Emotional eating vs physical hunger

IS YOUR HUNGER PHYSICAL OR EMOTIONAL? 

When trying to find out the difference between Emotional Eating vs Physical Hunger, there is one the skill you can develop. That is knowing when you need to eat to nourish yourself and when you may be using food to fulfill your emotional needs.

So if you’re struggling to tell the difference between Emotional and Physical Hunger, I will explain the differences now to help you figure it out. 

These are the feelings of Physical Hunger:

• Your hunger craving has been creeping up for a while
• The craving doesn’t go away if you wait it out 
• Your stomach is growling, feels hollow and is making noises
• You could eat a variety of foods  
• If you eat something, you’ll stop eating when you feel full 
• You notice it several hours after a meal 
• You experience a feeling of satisfaction after eating 

So these are all the feelings of Physical Hunger - Now I’ll come on to

Emotional Hunger symptoms:  

• The urge to eat comes on suddenly 
• You have that feeling that you have to eat NOW straight the way
• You have a sense of urgency 
• The urge to eat occurs right after a meal 
• Possibly - You’re craving a particular food - and probably something that's unhealthy 
• If you started to eat now, you might not be able to stop 
• You feel embarrassed or guilty for wanting to eat 
• You feel guilty and ashamed after eating 
• You have an urge to eat in secret 

So these are all the emotional hunger symptoms so  if a lot of the emotional hunger symptoms apply to you, don’t be surprised or worried.  Because the act of eating has all sorts of emotional connections - both good and bad.  

The way to conquer your emotional hunger is to first recognize when you are really physically hungry and when you’re emotionally hungry.  

And from there you can identify the emotions that make you emotionally hungry.  Then you can take steps to tackle those emotions in ways other than eating.  That’s the topic of my next blog.

The subtle difference between Emotional Eating (hunger) and Physical hunger is tricky, but telling the difference between them is all about identifying what’s going on in your physical body and in your emotional mind, at the same time.  

Physical hunger is your body’s true need for food.  Emotions, whether positive or negative, do not affect true hunger.  

So that’s the difference between Emotional Eating vs Physical Hunger.

What To Do Next?

Find out a simple explanation of What is Emotional Eating?

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