The Science Behind Hunger-Directed Eating: Understanding Your Body's Signals
Hunger-Directed Eating?
Understanding Your Body's Signals
Have you ever found yourself reaching for a snack, even though
you know you're not truly hungry?
Or perhaps you've ignored your stomach's growls, only to find yourself ravenously hungry later on?
If so, you're not alone.
Learning about hunger-directed eating can help you approach nutrition in a whole new way.
From the hormones that regulate appetite, to the psychological factors that influence our eating behaviours, there's a lot to consider when you want to feel satisfied, AND nourished.
In this blog article, we’ll go over with:
Hunger basics
Practical tips for tuning in to your body's needs.
Whatever your reasons for wanting understand your own body’s cues, hunger directed eating can help.
So let's dive in and discover the fascinating science behind hunger-directed eating.
At the very lease, learning, and honouring, your hunger cues will improve your digestion!
The Biology of Hunger in Hunger-Directed Eating
What IS hunger?
When you say you are hungry, you may be referring to physical hunger, or other cues that have you labeling a desire to eat as hunger.
We eat for many reasons, besides hunger, including emotions, social connection and yes, cravings.
Hunger is a complex biological process that involves a delicate balance of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other physiological signals.
We have a variety of hormones that regulate appetite, hunger and fullness.
Most of us describe hunger as a physical feeling. We are familiar with that gnawing, empty, gurgling feeling in the body. That can happen when we are really hungry.
It has a name “borborygmus”
Hunger has subtle stages, and each stage will feel differently to you. Using a hunger scale will help you start to discern, to pick out, these stages. They are subtleties that you may feel between all the different levels of hunger.
REMEMBER: Your own hunger baseline will be different than someone else's. A hunger scale can help you figure out the feeling of your baseline.
Hunger is so complex. it’s a full on, mind-body process. Hunger is a gut brain connection, a mind body connection.
If you have not heard of the gut-brain axis, this is a connection of the mind and body,
The gut-brain axis is a connected system between our gut, which is our digestive system and our brain.
This axis, this path, is important for the balance of energy.
When you eat, cells called enteroendocrine cells pump out gut hormones, which suppress appetite. These gut hormones travel along a road that is called the vagus nerve.
The vagus nerve is the road connecting the gut and the brain
The vagus nerve may be the connector that these hormones travel along to tell the brain that you're full. So your vagus is important in your hunger and fullness cues.
Hormones that Regulate Hunger, and Fullness.
Ghrelin and leptin are two of the key hormones involved in hunger regulation. But there are several other hormones and neurotransmitters that also play a role in this process. Let’s start with Ghrelin
Ghrelin
One of the key hormones that regulates hunger is ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach and stimulates appetite. Ghrelin levels typically rise before meals and fall after eating, helping to regulate our food intake.
Leptin
Another hormone involved in hunger regulation is leptin, which is produced by fat cells and helps to signal the brain when we're full. When leptin levels are low, the brain may interpret this as a sign of hunger, even if we've recently eaten.
note what makea leptin levels low?
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps to regulate blood sugar levels, and can affect our hunger and satiety signals.
Serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that's often referred to as the "feel-good" chemical, and is involved in regulating mood, appetite, and digestion. Low levels of serotonin have been linked to increased cravings for carbohydrates and other comfort foods, which can lead to overeating and weight gain.
Dopamine
Dopamine is another neurotranmsmitter that is involved in hunger, and reward. We have something called the dopamine reward system, or the mesolimbic dopamine reward pathway. This system is ”recognized as the most prominent system that controls appetite and motivational and emotional drives for food.” (1)
The motivation for food may be linked to this system, and interact with the bodies own innate balancing mechanisms of energy expenditure and intake.
Other factors
In addition to these hormones, other factors like blood sugar levels, stress, and sleep can also affect our hunger and satiety signals, making it important to consider our overall health and wellbeing when trying to understand our hunger cues.
There are many other factors that affect hunger.
Factors that Affect Hunger and Hunger-Directed Eating
In addition to the biological signals that regulate hunger, there are several other factors that can influence our appetite and food choices.
Sensory Cues
The sight and smell of food can trigger our hunger signals, even if we're not truly hungry.
It's important to keep this in mind, and become aware of the times that smells, like a bakery, or the sight of cake in your office lunchroom, triggers desire to eat.
Becoming aware of these triggers helps you see:
how smell triggers a desire to eat
what types of food you are drawn to when you see them in front of you.
This is good information!
Remember, you CAN eat at any time. Understanding signals of the body should not be used to deprive yourself of anything! Making peace with food, and having a positive food relationship depends on giving yourself permission to eat, even without hunger!
When you can recognize your hunger signals, from really hungry, to really full, you can feed yourself based on personal needs, not based on diet rules.
AND, if you find yourself reaching for food, without hunger, you have an opportunity to understand if there is a certain emotion that is driving your desire to eat.
This is one of the skills you will develop with Mindful Eating.
Stress
Your level of stress is another factor that can affect your hunger levels, as it can trigger the release of cortisol, a hormone that can increase appetite and encourage overeating.
Cortisol gets a bad rap, as it is a survival hormone. We need cortisol to be higher upon waking and to be waning as the day winds down. Chronic stress drives cortisol to stay high, when it needs to be low.
Sleep
Lack of sleep, and poor sleep quality, especially of you have sleep apnea or sleep disordered breathing, play a role in levels of hunger.
Those hot flashes disrupt sleep as well, and without a good nights rest, you may find that you are hungrier, and crave carbs more, when you are tired.
Physical Activity
This is a tricky one, and so individual! Sometimes physical activity increases hunger, and sometimes it suppresses it.
This study showed that physical activity decreased glucose and leptin in the blood in adults over 60. This means that blood sugar was lower, and that leptin, the hormone that promotes satiety, also is lower. you may be more hungry after exercise.
How long after exercise is different for everyone:)
The key takeaway here is not that exercise will make me hungrier, it’s that movement helps me control my blood sugar. This is needed in menopause!
Lack of physical activity can also disrupt our hunger cues, making it harder to tune in to our body's signals.
Signs of Hunger and Fullness
How can we tell when we're truly hungry?
What about when we've had enough to eat? One of the best ways to tune in to our body's signals is to pay attention to our physical sensations. For example, hunger may be accompanied by a growling stomach, low energy levels, and difficulty concentrating.
On the other hand, feelings of fullness may be characterized by a sense of satisfaction, a decrease in hunger pangs, and a feeling of physical fullness.
Let’s be clear here, that we can feel full, but not satisfied. You can feel full on an entire bowl of lettuce, but not satisfied by that food choice.
The muddiness of hunger and fullness happens when we feel “hungry” in a particular emotional state. This can influence what we percieve as our hunger and satiety signals.
For example, boredom, stress, and anxiety can all trigger emotional eating. (Anxiety has some added physical sensations, that we will get into in a different post.)
By staying present and mindful before, during, and after meals, you can better tune in to your body's signals and make choices based on the whole of your needs.
Hunger-Directed Eating and Emotional Eating
Emotional eating is a common issue for many people. Emotional eating is part of being human. Many blame their weight on emotional eating. Weight is not that simple, yet it becomes a sole focus in menopause.
We forget this, in a world that pushes weight loss in front of us, no matter our age.
Emotional eating said to be triggered by stress, boredom, or other emotional factors. Emotional eating happens in good times, like weddings, birthdays, and girls night out! Having an emotional tie to food brings so much joy to the human existance.
If emotional eating is becoming or is your only response to life, perhaps it’s time to take a deeper look at it.
To say that emotional eating is wrong or unhealthy, just doesn’t give the full picture of the nuances of emotional eating.
Becoming more aware of your triggers, giving yourself permission to just eat AND making sure you have all kinds of coping mechanisms for stress or boredom, sounds like good holistic health to me!
What if taking a walk, listening to music, or practicing deep breathing exercises, and having a comfort food all worked as options to reduce stress?
Wouldn’t you feel less guilt and shame around food?
Understanding the underlying emotional factors that contribute to our eating behaviors, certainly develop a healthier relationship to food, all without demonizing choices.
Start Working on Hunger-Directed Eating
How can we put these principles into practice and develop a more hunger-directed approach to eating?
Here are a few tips to get started:
Mindful Eating Practices
One of the best ways to tune in to our body's signals is to practice mindful eating.
This involves slowing down during meals, savoring each bite, and paying attention to our physical sensations and emotional state. By staying present and mindful during meals, we can better tune in to our body's signals and make our own decisions as to when we are full, and when we want to eat more.
By honoring the emotional state of eating and connecting as humans, we can make the conscious decision to have one more bite, even if we aren’t hungry, or to stop eating.
Intuitive Eating Principles
Another approach to hunger-directed eating is to follow the principles of intuitive eating.
This involves tuning in to our body's needs and eating in response to our natural hunger and fullness signals, rather than following strict rules or restrictions.
One of the principles of intuitive eating is to REJECT THE DIET MENTALITY.
This is easier said than done.
Learning to trust your body and make choices that honor your individual needs and preferences, takes time, and practice.
Start With Hunger
Want to make this eating thing simple?
Hunger recognition is one of the first things I like to address in working with clients. Hunger seems to be a major focus when women are worried about food.
This blog post, and accompanying podcast episode, discusses the hunger scale and hunger processes as well!
If you have trouble figuring out your hunger and emotions, try my Cravings Interrupted class!
Balanced Meals and Snacks
Focus on balanced meals and snacks that provide a mix of protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
This can help to regulate our blood sugar levels, reduce cravings, and keep us feeling satisfied. Satisfaction is another key to having a positive food relationship!
Let’s Wrap Up Hunger-Directed Eating
Understanding the science behind hunger-directed eating can be a powerful tool for improving our health and wellbeing. Why? Because when we honor who we are, especially in menopause, and stop listening to other people’s diet talk, we pave the way to honoring who we are in all areas of life!
Tuning in to your body's signals and making intentional choices about your food, choices that are also flexible depending on emotions, creates a healthier relationship with food and improve our overall well being.