What You Need to Know About Hunger

Technically, hunger is the body's biological need for food. However, a lot of the time, we eat for reasons that reflect other types of hunger like emotional or situational. You can probably relate to a time where you were eating even though you did not physically feel hungry. Maybe you were at a party and you were eating just because there was food available or maybe you were sad and ate something that made you feel better. If you know about the true nature of hunger and appetite, it will allow you to realize when you are truly hungry and need food versus eating emotionally or situational. 

Physical hunger manifests itself through different bodily signals such as growling, weakness, headaches, trouble concentrating and even a depressed or grumpy mood. Things such as lack of sleep, stress and a low-nutrient diet can also alter hunger and the way your body tells you it is hungry. By ignoring physical hunger signs, your body can spur increased hunger and eating over time. So, listen to your body. Rather than working against it, learn to feed it when it tells you it is hungry and become mindful of eating when it is not hungry. 

A lot of times, emotions can bring about feelings of hunger or wanting to eat. When we are sad, lonely, bored or angry, our body can ignite feelings of hunger that causes us to eat emotionally. While feeling this way and reacting to these feelings is not unusual or uncommon, making it a habit and doing it frequently can cause of downward spiral of emotional eating and take a toll on your health. If this is something you tend to do, take steps to better manage your emotions. Before eating something, take a second to think about if you are actually hungry, or just eating because you are feeling some sort of emotion. If you find that you are actually not hungry, do something else to try to sooth your emotion you are feeling. 
So, if you feel yourself feeding yourself due to emotions and not because you are physically hungry, try to take little steps to create healthier habits and truly listen to your body. take a deeper looks at your relationship with food and start taking notice of your eating habits.