Have you ever felt real hunger?
Like, real, animalistic hunger? I'd wager that the majority of people haven't (at least for those of us lucky enough to live in the western world). And it's not because of eating "enough" or not, but usually it's that the signal fires so early and gets acted on so quickly that it never gets the chance to develop into something more than an impulse.. You feel something gurgle, some sort of restlessness, a hum of "maybe I should eat something." And within minutes (seconds?) you're reaching for food. The gap between signal and response is basically zero. And that's a problem. Because you never find out what the signal actually was. Several factors may be playing a role here. Stress, for example, shows up in the body in ways that feel remarkably similar to hunger. So does boredom. So does being tired. So does avoiding something you don't want to deal with, or just being at that time of day when your brain has learned to demand food. All of these can produce a sensation that says "I'm hungry". And the only way to learn the difference is to wait. This can be more challenging that it seems a first, as our habitual, non-intentional eating and food-obsessed cultures are forces to be reckoned with. But if you try it just long enough, you may find that the signal either builds into something undeniable, or fades because it was never hunger to begin with. So, here's a quick exercise for you to try to put this into practice: Next time you feel the pull to eat outside of a planned meal, give it fifteen minutes. Just delay it. Do something else. Trust me, you'll be fine. Then check back in. If the feeling's still there, possibly stronger, that's information. That might (might) be real hunger. If the feeling has faded or changed shape, that's also information. That was something else wearing hunger's clothes. Over time you'll finding it easier to start to recognize your own signals for what they are in real time. And that's where the work continues. This is exactly the kind of thing I dig into in the 'Get Consistent' guide inside Premium, building awareness around your own patterns so the habit actually sticks. Worth a look if you haven't yet.