Assess Your Hunger

Do you ever find yourself heading to the cafeteria for lunch just because it's noon—even if you're not really hungry? Do you seek comfort in ice cream after an argument with a significant other? Or are you the type of person who can be so engrossed in a project that you don't realize you missed both breakfast and lunch and now feel as if you're about to faint?

Consider these scenarios and you'll begin to realize that we all eat for different reasons and for distinct reasons at different times. Many of us have lost sight of the real reason to eat—hunger. The sensation of hunger is the signal that our bodies need food—the fuel they use to run efficiently. In today's society where all social situations and many business occasions revolve around food, we can find it difficult to stay in tune with our real need for food. We need to reacquaint ourselves with hunger, especially if we're concerned about managing our weight to prevent diabetes.

The first step in getting to know your personal hunger feeling is to understand the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger. If you're truly physically hungry, your body will tell you through such signals as a rumbling stomach, difficulty concentrating, light-headedness, a headache, or even the feeling that you're going to faint. Your hunger signal can be different from that of the next person, but the message is essentially the same: "I need food and I need it now."

Emotional hunger, on the other hand, is looking for food in response to emotions—boredom, depression, frustration, anger or happiness. You have so much pent up emotion that you don't know what to do with it or don't allow yourself to feel the emotion, so you eat in response to it, with the hope that food will soothe it or stuff it down. Obviously, this has nothing to do with hunger, a real physical need for food.

Are you unsure of whether you're eating in response to physical hunger or emotional hunger? Join the club. Many of us have lost touch with our sense of hunger. But we can find it again.

If you want to determine whether you're eating to fuel you body, you can use this simple tool: The next time you're reaching for a snack or some candy, ordering take-out food, or thinking about making a meal, stop yourself for one minute. Take just one minute to assess your current hunger-meter reading by asking yourself the following questions: What physical signs o hunger do I have? On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being not hungry and 10 being very hungry), how hungry am I? A 2 indicate a need for a snack. A 5 might be satisfied by a light lunch. If it' a 9, a full meal is called for.

If you realize that you don't have any of the physical signs c hunger, you may be eating for emotional reasons. Finding something else to do to release the emotion, such as exercising, journaling, talking it out with someone, or confronting the other person involved, can feed this emotional hunger. If you do have physical signs of hunger, well then eat, and enjoy the eating occasion. You really are eating to fuel your body's needs.