Understanding your appetite – Decode Hunger
It is pretty common to experience times of increased or decreased appetite and that can occur for a range of reasons including stress, grief, under or over exercising, illness or hormone fluctuations.
It can be useful to tune in to your body and learn to recognise your hunger cues. It is also important to speak to your GP or a registered dietician if you are experiencing changes in your appetite such as loss of appetite.
Overall your body is perfectly designed to control hunger levels and it is right to trust that but It can also be useful to tune in to whether you are experiencing physical hunger in its genuine form or whether you could be eating in response to emotional hunger.
Lets take a look at each:
Physical Hunger: Tends to be gradual and generally tied to the last time you ate something. This will vary from one individual another as certain things can also affect your physical hunger for example hormone fluctuations or thyroid issues.
Many women in perimenopause or menopause may experience increased hunger levels. Ghrelin, the hormone that governs hunger stimulation is at an increased level during perimenopause, so many women will find themselves constantly hungry during such phases. In addition, as a double whammy, levels of the hormone Leptin which is responsible for creating a feeling of fullness or satiety is reduced throughout perimenopause and post-menopause. In addition to this, a decline in oestrogen which is also involved in reducing feelings of appetite, mean that women may feel appetite ramping up.
In many cases you can take better care of managing appetite through choosing nutrient dense foods and eating a low GI or blood sugar balancing diet. There may also be supplements that help the body maintain balance during times like perimenopause.
Emotional Hunger: We gain a lot of pleasure and comfort from food and I don’t think food should be seen simply as a fuel for the body. It is certainly something that should be enjoyed on a deeper more soulful level. But emotional eating can be destructive and might be masking a deeper issue that needs attention. It is useful to try and decipher or decode whether your hunger may be emotion driven. Are you bored, stressed, anxious, unhappy or are you simply just lacking in energy or in need of some fresh air?
“Boredom is probably the number 1 emotional type of hunger,” says psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD. “We often ignore, avoid or negotiate our true hunger signs – including when we’re already full and just looking for something to entertain us.”
Cravings are often a good indication that you may be dealing with emotional hunger in disguise ie not hunger in its true physical form. Dr Albers says that we often fail to identify our emotional hunger cues because we are distracted and not actually focused on the act of eating. We could be watching TV, busy working on the computer or mindlessly scrolling through our phones. She says ‘A good rule of thumb is that when you eat – just eat..’ Essentially avoid any other distractions and focus on the food itself. Also be alive to the cues in your body as you eat. What is the food doing for you and how do you feel afterwards? Instant gratification often gives way to feelings of discomfort in the body.
When you’ve learnt how to ask yourself questions about your hunger, like what do I need to eat? Am I actually hungry or do I need something else, a break in the air, something to entertain or comfort me that isn’t food?. When you’ve also learnt your hunger patterns, for example eating in a way that balances blood sugar so you don’t get crashing energy dips or ravenous hunger that makes you feel angry or off balance, you’ll be decoding your hunger and closer to managing your appetite in a healthy way.
If you have concerns about changes to your appetite speak to your GP in the first instance. You can also discuss obstacles to eating well or other health concerns with an NLC. If you would like my help you can contact me at info@vitaflow.co.uk
