7 Types of Hunger

 Did you know there are 7 different types of hunger cues? Something most people struggle with is reading these senses and acknowledging them. When someone has not been eating enough or restricting certain types of foods their hunger and fullness cues are hard to distinguish. This also goes for people who don’t have a bad relationship with food. It can apply to anyone. When people have a stressful event in their life, they haven’t been getting enough sleep, they are super excited, etc. These factors make your emotions heightened and can throw off your hunger signals that your body will normally give you. Society only deems stomach hunger as being the single way to determine if you need to fuel your body; though that can be hard if your hints of hunger are dismissed.  It is important that we teach others the many different ways we can tell if we need to feed ourselves physically and mentally. 

In no particular order the first is Stomach Hunger, which is perceptible by people. In-that, this type of hunger is one where you feel sensations in your stomach such as aches, contractions, and/or constant pain. These hullabaloos are strong indications coming from your body to tell the part of your brain known as the hypothalamus, that you are hungry. Our culture only really “accepts”this form of hunger. Society will preach we listen to our stomach cues and when we do, they tell us no it's not hunger you are just thirsty!  When truth be told that there are many other ways to to give your body fuel and not just listen to your stomachs agitations. This can be a great way to read hunger and fullness cues and in no way am I preaching it is not. But, this is the only one our world idolizes and educates people about. 

Neighboring Stomach Hunger is Mouth Hunger. Fundamentally this is the feeling you have when you are craving something. You may not feel hungry in your stomach, but you are wanting to taste something. The yearn could be for foods that are salty, sweet, spicy, etc. Mouth Hunger doesn’t just solicit tastes of foods it can also relate to a texture of food you could be wanting. Your mouth could want something crunchy or soft. Last but not least, Mouth hunger can also partner with seeking a certain temperature of foods. By way of illustration, on a hot summer day your mouth could crave something cold; ice cream for instance. On a cold winter day you might want a bowl of warm/hot soup. Mouth hunger is just when you are craving a certain experience to have with food. 

Additionally, there is Eye Hunger. This type of hunger is one that can be self-explanatory. When a dish or a food is presented beautifully or looks appealing to the eye, there is a desire to want/try the plate. Eye hunger is visually based and stimulated by sight. When something looks delectable that heightens our hunger and we want to eat it. This type of hunger is represented in diet culture as “temptation”. People are taught to “resist’’ certain foods that look good just because they are deemed “unhealthy”. Society teaches us to eat another option or distance ourselves from the food that looks appetizing, because if we “give in” to this temptation we are “bad”. In point of fact, it is better to listen to your eye hunger because if not you will think about the food all day and wish you had eaten it. Side note, you are so deserving to eat anything you want. You only live once and can’t let others control your life. 

Heart Hunger is probably my favorite type of hunger. Heart Hunger can be recognized as craving your comfort foods. Things that make your heart happy and you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Those specific foods are ones that can help soothe emotions, or bring up memories. For example, a certain childhood meal could have nostalgia. Heart Hunger is really when a meal resonates with your soul. By way of illustration, it could be cheesy mac and cheese, pasta, popcorn, ice cream, or a family recipe. I believe it is important to honor this type of hunger especially because self-soothing mechanisms can help with stressful events, or life changes. Listening to what your heart wants to do and not your head (or eating disorder voice), will be challenging. It might not feel like it at the moment, but trust me it is worth it to experience the joy of comfort foods whenever you want and not just on special occasions, 

Related to Heart Hunger is Nose Hunger. Nose Hunger is simple in that if something smells delicious, you want to eat it. Nose Hunger can be perceived in the media as giving into temptations, because “bad” food such as bakery items can smell really good. Not too surprisingly, this has planted the idea in our brain that the common concept of just eating something because it smells appetizing is shameful. When in actuality, eating something because the smell is enticing is completely normal and should be more accepted. 

Noticing and making food decisions with your brain is known as Mind Hunger. Mind Hunger can be used in helpful and unhelpful situations.In particular, an example of a counter-productive Mind Hunger practice would be eating at strict certain meal times and that gets in the way of other plans. Without choice, listening to the eating disorder voice on measuring, weighing, or how much food to eat. For example, if you had a meeting at noon, which is normally the time you would eat lunch, and it is going to end at three, it would be supportive to use Mind Hunger in making the decision to eat lunch a little earlier so you have enough energy to sustain yourself throughout the meeting and so you are getting proper nutrients. Another nurturing way to use Mind Hunger is if you have an eating disorder and are having to weight restore and/or needing to follow a meal plan to help with the process of recovery. However, this is not the same as following a diet plan and becoming “healthy” that way. 

Lastly, Cellular Hunger is the body's most complex way of letting you know that you need to fuel it with nutrients. When experiencing Cellular Hunger you may have body cues such as headaches, extreme irritability, low energy, problems focusing, shakiness, etc. All these signs are your body's way of crying for nourishment. This is also said to be on the highest end of the hunger spectrum. The body starts to shut down and take nutrients from other sources of the body. The body will then begin to use stored fats as energy. In turn this leads to medical conditions if malnutrition continues. 

Every single type of hunger is valid. It’s knowing what you are feeling in the moment that will help to satisfy the cues and begin to build a healthier relationship with food. Something that has been said to me in treatment recently that has stuck with me is, “Guilt from eating food is from the outside. We were not born with the ideas that have been brought into our heads. Which means, we can change and challenge those thoughts for the better.”