snacks. Make sure you are eating a source of carbs, fibre, protein, and fat at each meal. At each snack, make sure you are choosing at least 2 out of those 4 nutrients. Combining nutrients will help you to meet your body’s needs and will keep you feeling full for longer.
Also, take some time to think about whether you are eating what you truly desire to eat. Choosing to eat certain foods simply because you have heard you should eat them - not because you enjoy them - can leave you feeling unsatisfied after you’ve finished your meal. If you’re left feeling unsatisfied, it’s likely that you will continue eating other foods, until you find what hits the spot.
For example, let’s say you are ordering take-out and you want to eat fries with a burger. Maybe you figure you’re trying to be “good”, so you order a side salad instead of fries. After finishing your meal, you’re left feeling disappointed that you didn’t get to eat fries. You’re still trying to be “good” though, so you eat some flavoured rice cakes to try to satisfy your craving. But that doesn’t seem to hit the spot! You try eating a couple handful of nuts, because you know that’s a healthy snack. That doesn’t work either. At that point, you might figure, “What the heck. I tried, but I can’t stop this craving. I might as well grab that bag of potato chips from the pantry.” And then you might sit down to watch a movie with the bag of chips in your lap, unconsciously munching until you suddenly realize the bag is empty.
Does this scenario sound familiar to you? If we rewind that scenario and pretend you had chosen to have the fries after all, what would have happened? Those fries probably would’ve hit the spot and you wouldn’t go on to eat the rice cakes, nuts, and chips. Keep in mind that eating healthy doesn’t mean never eating foods you enjoy. Eat the foods you like - just make sure you are savouring them. Focus on the aroma, texture and flavour; take your time and eat mindfully. You’ll likely find yourself overeating less frequently when you take pleasure in your food.
Skipping Breakfast
I have heard many clients express that they skip eating in the morning because it keeps them from feeling hungry until later in the day. However, as we’ve learned, just because we are not listening to our hunger, that doesn’t mean it isn’t present. Pushing subtle hunger aside in the morning will lead to intense hunger later on in the day or in the evening. If you struggle with nighttime eating, it could be the result of skipping breakfast or not eating enough throughout the day.
Hunger in the morning is a completely normal phenomenon. Keep in mind that your body is at work even when you are sleeping. When you wake up, your body needs to be replenished. By denying your hunger in the morning, you might be perpetuating a cycle of restriction followed by overeating. Try eating breakfast each morning and see how it affects your eating choices later in the day.
Your first meal doesn’t have to be anything major. You could have a medium-sized smoothie, some oatmeal with milk/a milk alternative topped by sliced fruit, or a couple hard boiled eggs with a whole fruit, etc. Also, if your stomach doesn’t feel ready for food first thing in the morning, try waiting an hour or two after waking to eat.
Perhaps right now you’re saying, “Whenever I do eat breakfast, I just end up feeling hungrier throughout the day!” There are a couple possible biological explanations for this. One is that you might not be eating enough food at breakfast. Make sure you are eating to the point of fullness at breakfast and that you are eating sources of carbs, fibre, protein, and fat.
The other explanation is that eating in the morning fires up your metabolism. If you don’t eat in the morning, your body will conserve energy by slowing down your metabolism. However, when you eat breakfast, you are giving your body the fuel it needs to stoke the fires of your inner furnace. A faster metabolism means you’ll feel hungrier throughout the day. It’s nothing to worry about. You’re giving your body what it needs!
Chaos/Stress/Basic Needs Aren’t Being Met
If your life is chaotic or stressful it will be challenging to hear your hunger. Rushing from one task to the next or dealing with one crisis after another is a major distraction. While you’re focused on putting out fires at work or in your personal life, hunger takes the back seat. In addition, the hormones that are produced when you are stressed will blunt the effects of hunger hormones, decreasing your perception of hunger sensations. This is because your body is prioritizing fight-or-flight over eating. In addition, if you are not attending to your basic needs, that will create chaos and stress in your life. Your basic needs include sufficient sleep as well as down-time.
If you’re struggling with eating healthy or losing weight, it could be because chaos and stress are silencing your hunger. Maybe you’re skipping meals throughout the day and overeating at night. Or perhaps you are making less healthy food choices throughout the day because you are so busy. You might also be overeating because you need to “let loose” in one area of your life, since the rest of your life is overscheduled. Spend some time assessing your schedule and think about whether your expectations are reasonable. Do some responsibilities need to be dropped or assigned to someone else? If decreasing your busyness seems impossible, ask yourself: is it worth it to sacrifice your health for the sake of productivity?
A certain level of hustle and bustle is to be expected in adult life. To stay in touch with your hunger during hectic times, be sure to check in with your body’s sensations at regular intervals. After waking, tune in to your hunger cues at 30-minute intervals. You can find a list of sensations below if you’re not sure if you’re actually hungry. Be sure to eat something no later than 3 hours after waking up. After eating breakfast, take a pause to check in with your hunger at 1-hour intervals. Continue to stop and check-in each hour, until you do feel hungry. Repeat this process after each meal or snack.
Even if you do not feel hungry, after 4 or 5 hours, be sure to eat something. Stress has powerful hunger-silencing effects. For the sake of self-care and meeting your body’s needs, it’s important to eat at least every 4 or 5 hours - even if you don’t feel hunger.
Trauma History
If you have a history of trauma, you might need to feel safe in order to feel hungry. Some people with trauma in their past might need to use substances, such as marijuana, to have an appetite. If this is relevant to you, please consider seeing a mental health professional who specializes in working with people with trauma.
Tuning in to your body’s signals is a key step in achieving your health and wellness goals. As part of this process, it’s also important to become aware of the different types of hunger. Learning to recognize hunger in its various forms will help you to determine when you are biologically hungry.
Biological Hunger
This is hunger that arises from your body’s need for energy and nutrients. Biological hunger will give rise to physical sensations. The sensations you feel when you are hungry vary from person to person. You can feel hunger in different areas of your body. Below is a list of various types of hunger cues. Which ones apply to you?
Stomach: rumbling, gurgling, gnawing, emptiness
Throat: dull ache or gnawing
Mind/Head: more thoughts about food and eating. Difficulty focusing and concentrating. Cloudy thinking, headache, or light-headedness.
Mood: irritable, cranky, difficulty regulating emotions, anxious, depressed
Energy: low or waning energy, sleepiness, dullness, apathy/unmotivated, overall lethargy
This cute panda is responding to it’s biological hunger.
Pay attention to the signals your body sends you when it is hungry. Then, deepen your understanding of these messages by ranking their intensity. What sensations are associated with gentle hunger? Moderate hunger? Extreme hunger? By categorizing your sensations, this will help you to recognize moderate hunger. I recommend that you try to eat when you feel moderately hungry.
If you need help ranking the level of intensity of your hunger cues, check out the Hunger Scale in this post.
Taste Hunger
Taste hunger is the desire to eat food simply because it sounds good or because the occasion calls for it (ex: cake at a birthday party) - not because you feel biological hunger. Taste hunger is not “bad” or “wrong”. It’s normal to want to eat something because it tastes great or because food is associated with an event or tradition. When you experience this type of hunger, what’s important is to eat mindfully.
If you have taste hunger for a certain food, be sure to take the time to enjoy it. As I previously explained, satisfying your taste buds is key in preventing overeating. For example, let’s say you’re experiencing taste hunger for chocolate. Have some chocolate! But don’t eat it while distracting yourself with work, TV, etc. Make sure you are in a quiet, relaxing setting where you can pay attention to the flavour of the chocolate. After all, that’s why you’re hungry for it in the first place!
Even when you are at an occasion that is associated with food, you can still practice mindful eating. For instance, at a party, give yourself a small portion of each of the foods that you think you will enjoy. Give each one a taste to see if they meet your taste expectations. If some of them do, grab yourself another portion of those foods. If some of them don’t, feel free to leave them on your plate! Only eat the foods that will enhance your enjoyment of the occasion.
It’s very easy to become distracted while eating at events or during outings, like going to see a movie. To prevent yourself from eating past the point of fullness, stop every few bites to see how you feel. Are you still hungry? Does the food you’re eating still taste good? If you are full and the food isn’t tasting as good as it initially did, how will it affect your enjoyment of the occasion if you continue eating?
Practical Hunger
This is planning ahead. For example, you might have a job where your shift is from 11am - 7pm and you don’t get your lunch break until 3pm. Practical hunger could mean having a heavier breakfast/brunch at 10am so that you aren’t ravenous by the time you get your lunch break. It is important to eat primarily based on your biological hunger. However, it is also important to be flexible and ensure you have the energy to get through your day. That’s self-care!
In addition, neglecting practical hunger often leads to extreme hunger, which can cause you to make less-than-healthy choices. For example, let’s pretend you have a meeting that will go through your lunch break. You might figure that you’ll be fine missing lunch, only to find yourself reaching for vending machine fare in the afternoon. Having a quick snack before and after the meeting would satisfy your hunger and help you make healthy food choices later in the day. If you honour your practical hunger, this will help you to achieve your health and wellness goals.
Emotional Hunger
Once you identify your personal hunger cues and learn to distinguish biological hunger from other types of hunger, it will become easier to identify why you want to eat. You might realize that there are times when you are eating because of your feelings - not because of biological hunger. Emotional hunger can result from intense emotions like sadness, loneliness, and anger. However, less intense emotions, such as boredom or the desire to procrastinate, can also lead to emotional eating. As you practice identifying hunger in its different forms, you will become more aware of your emotional hunger.
When you realize you are experiencing emotional hunger, take a time-out. Ask yourself: “What do I need at this moment?” Maybe you need a moment to breathe and organize your thoughts. You might need a hug or a cuddle from your dog. Perhaps you need encouragement from a friend or family member. Using food to cope with your emotions isn’t the end of the world. However, food will not meet the needs that are at the root cause of your emotions. If you struggle with emotional eating, reflect on which of your needs aren’t being met and how you can go about getting them met.
If you’re realizing that you’re out of touch with your hunger after reading this post, start setting goals that will help you get back in tune with your body’s signals. Be sure to make them specific. For example: “I will start eating breakfast around 9am each day. I will alternate between my favourite breakfast options: oatmeal, eggs on toast, and a smoothie.” Work on 1 or 2 goals at a time until you are no longer silencing your hunger and have learned to honour your biological hunger.
Let me know what your first goal is in the comments below!
If you need guidance on your journey towards honouring your hunger, reach out to me through my Contacts page.
References
Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020). Intuitive eating: A revolutionary anti-diet approach. New York: St. Martin's Essentials. pp 94 - 98.