2. Understanding Hunger

Let’s talk about hunger. There are a lot of ways to experience hunger. Some are physical, and some are mental, and some are emotional. And when we’re eating intuitively, we are learning to pay attention to all of them.

Physical vs. Taste Hunger

Physical hunger is the one we’re most familiar with. It’s that feeling in your stomach; it’s that growling, it’s that emptiness. It’s your body’s way of saying, “I need fuel.” It’s a biological necessity, and it’s something that we should always honor.

But then there’s taste hunger. Taste hunger is when you’re not necessarily physically hungry, but you want to eat something because it sounds good. Maybe you smell something delicious, or you see something that looks really appealing, and you just want to experience the taste of it. This is also a valid form of hunger, and it’s something that we can honor as well, as long as we’re doing it mindfully.

Emotional Hunger

And then there’s emotional hunger. Emotional hunger is when we eat to cope with our feelings. Maybe we’re stressed, or we’re bored, or we’re sad, and we turn to food for comfort. This is a very common experience, but it’s not a form of hunger that food can actually satisfy. When we eat for emotional reasons, we’re usually looking for something else—like connection, or relaxation, or excitement. And food can provide a temporary distraction, but it doesn’t actually address the underlying emotion.

The Hunger Scale

So how do we start to tell the difference between these different types of hunger?. One way is to use a hunger scale. A hunger scale is just a simple way to rate your hunger on a scale of one to ten, with one being starving and ten being stuffed.

When you’re thinking about eating, take a moment to check in with yourself and see where you are on the scale. If you’re at a one or a two, you’re probably physically hungry and you should definitely eat. If you’re at a five or a six, you might just be experiencing taste hunger or emotional hunger, and you might want to take a moment to see what’s really going on.

The goal of intuitive eating is to eat when you’re physically hungry and to stop when you’re satisfied—not when you’re stuffed. This takes practice, but the more you do it, the more natural it will become.