How many times you grabbed desserts in your Boss' Welcome party and enjoyed completing your plate without thinking how many sugar and calories you've taken in?
Understanding and recognizing various types of hunger can help you reach your goal weight and finally maintaining it. Eating while keeping a straight view on your food habits will give you a clear answer on what food to eat and what time to eat.
According to the author of the book 'Mindful Eating', Jan Chozen-Bays, MD, there are seven kinds of hunger related to our body parts- the mouth, nose, stomach, eyes, cells, mind and the heart.
Cellular Hunger
"To learn to listen to cellular hunger is the primary skill of mindful eating," Jan Chozen-Bays says. Learning to spot when your cells need to feed is the basic rule to keep in mind. Physical hunger is associated with feeling of agitation, hunger pangs, dizziness, headache, and difficulty in concentrating.
Heart Hunger
"Feelings are meant to be felt, not fed" says Brenda Bentley. Are you one of the many emotional eaters, who get guilty of too much eating because you're upset, afraid, heart broken or stressed? Certainly people can control what to think, and with continuous practice, people can also control emotions.
Stomach Hunger
This type of hunger is the true signal why you must eat. If you feel your body is slowing down, you feel your stomach growling, this is no time for denying, go and eat to satisfy your hunger.
Eye Hunger
Naturally, people are deceived of what they see. Imagine yourself seeing a sizzling steak, is it making you drool? If you're going to respond to what you saw, you're satisfying what you see and not what your body needs.
Nose Hunger
As your sense of taste is connected to your sense of smell, you may feel the urge to eat when you smell a new Chicken recipe that your mom prepares
Eating when you think you want to eat is what you call 'mind hunger'.
"I will eat my favorite Blueberry cheesecake," "I won't eat breakfast because I have things to do," are examples of 'Mind Hunger' that must be managed well before satisfying your hunger pangs
Mouth Hunger
Your mouth craves for various taste and flavor, and giving in to these urge can result to mindless eating.