To play the hunger game and win, you need to learn how to tell the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Some of the biggest obstacles we come across when it comes to food are food cravings, overeating, and using food to soothe. This is normal when it’s periodic, but when it’s chronic, it can be very frustrating.

It’s important to know, before we go any further, that it’s okay to experience these things. Once you change your relationship to food, manage stressors better, eat more whole foods, cut out most processed foods, and focus on health over weight loss, you will find it won’t consume you as much.  

There are many things that can alter your hunger cues. Stress, busy lifestyle, restrictive dieting, excessive exercise, hormones, dehydration, and eating a lot of processed foods. This list includes things that result in emotional hunger and things that result in physical hunger.

Let’s take a look at the differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger; knowing the difference is important so that you can start to figure out what kind of hunger you are feeling at any given time.

Emotional hunger means you turn to food either to avoid uncomfortable emotions or to heighten pleasurable ones. It means you eat based on how you feel instead of what your body needs.

Examples of emotional hunger (FEELINGS):

  • Eating for comfort or out of loneliness or sadness
  • Eating from boredom
  • Eating to try to soothe anxious or depressed feelings
  • Eating to fill an aching heart

Physical hunger, on the other hand, means that you eat when your body signals to you that you are, in fact, hungry. And it means that you stop eating when you are satisfied and before you are uncomfortably full.

Examples of physical hunger (SENSATIONS):

  • Stomach growls and gets that hollow hungry sensation
  • Body feels weak and energy goes down
  • Blood sugar gets low and you feel shaky
  • You feel lightheaded or faint

Learning to listen to your body is crucial to understanding what your body needs versus what you want. Again, wanting food you love is okay when you eat it in moderation. We should be able to eat things that we enjoy without guilt or shame. It’s the lack of mindfulness around food that has us mixing up physical and emotional hunger cues.

Mindfulness isn’t just controlling what you eat. It’s also about understanding the “why” behind your choices and what your body needs to feel good. When you have more energy and you are healthy, your mind is clearer and you make better choices more often. If you do eat food that you enjoy that is less than healthy in your eyes, being mindful takes away guilt, shame, and overeating.

What that means for you is that you’ll feel more in control of your eating and less dependent on food to “help” your moods and emotions.

By listening to your physical hunger signals, you can determine how hungry or full you really are. With practice, you’ll be able to pinpoint where your body is at any given moment, which allows you to feel more satisfied, with higher energy. By doing so, you will be able to stop eating BEFORE you are too full and you won’t turn to food when you are not actually hungry, but are, in fact, bored, upset, anxious or depressed.

Emotional eating can be a vicious cycle that can be hard to stop. We create unhealthy habits around food beyond what we are eating. Eating on the go and being distracted is a big one. Take time to sit and eat so you are more aware of the meal and enjoy it. This allows you to pay more attention to how your body feels throughout the meal.

Here are a few ways to win at the hunger games that allow you to eat more foods you love and create a better relationship to food:

  • Make sure you are eating three meals a day. Part of our behaviour around food can come from being so hungry we eat whatever we can get our hands on. We eat fast, which makes it hard for our bodies to determine how much we have eaten, leading to overeating and feeling stuffed.
  • Be the slowest eater at the table — chew each bite 20–30 times, put your fork down between bites and breathe. Aim to take 20 minutes to eat each meal. Your body will naturally tell you when to stop eating.
  • Periodically check in with yourself throughout your meal and honour when you’re energized and satiated by completing the meal.
  • Use an end-of-meal ritual, like putting your napkin over your plate or ordering hot tea and fresh fruit to symbolize completion of the meal.
  • Turn off the TV, put your phone in another room, and stay off your computer while eating. Turn on some easy listening music you love, light candles, and sit at a table. Create an experience you enjoy. Why do you think restaurants do this? It actually has you enjoying the meal more by activating other senses besides taste and smell. Your senses are the key to the first stage of digestion, which occurs in your mouth. All our senses are responsible for helping with digestion. The better you assimilate your food, the less you will crave food.

Convenience and diet culture have changed how we see food. It has changed how we eat. This has created a bad relationship with food and has taken away the joy of eating. You can love the taste of your food in the moment and feel guilty afterwards, taking away the joy of that meal. By being able to determine the difference between physical and emotional hunger, we avoid the habits that can create a bad relationship to food. This makes eating more enjoyable instead of being anxious about food or making eating a chore. Taking time over meals, enjoying our food until we are satiated, honouring that feeling of having eaten enough — that is how we maintain a good relationship with food.

If you find your relationship to food is beyond just becoming more mindful, if you are avoiding food, binge-eating or think you may have extreme disordered eating, please seek the advice of a trained professional to help you.