I think my hunger reflex is broken.
This is not to say that I don’t get hungry, but in thinking and meditating on my relationship with food, my body, and my weight, I’ve come to the uncomfortable realization that perhaps I don’t really, truly, know what it’s like to be hungry. That perhaps what I consider to be, “hunger,” is really just a farcical symptom brought about by my mind and not my body — hence, I eat when I don’t need to, or more than I must when I do.
What does hunger feel like for YOU? There’s different types that I feel, of course, and many I can identify, ranging in intensity from, “I’m bored” to “I’m going to pass out if you don’t get me something RIGHT NOW.” But I’d say the typical hunger that I feel is neither of the two.
Just a snack?
When I generally feel hungry, the sensation starts in my mouth, which I think is a great part of the problem. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like my mouth needs to eat — does that even make sense? I can feel the sensations of biting, chewing, swallowing, and the tastes and flavors that come along with the process in my mouth. Not physically, although sometimes it waters or otherwise, but mentally. I have a mental sensation of needing to physically use a part of my body. I guess that’s the best description.
That’s the typical hunger and the one that appears at “regular” mealtimes. It’s what I typically act on, even if my stomach is not sending the, “Uhm…food, please?” message yet. This may be very problematic.
If I let hunger go long enough, I eventually get to the pain-in-the-tummy sort, that kind of hunger where you feel EMPTY and the ache starts to be so bad that if you don’t do something about it, you’re sure something bad will happen. It’s that crampy-style of hunger. That for me is very rare, but I get it occasionally. What’s even more disturbing is that if I ignore it long enough, it’ll go away, but that doesn’t mean that my body isn’t needing food, it’s just stopped complaining about it. If I wait too long, I won’t feel hungry, but I’ll get lightheaded, dizzy, aches, etc. until I give in and eat. How am I supposed to work with this when it isn’t consistent?
Here’s a big problem: I don’t know what’s normal.
That is, we as humans say, “I’m hungry!” but nobody really knows what that means. I know for my friend Paul, his hunger is insane — when the man’s hungry, he’ll eat the varnish off woodwork. But I don’t know what his hunger feels like vs. mine — and maybe mine’s not normal. Maybe at every meal he feels like he’s going to keel over and die if he doesn’t eat Right. Now.
I need to find out what’s normal. But how?
Well, I’m hoping for one that you’ll comment and describe what your typical hunger feels like to you, the sort you have when you need to eat a meal on any regular day. Does it hurt? Ache? Where do you feel it, in your belly, in your head, in your mouth? What other sensations do you have, do you feel dizzy, like you’re going to pass out, or is that only when you get extremely hungry? How fast does it go away when you finally eat? What happens if you ignore it?
I’m hoping by exploring this topic that I can try to get a better hold on my own bodily sensations and what they truly mean vs. whatever my mind is concocting at the moment. In this, maybe I can learn what my body really needs vs. what it just thinks it wants, which is a huge step towards doing the right things for it and me. Thanks for playing along.
You know me. I’m a big guy, and can eat a horse. Like you, I often struggle with the “My mouth is hungry” and “I’m bored, feed me” feelings. In America today, we’ve screwed our bodies up so much with processed foods and junk-type foods (chips, sweets, etc) that I think a lot of people don’t know what their body wants at any given moment, until they’re to the point of “Feed me or pass out”. Some things I have learned though:
1: Fasting, especially over several days, is a great way to sort of re-orient your body as to what it really needs and when. The first day is the worst, and it’s both downhill and uphill from there. The cravings lessen, the mental need lessens, but as the physical need starts to show through, it can be very painful, and interesting. (Keeping in mind my faith, it helps very much to have something to focus on when the hunger pangs start hitting in earnest.) After a few days, you’ll start to be able to sort out the surface hunger (“I’m bored” and “My mouth wants something to do”) from the real hunger.
A side-effect of a good fast is an incredible sharpening of the mind. Yes, it can drive you crazy if you let it, but once you get into the rhythm of how your body is going to behave, and find the right techniques to deal with those behaviors, the mind is like a scalpel. The biggest thing I struggle with here, is dizziness. When I fast, I make it a point to get some small amount of protein every day, and use small hard candies or mints to keep my blood sugar from crashing completely. I try to keep the use of such things to a minimum though.
2: Restrain your diet for a while. High exercise, lots of water, and exercise-appropriate foods (protein, carbs, not a lot of sugars, little or no refined or processed foods). At Philmont, now half a life time ago, we subsisted largely on peanut butter and crackers. Small meals for big guys, hiking through the mountains. But it taught our bodies “Here’s what you get, work with it.” After that, it took a while before we got back into our old eating habits.
3: Gum and water are your friends. Something to chew on, put your mouth to work. Beef jerky, while salty and not horribly healthy, works very well, too. Satisfies the mouths desire for flavor and something to do.
I know everyone says it, but gum really does help when you’re bored. Gum and tea and water, just like Shaun said. Sometimes that doesn’t work, though, and I need a snack. I find that eating just a BITE of something sinful is just enough to satisfy my brain and stomach. Brain thinks I need to snack and eat a lot but I don’t.
I eat when my stomach gets pains of being empty. I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like…it’s not rumbling..but just empty and sloshing around. It hurts. Then I get cranky. Like, the cutest animal or baby could go die and I wouldn’t care just as long as I got some food in my stomach. If I go for a really long time I feel headachy and tired but that rarely happens.
But the biggest thing is your state of mind. You can try to force yourself to accept a habit when you don’t want to..but it’s not going to work. You’re going to have to WANT it for yourself, to really believe in it. It’s the only way I’ve lost weight. 
I got tired of the baggage I gained in Iowa and so I’m losing most of it. It was making me sick in assorted ways 
So it’s one step at a time. I think you’re doing great with your bike riding. I know you tried a lot of diets in the past but it seems like you’re really sticking to this one 
I hope it’s making you feel good 
Most of the time I’m on a schedule and I eat just because it’s TIME to eat. This way I don’t get hungry later or something and I’m off my schedule. Being on an eating schedule works pretty good for me
Lately I’ve been drinking more water and cut out a LOT of my pop and fast food. I’m down 20lbs, which I’m happy about. I’ve found that drinking pop doesn’t quench my thirst anymore and I crave water. Sometimes I’ll crave pop but lately, and especially after I was sick for a month, water has been the only thing that makes me feel refreshed. It’s just a habit now.
For me, there are two different kinds of hungry.
1. Hungry because I’m bored – usually at home at night when I’m just watching tv or at work on a slow day. In these situations, I’m not usually actually hungry and just need to trick my mind..for me it’s hard candy or a sucker. If I’m at home, I try to just get my butt off the couch and DO something…there is usually something that always needs to be picked up or cleaned!
2. Actual hunger for me tends to be a rumbling in the stomach. I prefer to get to this stage, not because I enjoy feeling like I could eat a table, but because I know then that I’m REALLY hungry and not just fooling myself into getting food! Once in awhile, I wake up in the morning with a hunger that is so extreme I feel as though I may throw up. In these instances, I usually drink a glass of milk or juice, instead of grabbing a granola bar or a full on breakfast. It holds me over till later when I have my cereal!
As far as when does it stop? My rule of thumb is to stop eating when you think you would go back for seconds, or when you think you’ve hardly eaten anything, there isn’t any possible way you could be full. Don’t eat till you get the full sensation because it’s too late then, you’ve already probably overeaten. It’s amazing how if you start eating small porportions, your body will adjust. Will you get hungry at 3PM?? Probably, but grab a glass of water (with Crystal Light for me) and move on with your day. Your body with thank you for it later!
Good Luck!
Hrm. Well, I’m hungry as I type this, and it feels…I dunno…like I’m a little anxious, maybe? I wouldn’t say I have a dull ache anywhere, or anything, but I can tell my stomach is empty. The wife says I’m manorexic because I can go a until dinner on half a banana and a cup o’ joe, to which I say, “I’m not going to let my stomach rule my life.” ‘Course, I can only say that until I starve to death, which’ll make it Stomach: 1 Me: 0.
I’m the same way. I don’t really know how to tell when I’m actually hungry or when I’m just bored. Or uncomfortable. Or sociably snacky. Or…
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