What Is Hunger? Find Out Why We Often Feel the Sensation of Hunger Even When We Are Not Physiologically Hungry
What Is Hunger?
Hunger comes in different forms depending on the situation being experienced. Hunger can mean that your body is finished digesting its food and is physiologically ready for more food. It can mean that you are bored. It can mean you are anxious. Hunger can also point to a nutritional deficiency. In this article we will explore each of these aspects of hunger. Hunger is a desire or craving for food that does not always stem from an actual physiological need for food.
When is Your Body Is Ready for More Food?
What is true hunger? True hunger means that the stomach is finished digesting the last meal and is ready to begin digesting more food. On average it takes the stomach about 3 1/2 hours to empty itself after a meal. If less time has passed than this and you are feeling hungry you can do a simple test to find out if your sensation of hunger is actually stemming from an real emptiness of the stomach. Offer yourself a salad. Does that sound satisfying? If you truly are hungry, a healthy meal will sound good to you. If you are simply wanting to entertain yourself with food you will want something more interesting like a processed carbohydrate or refined food that is more of a “fun food”.
Anxiety & Stress
Food is comforting. Often times a person will feel hungry because they need comforting. Food is often used to self-medicate by numbing or calming oneself with the comforting feeling that food offers. If you just ate two hours ago and you are feeling hungry, sit down and ask yourself if you are anxious, upset or stressed out about something. Often times, recognizing your emotions and validating them along with some deep breathing can alleviate the need to calm yourself with food.
Boredom
What is hunger from boredom? Sometimes we find ourselves hungry even though we have just had a meal an hour or two ago. A good thing to do at this point is simply to find something to do for an hour or so and set a timer so you do not eat before the hour is up. Hunger from boredom is very common and can easily be averted by simply finding something to do other than eat. Eating out of boredom is a habit that can be broken fairly easily by practicing a pattern interrupt. This is when we break a habit like eating of boredom by adding a new habit to our routine. This could be going for a walk when you feel hunger from boredom or drinking tea instead of eating, etc… Just develop a habit that is different from the one that was not serving you in a positive way such as eating when bored.
Nutritional Deficiency
The main purpose of consuming food is to give our body nutrients which are fuel for our body so it can function properly. When we eat foods with other than optimal nutritional value and the body does not receive the minerals, fats, vitamins and fibers that it needs, it will send out a hunger signal to let you know that it still needs some nutrients. This is why a person that eats an other than optimal diet can continue to experience hunger even though they have just had a meal. This may also trigger cravings of certain foods that the body needs more of for the nutritional value. A person who eats an optimal diet will require far less food than a person who consumes a Standard American Diet (SAD) because all of the food they put into their systems gives the body the necessary nutrients for optimal functioning.
Food Cravings
A food craving is an insatiable desire for a certain food that may not go away until that particular food is consumed. One way to test if you are actually hungry or if you are just experiencing a craving is to ask yourself if a salad would satisfy you in the moment you are craving something. If you truly are hungry, a salad will probably be a welcome meal. If you are having a chocolate craving and are not actually hungry, a salad will not seem appetizing.
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