Are you actually hungry? Why are you eating?

[MarciM]

Are you actually hungry or are you eating because you've been programed to eat at a certain time?

Years ago my husband and I took a life changing wellness class. It started out focusing on nutrition, then sleep, and movement last (more on this later).  This was not a diet program, this was whole body wellness adventure. On the first night of the class the doctor teaching the class, ask us if we knew when we are hungry. Seems like a silly question until you dig into it. Most of us felt we knew when we were hungry, but he challenged us to explore real hunger, so we would recognize it and stop eating at 'meal times', purely because it was that time of day. He shared an analogy, comparing our hunger to a tank of gas in your car. He asked all of us, when do you fill up your car's gas tank, when it's empty, half-full, only down an 1/8 of a tank. Most people shared they waited until 3/4 empty or lower. We were then instructed to think about hunger the same way, don't stop to fill up or top off your tank (stomach) every time it's down a little bit. Wait until you are closer to empty, be present in your decision to eat, instead of an act/task you complete at certain times of the day. After a week of 'homework' we both felt empowered to elect to eat at different times and found we ate considerably less. Just something to consider as you think about healthy eating. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[NellyG]

Great analogy @MarciM  I think a lot of people use eating for things other than hunger, and eating because it is "time" to eat when you haven't burnt the calories to need the food is very common. I'm  guilty of it too! 😅

[Baltoscott]

That makes a lot of sense @MarciM, and the exercise you went through seems like a good way to become more mindful of what and why you are eating. Although it is not always hunger that drives you to eat at a certain time of day. My wife and I found ourselves eating some kind of ice cream treat almost every night just before bed. We weren't hungry. We just craved ice cream around 10pm. It became habitual. Bad news!

But I come at it from a different direction. I think of programming myself to eat only at a certain times can be a feature (i.e., a good habit) rather than a bug.  A few years ago I started to build a habit to eat only eat only four times a day (my mealtimes), as opposed to grabbing whatever I could find at all hours of the day -- or night -- whenever I was hungry.  Having regular mealtimes made it easier to plan ahead so that I always have plenty of veggies and fiber in the mix along along with whatever else I'm eating so that each meal is filling and satisfying. That seems to make it easier to avoid unplanned snacks (like free donuts/bagels/pizza at work functions) between meals because I don't usually feel hungry between meals.  

I wonder what others think?

[YojanaFitbit]

Loved the analogy too @MarciM. As you said, is not that silly once you start to think about the real reason why we eat our meals and at what time we eat it. The stimulation of our senses of smell, sight, taste and hearing can be another reason why we eat. A psychological reason maybe. Eating is a pleasurable activity, so another reason for eating is because we like a particular food. We may also eat because we are bored, lonely or depressed (often called 'comfort eating'). 🤔