Former Director Grade Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India
www.daylife.page
It’s every day’s problem. All over the world people eat at least two to three times. We eat for many reasons - because we’re stressed or feeling sad, because we feel like we deserve a treat or simply because it’s our scheduled mealtime.
It is very important to eat mindfully. We should be aware about food habits, so that we can make right decisions about what we eat and when. There are seven different types of hunger which are relating to different parts of our anatomy - the eyes, nose, mouth, stomach, cells, mind and heart.
Once we are more aware of these different types of hunger and their reasons, we can respond consciously and more appropriately to satisfy them.
Eye Hunger
We are highly stimulated by sight, so a beautifully presented meal or treat such as a birthday cake will be a lot more appealing to us than not presented attractively - even if the ingredients are the same.
Nose Hunger
Most of what we think of as taste is actually smell. Our sense of smell is much more powerful than that of taste. Enjoy the aromas of the food, though you may not have seen the food. Aroma can travel even from a distance.
Mouth Hunger
What we think of as tasty, appealing food is often socially conditioned or influenced by our upbringing or traditional food from the family. This includes how sweet or salty we want our food, and the kinds of seasoning and spices we enjoy. What is considered a delicacy in one country can repel those of another culture. For example deep-fried cockroaches what Chinese relish Indians may not?! Many people’s aversion to raw food is a prime example of this social conditioning of the mouth hunger.
Stomach Hunger
A hungery tummy is one of the main ways we recognise hunger. And yet, it doesn’t necessarily mean our body needs food. The hunger cues from the stomach are self-taught and linked to the schedule we have give our imposed upon it. It takes practice to sense when a grumbling stomach means actual hunger.
Often, we can confuse the sensation with other feelings that affect our stomach such as anxiety or nervousness. If we feed anxiety with junk food, then get more anxious about our diet, we can spark off a negative spiral of emotional eating.
Cellular Hunger
When our cells need nutrients, we might feel irritable, tired or we may get a headache. Cellular hunger is one of the hardest types of hunger to sense, even though it is the original reason for eating. Only children know when they need to eat, and what their body is craving. But over time, we lose this ability and either we are conditioned to eat or on false hunger we eat.
Mind Hunger
Modern society has made us very anxious eaters. We're constantly influenced by the current fad diet, the latest nutritional guidelines or research paper. We are deafened by our inner voice telling us that one type of food is good and one type bad. This can make it very difficult to pick up on our body’s natural cues. The mind is very difficult to satisfy, as it is fickle and will find something new to focus on if one craving is satisfied.
Heart Hunger
So much of the time, what and when we eat is linked into our emotions. We might crave certain comfort food because we were given it as a child, or because we’ve associated it in our mind as a treat for when we’re feeling down.
Often emotional eating boils down to a desire to be loved or looked after. We eat to fill a hole, but that hole often can’t be satisfied through eating. To satisfy our heart hunger, we need to find the intimacy or comfort our heart is craving.
So, next time you feel hungry, check-in with yourself and work out what kind of hunger you're sensing. If eating is appropriate - go ahead and eat! Try to be mindful of what and how you eat, take in the aroma, feast with your eyes and savour every flavour. Only then will you be truly satisfied. (The author has his own study and views)
