A SENSE-ble Look at Healthy Living: Hunger

If you’ve been traveling with me since the beginning of this sense-ble look at healthy living, you knew we would get to this sense sooner or later.

The sense of hunger may be the most complicated sense of all. My body letting me know I need to eat something to survive is important. However, why do I eat too much or possibly not enough?

I’ve read about the “normal signs of hunger”: a growling stomach, light-headedness, unable to concentrate, irritability, feeling faint, and headaches. I’ve experienced these signs, which should move me to eat something. However, I truly don’t feel hungry very often. If I’m not trying intermittent fasting, I tend to eat by the clock.

I will sometimes wait for a “perfect” time to eat. This happens at social or family gatherings where there is a lot of chaos. But doing this will throw my schedule off-track. Then, even though I don’t think I’m experiencing a true sense of hunger, I’ll eat more than I need.

If I go back and look at the first sixteen senses I refracted about, I can honestly say that all of them have influenced my sense of hunger (possibly not in a healthy way). I don’t have a response for when someone says they’re really hungry. I just cannot relate. Are you confused yet? I told you the sense of hunger is complicated.

I may not feel hungry because physical hunger slowly builds up. Now that I try to watch my caloric intake, I’ve learned to make sure I enjoy what I’m eating. This conditioning may have helped control my hunger. I know it’s helped me with intermittent fasting, which can be successful — but it’s complicated.

Just when I think I’m in complete control, there are false signs that pop up that I succumb to … and this may be the root of my problem. I don’t handle these very well and will lose control.

These false alarms are well-known and take much of my concentration to figure out what’s real. How many do you struggle with?

• Crunch hunger – Tension/pressure causing stress that makes me want to chew out my frustrations
• Mouth hunger – Sight or smell of food overwhelming me and caving in to a craving
• Mind hunger – Eating on a schedule — It’s noon; time for lunch, right?
• Thirst or hunger – Signals are mixed and I’m confused
• Fatigue – I feel tired but it may be a lack of fuel, so I’ll eat something
• Emotional hunger – I feel a deep emptiness or depression that even an “all you can eat” buffet won’t satisfy

The sense of hunger is indeed complicated and it’s one that I will constantly work on understanding. I need to master the proverb “…eat to live and not live to eat.”

Now, what time is it?

This is part 17 of the multipart series, “A SENSE-ble Look at Healthy Living.” In my next and final blog of this series, we’ll look to time.

Missed the beginning of our journey through the human senses? Check out the rest of A SENSE-ble Look at Healthy Living.