Are You Really Hungry?

Are you really hungry? Or have you really bored or thirsty? Many people have forgotten how to tell the difference.Are you always hungry? Makes it very hard to lose weight, doesn’t it? The real question is, are you really hungry?

Your body gives you several signals during the day. Sometimes your body tells you that you’re thirsty and other times that you’re just bored. In our society where food is abundant (as well as other things that probably shouldn’t be classified as food) we often mistake those signals as hunger.

Are You Really Hungry?

Maybe. Maybe not. Because food is always available, we learned to satisfy everything with food. We have to break the habit of eating in response to everything and relearn what our bodies are actually telling us.

You’re Bored

Let’s look at boredom first. When you are not engaged in anything and get bored you might head out to the kitchen to see if there is anything to do. By “do” I mean eat. You wander around the kitchen. First you check the fridge for anything cold to do (especially when it’s hot outside). If there’s nothing in the fridge you move on to the snack cupboard to see if there’s anything there to do that doesn’t require much effort.

Are you really hungry? No. You’re just looking for something to do.

The first thing to do when you’re hungry and you aren’t already doing something (other than watching TV) is find something to do. That is, find something to do that will engage your mind. A lot of times your “hunger” will go away when you focus on something.

You will accomplish something and avoid some unnecessary calories.

If you can’t find anything to do, consider joining me in my business. There’s always something to do and you might earn some additional income too. You never know.

You’re Thirsty

I first heard many years ago that most of us don’t know the difference between the feelings of hunger and of thirst. Have you heard that before? I found that to be true while I was dealing my kidney stones a few months ago.

I really worked on increasing my water intake to flush out the stones and build the habit of drinking enough water to prevent any new stones in the future. You know what? I wasn’t very hungry when I was drinking enough water to stay properly hydrated.

A lot of people are chronically dehydrated. They feel thirsty but instead of drinking something that will rehydrate them, they drink a soda or something else that will actually further dehydrate them.

Or they mistake their thirst for hunger and eat something instead. Eating doesn’t satisfy the thirst, so they eat more and gain wait.

Are you really hungry? No, you’re thirsty. You need to learn the subtle difference.

The next time that you feel hungry try drinking some water first, just in case you are actually thirsty, not hungry. And I do mean water. Sodas and other things like that are diuretics. They make you have to go to the bathroom and actually lose more water, so you end up thirstier than you were before.

If you don’t drink water because you don’t like the taste then you’ve never actually had good, clean, alkaline water. You need a good water filter. That should take care of your problem. You have to have good water.

Maybe You Are Hungry

If you have tried everything else and you still feel hungry then maybe you are actually hungry. Try to notice the difference between thirst and hunger. It is noticeable.

Are you really hungry? Yes, but why are you hungry?

When you feel hungry it is your body telling you that it needs something, some vital nutrient that it needs to keep you functioning and healthy. You don’t know exactly what nutrients it wants, or maybe it just needs energy, so you give it a variety of healthy, nutrient-dense food, right?

Maybe you do. Congratulations. You’ve eaten and you are no longer hungry. If you can do this most of the time then you will stay healthy and fit. Weight won’t be a problem for you.

Satisfy Your Body’s Hunger

On the other hand, maybe you don’t give your body what it wants. You hit the snack cupboard and temporarily trick your body into thinking it has what it wants. The body isn’t easily fooled for very long though and you’re hungry again after a few minutes. There isn’t much that your body can use in a chocolate chip cookie, a Snickers bar, or a potato chip.

There are plenty of calories though, plenty of energy that your body is more than happy to store in little battery for later. Those little batteries are called fat cells. Fat in and of itself isn’t bad. It’s high-density energy storage. It’s a slow-burning fuel.

The problem is, your body will go to the quick-burning fuel first and only go to the fat reserves when it has to.

Dr. Becky Gilaspy has some great advice and how to change your diet if you are always eating and still hungry. I’m hardly a nutritional expert, so I look to other people for nutritional advice. Dr. Becky has one of the blogs that I go to for advice.

Sometimes you want to keep a healthy snack that will actually feed your hunger, something that you can store longer than fruit and can carry with you when you are out.

Disclosure: All of the links above, except for the link to Dr. Becky’s blog, are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase on the linked pages.

So, Are You Really Hungry or Not?

You need some time and experimenting to figure out how to understand what your body is telling you.

If you are just sitting on the couch watching TV and you feel hungry, then you are probably bored. This is the easiest to figure out. Just stop and think about it for a moment. Are you really hungry? Probably not. Find something constructive to do.

Are you actually thirsty, not hungry? When was the last time that you had a glass of water? If it’s been awhile, try some water first. If you’re still hungry after 10 minutes then look for something to eat. When you stay hydrated you will be able to discern the difference between hunger and thirst.

When you are hungry, make sure you get something that will actually satisfy your hunger instead of just expand your waistline.

Do you know the difference between hunger and thirst? Are you still hungry even after you eat? Share your thoughts in a comment below. If you found this helpful then please share with your followers on social media.

Thanks for reading.

This entry was posted in Health and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Are You Really Hungry?

  1. I ask myself this question many times because I too had a a kidney stone. From there, the doctors told me to drink more water. I do have to use my brain to distinguish if I’m really hungry or do I need to hydrate?
    I was guilty in the past to eat when I thought I was hungry, when in fact, I was either bored watching T.V.
    So happy you brought this to our attention.
    -Donna

    • Hi Donna. I think we are all guilty of that. And eating in front of the TV is the worst because the TV keeps you in a trance so that you aren’t even aware of how much you eat.
      Thanks for the comment Donna.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *