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If we only ate when we are hungry and only enough food to ease our hunger, then chances are that we will not have a weight problem. If only it was that easy!
Hunger
The primary reason we eat when we are hungry is to nourish our bodies. Of course, a meal is more appealing when it taste and look good, but it this is not necessary when we are truly hunger. Hunger signals does not give us a free pass to binge.
Appetite
On the other hand, appetite is base solely on external stimuli. These external stimuli can be our mood, cravings, social situations, food availability, and habit. There is a reason why a diet that only addresses the mathematically component of weight loss with calorie restriction is doom to failure. Sometimes we cannot even point a finger at the reason why we let our appetite control our eating.
Whenever I stop at a Rite Aid with an ice cream counter, I would purchase one scoop of pistachio nut ice cream on a cone. Then I will browse and drop things into my basket until I finish the cone. It is habit that I developed because I associate Rite Aid ice cream cones when my happy childhood memories of stopping by for ice cream after a trip to the library with my family. At the time, Rite Aid was called Thrifty.
Satisfying an appetite gives us pleasure
There is nothing wrong with allowing our appetite help us with making food choices, especially if it is healthy food choices. The problem is when our appetites get out of hand. Uncontrolled appetite is a weight ticking time bomb.
Sometimes I forget what a particular food taste like. So I eat that food to remind myself. Then sometimes I have a faint memory of what a particular food taste like. So I eat that food to confirm my faint memory. Do you see where I am going with this?
Every food that we encounter on a daily basis, we have eaten, tasted, and recorded in our memories. There is no reason for us to have a taste of cheesecake because we “forgot” what it taste like on a regular basis.
Knowing when it is hunger or appetite is important
The first step to weight loss is understanding whether our desire to eat is generated by hunger or appetite. So the next time you find yourself putting food in your mouth, make sure to ask whether you are eating because of hunger or appetite. If you find that most of the answer is appetite, then you need to figure out a way to resolve your emotion with food in order to experience successful weight loss.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by.
Photo by: doug88888.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Awareness about those kinds of things really is the first step. Being able to recognize WHY we”re eating can help to make us really think about it… it’s the next step that I am still struggling with: preventing ourselves from eating even when we know it’s not true hunger! I find that it requires more of a complete mental shift. The awareness is like the tool; preventing ourselves from eating because of the appetite is making USE of that tool.
I find now that I have a particularly type of routine going and my body knows when I am going to eat. However, this differs when I am at work to when I am at home. I tend to feel more hungry at work since I am doing the same thing all day. I am generally skinny and people seem surprised by the amount I eat but I put it down to restricting myself on big impulse eating, eating healthy and starting my day with breakfast to kick start my metabolism.
Sagan – Isn’t it funny how sometimes we are aware of exactly what we are doing, but we do it anyway. The hard part is being aware and not eating when we shouldn’t. It is that mental shift that you are talking about. Thanks for the comment.
Alex – I wonder if the hunger you feel at work might be due to boredom. I know that I tend to eat when I am bored. If you eat mostly fruits and vegetables, you can eat a lot without ingesting massive amount of calories. Thanks for the comment.
Oooo I just read about this on Better Medicine. If you consume more foods with a high SI (high protein foods, potatoes, oranges, etc) rather than foods with a low SI (candy, cookies, doughnuts, etc) you actually feel more full. Which makes sense! A practical recommendation is to have a high protein breakfast like eggs and you will feel full for longer (rather than if you had waffles).
Sarah – eating protein for breakfast is a great way to feel full longer. The flour in waffles, cookies, and donuts are strip of all the nutrients in the milling process and added back in later, hence the word “enriched flour” in the ingredients list. My favorite protein source includes cottage cheese, peanut butter, and eggs. Thanks for the comment!