Understanding Hunger and Fullness Cues

Determining if you're hungry can be perplexing. Is it genuine hunger or simply boredom? Emotions or something else?

I’m a person who runs away to comfort food when I’m under a lot of stress. I also often buy a lot of food just because I see it after watching a TV show or smell it from my next-door neighbor.

When I’m under a lot of stress, I tend to overeat. On the other hand, when I get completely absorbed in work, I often forget to eat altogether. Both of them are bad.

However, your body is pretty clever because two particular hormones give signals you need to eat and when it’s time to stop.

Leptin tells you when you’re full, while ghrelin tells you when to eat to keep your energy levels up.

Unfortunately, many things can make you ignore when your tummy is growling or when you’re stuffed.

So, we must be critical about what hunger and feeling full mean and how they go down in your body.

Am I hungry?

Have you ever wanted to eat pizza because you were happy or sad? Or have you ever finished your food just because you saw them in front of you?

I did it frequently. That I know for real basically is not a genuine signal from within, but I still do. It gives me emotional satisfaction after.

To better understand it, let’s dive more into some types of hunger we often feel.

1. Physical Hunger. This feels like a weird, empty feeling in your gut or a bit of a headache. And it just gets worse as time goes on.
2. Emotional Hunger. When you’re stressed, bored, or sad, you might get a specific hunger that makes you crave junk food or sweets. And it can make you overeat, even when you know you shouldn’t.
3. Mental Hunger. This occurs when the mind becomes focused on food, such as looking at food pictures or thinking about a specific dish. This type of hunger is often not accompanied by physical hunger and can lead to mindless snacking.
4. Habitual Hunger. You know that feeling you get when it’s like 10 PM, and suddenly you’re like, “I need a snack!” even if you just ate an hour ago? That’s what we call habit hunger. It’s like your body is used to eating at certain times of the day, and it doesn’t care if you’re hungry. It’s just like, “Feed me!”

There are many other types of hunger; some even group them into 10 classes. For me, those four things above are all you need to get the point across.

Some reasons why we failed to listen to the signal like:

• Being too busy makes us miss detecting our hunger signal.
• Consuming too many sodas, coffee, and other calorie-free foods that fill up our stomachs without providing energy.
• Dealing to maintain a specific weight.

When you ignore your body’s hunger cues, you’re telling it to shut up and go away, which can lead to some unpleasant long-term consequences.

Ever skipped lunch to finish up a project, only to find yourself raiding the fridge later on? That’s your body trying to compensate for the missed meal.

Over time, ignoring hunger signals can lead to chronic hunger, leaving you tired, cranky, and totally hungry.

It can also contribute to unhealthy eating habits, weight gain, and various health problems.

So, next time your stomach growls, don’t ignore it — listen up, and fuel up! But learn to be aware of what kind of hunger you are feeling.

For me, physical and habitual hunger might be a good signal that I really need to eat. In contrast, I should consider two times before deciding whether I will go to follow my emotional and mental hunger.

Am I full?

Fullness cues are like your body telling you it’s time to put down the fork and step away from the food.

They can come in different forms, like feeling satisfied or emotional, like feeling content.

These signals happen when your body has enough energy and nutrients to keep you going.

Ignoring these cues can make you feel bloated or uncomfortably full and can even lead to overeating and weight gain in the long run.

These two signals are interrelated and affect each other, especially if you are someone who listens to emotional and mental hunger.

I experienced that sometimes when I’m super tired, I’ll just down a bunch of coffee and ignore my stomach’s signals.

Then I end up feeling sick and craving a bunch of sweets, and before I know it, I’m starving again! It’s like my body’s all out of whack, you know?

It messes up my whole digestive system! I end up having to run to the toilet often.

If you’re with me. Here are some things you can do to listen to fullness cues

• Stay hydrated. Staying hydrated can help prevent confusion between hunger and thirst.
• Avoid distractions. Avoid distractions such as TV, phone, or computer while eating to better focus on physical fullness cues.
• Pay attention to physical sensations. Pay attention to physical phenomena such as a satisfied feeling or a stretched stomach and use these cues to gauge when to stop eating.
• Eat slow down. Eating slowly can help you better recognize the feeling of fullness and make it easier to stop eating when necessary.
• Listen to your body. Trust your body’s signals and stop eating when you feel comfortably full.
• Avoid skipping meals. Skipping meals can disrupt hunger and fullness cues, making it harder to gauge when to eat and when to stop.

The important thing is to get back on track and listen to your body’s signals.

When you can find a good balance, eating becomes a part of your life that you enjoy. And when you’re nourishing your body in a way that feels good, it can help you have more energy and focus for all the other stuff you want to do.

Pay attention to your hunger and fullness signals, while also remembering to savor the other aspects of your life.