When a client comes to me for nutrition consulting and they are hoping to lose or gain weight, there are a number of factors that I take into consideration. What kind of foods are they eating? Are they exercising regularly? How are their stress levels? Are they sleeping?
As we work through their personal health history I always look forward to one of the most important questions:
“How is your relationship with food?”
I want to know if you eat most often because you are hungry or if you eat for one hundred other reasons that have nothing to do with hunger.
The fact is many of us are not eating just because we are hungry. And many of us are hungry for reasons other than truly needing food and nutrients.
Confused? I am going to clear that up.
There are many reasons, besides hunger, that you may be eating too much, too often. There are different mechanisms behind why you may be feeling hungry and many of them do not require that you eat more food.
I am going to cover five of them and give you some really important tools to help you get back to your natural state of eating to fulfill your nutritional requirements.
First let’s describe natural hunger. Inside your body, your hormones and blood sugar are fluctuating and signals are being sent to your brain letting you know that it is time to eat. You may be feeling slightly hungry, noticing some saliva developing in your mouth. Your stomach may be growling a little but you are not in an urgent rush to eat. You know that you will need to eat soon.
Once you eat, your stomach stretches and signals are sent through your nerves, to the brain, to indicate that you are now full. Your hormones and blood sugar fluctuate once again and you no longer feel the motivation to eat. You are now satiated (aka full).
It is a beautiful and very useful cycle.
However if you have not been eating optimally, not getting proper sleep, not coping well with stress, been pumped full of toxins, are in a state of dis-ease or you have been using food as an emotional support, your hunger signals may be malfunctioning.
Here are five types of hunger that may indicate a need for you to improve what and why you are eating.
1. Emotional Hunger
This is probably the most known and recognized type of hunger. Do you eat when you are bored, tired or depressed? It is late at night and there is nothing else exciting to do so you eat? Or do you just need that certain something to lift your spirits and you try and find a reward within food? That is emotional hunger.
2. Nutritional Hunger
Remember how I mentioned that there are hormones and nutrients whose job it is to regulate hunger? Amino acids, glucose and fatty acids all send signals to the brain to let it know that you are not hungry. But you have to get these nutrients in order for that to happen.
If you are eating the Standard American Diet, chances are you not getting the nutrients your body requires. Your brain continues to yell Feed me! Feed me! You continue to pack in nutrient void calories but because you are not satisfying your nutritional requirements, you still feel hungry and continue to eat and this of course leads to an excess of energy that results in an increase in body fat and more hormone dysregulation.
3. Learned Hunger
Do you have set mealtimes? Are you letting the clock dictate when it is time to eat?
This, by the way, may be an excellent approach for someone who forgets to eat or for those trying to get the family to sit down together for a meal, but it is not good for those whose hunger signals are making them eat too often.
You do not need to eat just because it is noon. You need to eat when you are hungry.
Learned hunger also shows up when you have a favorite little bakery that you pass on the way to work every day. You experienced a sense of reward after stopping in a few times and buying a delicious pastry, and now, every time you pass this place, you begin to feel like you will not be satisfied unless you get your daily pastry fix. This is a learned habit.
4. Hydration Hunger
Are you sure you are hungry or could you be thirsty? Many people have reach automatically for food as soon as their brain signals that they need something. But sometimes we actually just need fluids.
You can often satisfy your hunger and cravings with a simple glass of water.
5. Hormonal Hunger
As we discussed, if your hunger hormones are out of whack you no longer respond to your satiety signal (the cue from the hormone leptin, that tells you that you are full).
Ghrelin, another hormone that helps regulate your appetite, sends messages to your brain to notify you that you need to eat. You are not going crazy. You do still feel hungry. The problem is, you do not actually need to eat and your body is being overburdened by all of the food you are ingesting.
A diet full of refined grains and processed foods as well as stress and lack of sleep also wreak havoc on your hormones. Cortisol and insulin (two more very important hormones) are impacted and then you end up struggling through sugar crashes, cravings and being wide awake at night, starving.
So here is what you can do about it...
1. Eat real food. Choose to eat only nutrient dense foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, eggs, meat, healthy fat and full fat dairy if you tolerate it.
2. Eat only when you are hungry and stop just before you are full. It will take time for you to regulate your hunger hormones so be patient. Get support from a professional (you can learn more about Eat By Design Coaching's Nutrition Consultation program by clicking here.) We are also going to give you a free tool at the end of this post to make this process a little easier.
3. Ideally, you should eat just after you begin to notice that you are hungry. Do not wait until your energy drops. Otherwise you may begin to feel weak, dizzy, grumpy and starving and that is when you are most likely to make poor food choices.
4. Stop eating when you are satisfied and just before you feel full. You should not feel stuffed. You should feel good and be satisfied.
5. Use a smaller plate. It takes about twenty minutes for your brain to register that you are full. If you find that your satiety signals are not kicking in just yet, serve your meal on a smaller plate. Walk away from the table after you finish what is on your plate. After twent minutes, if you still feel very hungry, come back and eat some more.
6. Drink water. You may be water hungry (aka thirsty).
7. Ask yourself “when did I last eat?” If you ate within the last two hours then ask yourself “what do I really need right now.” Be honest with yourself. Are you bored, tired, stressed out or lonely? Find out what you really need and focus on getting that instead. Call a friend, take a walk or have a hot bath for example.
8. Optimize the function of your nervous system. In order for the message that you are full to get from your stomach to your brain, you need your nervous pathways to be healthy. Get checked by a Life By Design Certified chiropractor. To find an office near you click here.
9. Sleep! If you don’t sleep, you throw your hormonal issues even further out of whack. Get at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, in a dark room, with no electronics around.
10. Supplement wisely. Omega 3 fats and Vitamin D will both help to balance your blood sugar, regulate insulin and decrease cravings. Get out in the sun, eat some fatty fish and supplement.
Now, if you recognize that your hunger signals are misfiring, please have confidence that you can get yourself back on track. Begin working with an expert who can help you develop and hone your optimal eating habits and show you how to recognize true hunger and fullness.
In the meantime, we have created a FREE tool that is really going to help you get started. The Hunger Scale will help you identify exactly when you need to eat and when you need to stop.
Download your FREE Hunger Scale HERE.