What is Physical and Emotional Hunger and How to Distinguish Them?

Metabolism releases hunger signals, which are natural signs that our body requires energy. However, if daily emotional fluctuations affect your hunger, such as increased or decreased appetite, you may be experiencing emotional hunger.

Learn how to distinguish emotional from physical hunger in this article. Our next topic is “mindful eating,” which helps lessen emotional hunger and eating.

When the stomach signals the brain, physiological hunger is sensed. This happens automatically when the body requires food for energy.

It can cause irritability/nervousness. These can arise with extreme physiological hunger.

Emotional or psychological hunger does not satisfy body needs. Emotional situations may lead to eating behaviour in some people. This is "emotional hunger."

The distinction between emotional and physical hunger may be unclear. Please rate this based on several characteristics:

Even after eating, emotional hunger makes you feel uneasy and want to eat again. Negative daytime events may be to blame.

A rumbling stomach may indicate physical hunger, which comes slowly. It happens 3-4 hours after eating.

Physical hunger is indicated by stomach signals. Unsatisfied appetite can cause stomach ache and rumbling.

Specific foods generally come to mind when emotional hunger strikes. A hunger for the cuisine is another description.

Emotional hunger makes you want to eat. You may crave high-calorie items like chocolate, wafers, chips, etc., and a substitute won't satisfy you.

Naturally, you can choose a food while hungry. However, this preference offers more freedom. Though your body requires 'fuel', you're more flexible and want to eat to feel full even if you can't obtain what you want.

Like breathing and drinking, eating is natural. Consuming enough food to satisfy hunger does not generate guilt.

However, emotional eating can cause shame and guilt. Food you eat to feel better can make you regret and then angry at yourself. You might soothe yourself by exercising or eating healthier in the future.

You may not realise when you start or stop eating while emotional hungry. Binge eating may help you escape bad emotions.

When physically hungry, you detect the satiety signal and eat enough. This eating style is healthy.

To stop emotional eating, we must practise mindful eating. Mindful eating involves satisfying hunger, interpreting emotional and mental signals, and noticing satiety and fullness.

You may have noticed that when you eat while watching, working, or thinking, you eat more and don't feel full.

When practicing mindful eating, give yourself a few minutes before you start eating to discover whether your hunger is physical or emotional.
If you realise you're eating to satisfy an emotion or escape it, try to create a food-free place.

If you eat to fulfil physical hunger, wait at least 30 minutes before standing up from the dinner table.

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