Episode 040 – The Intuitively You Podcast

Do you struggle to differentiate between emotional hunger vs. physical hunger? Do you find yourself eating to cope with your emotions and are wondering how to stop? In this podcast episode, we dive into the differences between these types of hunger as well as how you can know which type of hunger you are experiencing. If you are ready to feel more in control of your food choices and address your hunger with confidence, keep reading.

What is Physical Hunger?

Let’s start out by defining physical hunger vs. emotional hunger. Physical hunger is what people think about when they think about hunger in general. This is basically just what happens when your body is biologically and physiologically hungry. It needs food, nourishment, and nutrients. And the way you give that to your body is by eating food. The feeling of physical hunger is basically your body’s way of communicating its needs to you. Hunger cues are your body asking you for food.

Now, it may be difficult to “hear” and understand your hunger cues if you’ve been really disconnected from them for years and years (thanks diet culture!). So if you’re unsure what hunger actually feels like to you, you’re not alone in that. It will take time to regain that clarity!

People typically think of a growling tummy as a sign of physical hunger, which it is! But there are also many more signs of hunger such as energy dipping, sensations in the throat, a change in mouthfeel, low concentration, headaches, irritability aka. hangry, or even just thinking about food. 

What is Emotional Hunger?

Emotional hunger is different from physical hunger. You know how physical hunger is your body communicating its need for energy via food to you? Emotional hunger is a term that we can use that describes how your system is communicating to you an emotional need. It’s not that you need food, it’s that your emotional well-being needs tending to. 

But where this gets tricky is that it often gets confused for actual physical hunger. Why? There are a couple of reasons.

First, we may not be confident in the sensations and cues of physical hunger, so any kind of uncomfortable sensation we may think is a sign of physical hunger.

Second, and something that’s also very common, is using food as a way to cope with emotions. Food can become an “easy” thing to reach for that soothes our negative feelings, but only really in the short term. So it may become a habit that when an uncomfortable emotion arises, that we think it’s a sign to grab food because we’ve made it a pattern that our brain believes. “Feel uncomfortable = grab food = feel better” and that creates a habit loop. 

This can be beyond frustrating. Especially if you’re someone who struggles with binge eating and overeating. The good news is, you can learn skills and tools to better differentiate between physical and emotional hunger which will help you to take charge of your eating habits instead of feeling like the food has the power over you! 

Emotional Hunger vs. Physical Hunger: What to Look For

How can we start to notice if we’re feeling physically hungry or emotionally hungry? Here are some signs to look out for when you’re trying to figure out if you’re experiencing emotional hunger vs. physical hunger: 

Physical Hunger:

• Comes on gradually
• Feel open to eating a variety of different foods
• Doesn’t feel urgent
• Comes with physical sensations of hunger (lack of focus, stomach sensations/growling, feeling low energy, etc.)
• Is satisfied with the feeling of fullness/by eating a meal or snack

Emotional Hunger:

• Comes on suddenly
• Crave a specific food
• Feels urgent, you need to eat that food *right now!*
• Does not come with physical feelings of hunger
• Never really leaves you feeling satisfied by eating food

Questions to Ask Yourself to Identify Emotional Hunger

To give you even more tools to use to support your mindful awareness in differentiating emotional hunger vs. physical hunger, here are some questions you can keep in your back pocket to refer to. These will help you to understand more about yourself and guide your eating choices:

1. What sensations am I feeling right now? Are they more related to physical hunger cues? Or are they more related to emotional discomfort? 
2. How long has it been since I last ate? Could that be a clue to point toward me being physically hungry or not? 
3. Am I experiencing any big emotions right now? Just get curious. No judgment. 
4. What is it that I feel like I need most in this moment? Then go ahead and try that. 

If you’re leaning more towards thinking you’re experiencing physical hunger, go on ahead and have a satisfying meal or snack. And if you’re leaning more towards thinking you’re experiencing emotional hunger, maybe you visit your emotional coping toolbox and choose an activity to try that may help you positively cope with your emotions. I also have a blog post for you that goes through 5 tips for dealing with emotional eating that you can check out if you’re interested. 

What if You Can’t Tell Which One it Is? 

If you’re still not able to tell if you’re experiencing emotional hunger or physical hunger, don’t stress! It’s okay! It will absolutely take practice to get more confident and comfortable with identifying these different sensations. 

Also an important note for you – there is no right or wrong here. Meaning that even if you have a hunch that you’re experiencing emotional hunger, you can absolutely STILL choose to eat food. Identifying emotional hunger is not a rule that you’re stopping yourself from having food. Even if you’re not for sure physically hunger, you’re allowed to have and enjoy food at any time. Part of finding food freedom is knowing that there are no rules. Even though having no rules may seem scary, the freedom comes with the empowerment of being in the drivers seat of your relationship with food. 

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Next Steps for Your Food Freedom Journey:  

• Take the Free Quiz: I have a completely free why do you binge eat quiz that will help you figure out what’s keeping you stuck in the binge eating cycle and holding you back from food freedom the most at this time.
  
• Food Freedom Reflection: Get your journal out and answer these questions. How do I feel about my relationship with food right now? What do I want my relationship with food to be like? What’s one small step that I can take to get closer to my goals?
  
• Get Support: I have a highly supportive binge eating coaching program, Embodied Food Freedom, that is designed to help you take all the steps you need to so you can embody your version of food freedom. Or visit my intuitive eating coaching services page to explore all of what The Intuitive Nutritionist has to offer!