How Hunger Works
Lets talk hunger….What is hunger, what if I don’t feel hunger, why is it important to honour hunger…
Firstly, what is hunger?
Hunger is a natural biological process that occurs in the body. Our bodies need energy and hunger is our bodies way of telling us that we need more energy from food. When our cells are low on energy, a hormone called Ghrelin is released which gets our brains to tell us to eat.
If this is a natural process then why are a lot of us trying to have the willpower to ignore it?
Diet culture has made us believe that we cannot trust our bodies and so we don’t listen to them. As we ignore our hunger and deprive ourselves of food in order to diet, a range of things happen. These include:
Slowed metabolism, lack of energy, mood changes, intense preoccupation with food, binge eating, increase in the “carb craving chemical” in our bodies and extreme or primal hunger.
Primal hunger is when you’re so hungry that you over eat and make impulsive food choices. This is what we want to avoid. Primal hunger is not a good feeling so if youre experiencing it often, this may have increased the fear of feeling gentle hunger.
What are hunger signals?
Hunger signals are different for everybody but can include; Mild gurgling or a gnawing sensation in the stomach, lightheaded, difficulty concentrating, nausea, stomach pain, irritability, feeling hangry, feeling faint or headachy, low energy, shakiness and problems focusing.
Stomach hunger isn’t the only type of hunger. So it doesn’t mean that you can only eat when you are hungry.
There is taste hunger (Eating cake at a party for example), practical hunger (you wont have time to eat later so you eat now), emotional hunger (Sometimes nothing other than food can comfort your emotions and thats ok).
If you don’t feel hunger; these are some reasons this might be the case:
Excessive use of calorie-free beverages, previous history of denying hunger signals, a chaotic life, a habit of skipping breakfast, stress and lack of self-care.
I suggest addressing and working on any of the above that are relevant to you.
My top takeaways; It is really important to honour your hunger and learn to tune into it.
Start to see if you can tune into your hunger through the day and aim to be eating on a regular schedule every 4-5 hours. Ideally you want to be getting into the habit of eating 3 meals and 2-3 snacks through the day.
Over time, this will help you become more attuned to the earlier stages of hunger. Honouring hunger in the early stages is ideal because this stops you from reaching primal hunger where you’re at risk of binging. It will also help you to eat regularly, meet all of your nutritional requirements for the day and speed up your metabolism.
If you need help working through this in more detail with me, I am taking clients for my 6 week Nutrition and Mindset Coaching Program. Check the website for more details or email me at mattea@adelaidenutrition.com.au to register your interest!
Lots of love,
Mattea :-)