The other week I shared a blog post about how to recognize your hunger. Because, letโs be real, itโs not always easy to figure out. But the thing is, itโs also not as black and white as being hungry or not. There are different types of hunger, too.
Despite how confusing this may sound, understanding these can actually help make your eating experiences a lot more simple.
Determining when youโre actually hungry or not is an amazing start to listening to your body. But, at the same time, Iโm sure you also know that thereโs more to eating than just being hungry or not.
You donโt always have to eat exactly when youโre hungry and not eat when youโre full.
Life (and food!) is more nuanced than that and itโs not that black and white.
Sometimes, you might be at a social event or party where you want to enjoy food with your friends.
Or, maybe youโre on vacation and want to get a special pastry theyโre famous for before you leave, even though youโre not totally hungry for a pastry.
You might just need to eat before a meeting when you know you wonโt get a chance to eat for a while.
In each of these situations, though you might not feel physically hungry, you still โ of course โ can eat. These situations involve different types of hunger. Letโs walk through them.
The 4 types of hunger
Physical hunger:
Physical hunger, like it sounds, is a need for food in the stomach and for the energy that food provides. It can manifest as a growling stomach, an empty feeling stomach, or even less physical symptoms, like thinking about food or feeling โhangryโ (read more about the ways to identify physical hunger here).
Although years of dieting can make it more difficult to discern physical hunger, the more you listen to your bodyโs cues, the easier it will be to notice. And physical hunger is relatively easy to appease too โ when you feel it, eat! Youโll start to feel less hungry almost immediately.
Practical hunger:
This type of hunger is, like it sounds, more out of practicality. It involves a bit of forward thinking and planning to eat when makes sense or when works for you. Like in the example I mentioned above, practical hunger might be a situation where you eat a snack ahead of a meeting thatโll last a few hours where you know you wonโt be able to eat.
Practical hunger can also include something like eating during your designated lunch break, even though that may not be when youโre exactly hungry for lunch. The important thing about practical hunger is that it allows you to be flexible and go with the flow. Instead of eating when youโre exactly physically hungry every single time, you zoom out to look at your day and make your meals and snacks work in the best way you can.
Emotional hunger:
Emotional hunger is often referred to as emotional eating. But, hereโs the thing, while we often think of emotional eating as โbadโ or something we need to control, thereโs truly nothing wrong with emotional hunger.
This type of hunger goes hand in hand with an emotion. It often comes on strong and intensely. Although you may not be physically hungry, food might provide comfort for a number of emotions in that moment.
I usually remind my clients that emotional eating is okay. The important things with eating out of emotional hunger are to 1) recognize the emotion, 2) come up with other coping mechanisms, and 3) not get mad at yourself for doing it. Guilt can be a viscous cycle. Instead, recognize what emotion is coming up, allow yourself some comfort from food, and then practice other tools in your toolbox to deal with that emotion, too.
Taste hunger:
Lastly, taste hunger, like it sounds, is when something just sounds good. Itโs when you might not be physically hungry, but are in the mood for a specific food or taste. Like in the example above, maybe youโre on vacation and pass a famous bakery that sounds amazing. Maybe your friends decide to go for ice cream and you realize that ice cream sounds really good.
Itโs okay to eat something because it sounds good! Actually, more than okay. Again, while itโs great to eat when youโre physically hungry, itโs also completely unrealistic (and unenjoyable) to skip out on food that sounds good just because you arenโt totally hungry. Make sure to honor your taste hunger, too.
The important nuance here is this: you cannot, will not and should not eat only when youโre exactly physically hungry and stop eating when youโre perfectly full.
Knowing what physical hunger and fullness feel like are really important tools.
But beyond that, itโs also important to recognize different types of hunger and be able to go with the flow and honor them.
As ironic as it sounds, eating only when youโre physically hungry turns intuitive eating into a black and white โhunger and fullness diet.โ Instead, practice finding life in the gray.
Allow food to comfort you occasionally. Allow food to taste good! And let yourself eat out of practicality. All of these things help turn food into an easygoing, enjoyable and nourishing experience and let you live much more freely with how you approach it.
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If you found these tips helpful and want to create a healthy relationship with food, feel better in your own skin, and set the foundation for your kids to do the same, I highly recommend checking out my course, Food Freedom for the Whole Family. It’s my most thorough guide – thereโs even an entire section on body image in it!
Check it out here: Food Freedom for the Whole Family.
Not ready for that yet? Check out any of these free resources below:
