Emotional Eating – A Little Hunger Experiment

Emotional Eating – A Little Hunger Experiment

What makes you eat? 

People who have difficulty losing weight might have trouble telling the difference between real hunger and a craving or desire to eat something. Real hunger is usually a feeling of emptiness in your stomach that could be satisfied by many different kinds of food. It is physiological. A craving or desire is often triggered by the environment (you will see a delicious cake and want to eat it, or you will see that it is 4pm and time for a packet of chips) and it is usually for a specific food. It is more psychological. The physical feelings associated with cravings are not usually in your stomach, but more in your mouth – or just a feeling of longing for something. Hunger and cravings are both experienced as some kind of discomfort and part of teaching yourself to handle these feelings is to put that discomfort into perspective. 

Hunger Experiment

Tomorrow, plan your breakfast and lunch, without a mid-morning snack, or your lunch and supper, without an afternoon snack. The idea is to pick a time when you would usually snack and see what happens if you decide not to. Eat your first meal and, starting one hour afterwards, begin filling in a form like the one below, recording how you feel every hour until your next meal (about 6 or 7 hours after the first). 

First, please take the time to describe something (anything) that causes you extreme discomfort. It could be the way you felt when you broke your leg, or a serious burn, or something along those lines. It might be more emotional discomfort, like extreme embarrassment or guilt for example. That is your reference point for extreme discomfort. Then specify your most comfortable situation. That could be lying in bed reading a book, or sitting watching TV after supper. That is your reference point for total comfort.

My experience of severe discomfort is: _____________________________________________________

My experience of real comfort is: _____________________________________________________

Having done this exercise, most of us realise that the feeling of hunger is not absolutely unbearable and that often the desire to eat has nothing to do with real hunger. In order to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, it is very important to understand that hunger is a normal, healthy sensation. It is normal for a healthy person to feel hungry several times a day and it is good to wait until you feel moderately hungry before you eat again. Learning how to respond well to your hunger levels is a great habit that will keep you slim and healthy. You are supposed to feel hungry before eating. It is not desirable to feel very hungry for 3 or 4 hours before eating and if that is often the case for you, try to eat a little more at each meal, eat a more balanced meal, or plan a small, healthy snack. You are more likely to overeat if you get too hungry. On the other hand, it is a good thing to feel moderate hunger for up to an hour before a meal and you do not need to snack in that case.

There will be times in your life where you might have to eat when you are not necessarily hungry – a relative’s birthday cake or a friend’s special dessert they have made just for you. The point is that if you feed yourself well and eat mindfully as often as possible, then the social and fun side of eating is all part of a healthy balance.