It would have been helpful to receive a user manual with your body. I would have settled for one page, hand written or even just an outline. Learning to translate the body's messages takes time and some people never quite comprehend the incoming stream of garbled, fuzzy impulses.
Hunger is a feeling. As with all feelings, we cannot quantify them. We cannot turn hunger into some sort of Spock-like logic. We eat because we are hungry, but we cannot always explain why we are hungry.
The feeling of hunger has three elements:
- Physiologic
- Emotional
- Cognitive (coincidentally, the same three elements are found in pain)
Physiologically, a fall in your blood sugar, a change in fatty acid levels, or a drop in your body temperature will cause hunger. If you exercise too hard, too fast, your blood sugar level will drop and you will feel hungry. Hungry enough to quit exercising.
The biological signals of hunger can also be confusing. Thirst, fatigue, irritability, pain, weakness can all be the foreign language of hunger. Add those to your hunger dictionary.
Sometimes, the environment we are in can make us feel hungry (which is why restaurants go to such great effort in creating a specific atmosphere) even though we do not technically need any more food. The message of hunger is false. We are not truly hungry. We associate the pleasure of the event (the sights, sounds, smells, etc.) with the food. The signal we respond to is pleasure; not hunger.
If we feel sad or overly stressed, we may seek the comfort of a friendly carton of Hagen-Daas ice cream. We may eat it all hungry or not. Our emotions will masquerade as hunger.
The color of the food you eat influences your hunger feelings. Imagine sitting down to a nice, sizzling, warm rib eye steak. But, it is blue. Entirely blue. You will suddenly not be hungry. God makes no blue food. Blue food is a natural hunger suppressant (so, maybe if you just color your food blue, you can control your hunger?).
Recognizing the signs of hunger is much like learning a foreign language. You have to study every day. You have to review the basics and apply them. Pay attention to the basic biologic feelings of fatigue, thirst, irritability, weakness or pain. You may be hungry. Pay attention to how you feel when you smell a favorite food or see a delicious dish. Were you hungry the moment before or just now?
As you learn the language of the body, you will make new choices and form new habits. You will eat because you choose to and you will know why.
Make today count.
Doug Kelsey
Author. Speaker. Therapist.
