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Key points
- It is important to understand three "types" of hunger.
- What's missing is not willpower but skillpower when it comes to eating
Perhaps you've heard this famous quote by Socrates: "You have reproved me for eating very little, but I only eat to live, whereas you live to eat." Finding moderation, especially when it comes to food, seems to be the bane of modern life.
According to the CDC fact sheet on obesity is a "serious, common, and costly chronic disease. More than 2 in 5 U.S. adults have obesity." So, in terms of percentage, that means that over 40% of Americans are dealing with obesity! (By the way, my body-mass index wouldn't exactly rate as svelte, so I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus here.)
The challenge is that everything seems to border on the extreme nowadays. From extreme sports to extreme eating contests, where are self-control and willpower to be found? This is especially true when that tray of goodies comes to your table at the restaurant.
Having worked in an eating disorder clinic and having led mindful eating workshops across the country, I know that there's one major problem with how we eat... And it has absolutely nothing to do with willpower!
Skillpower and the Three Kinds of Hunger
We try so hard to control what we eat. And yet, when we fail, who do we blame? Yes, we blame ourselves for lacking willpower. But it's not willpower, or a lack of it, that makes a much of a difference. Rather, what really matters is developing the skillpower of knowing your hunger.
The major reason why people tend to eat unhealthy quantities and unhealthy foods comes down to one thing: An inability to understand their hunger.
Getting skillful about hunger begins with the recognition that your hunger can be be many things. Firstly, your hunger can be truly physical in nature. In this case, hormones in the stomach are telling you that your body needs nourishment. Physical hunger sensations can take many forms, and it takes time to listen and get to know your body's unique signals.
Secondly, hunger can be the result of an emotional need or craving. It's no surprise the term "comfort food" is used to describe how food can make uncomfortable emotional feelings go way. Well, at least temporarily. I have worked with binge eaters, for example, who used food as a way to avoid the unhappy feelings of loneliness, boredom, frustration, stress, and so on.
Thirdly, hunger can be stimulated by an intoxicating smell, image or association that comes through your sense doors. All of those food ads, even diet ads, are meant to stimulate our senses and trigger feelings of hunger and craving.
Knowing the difference between these three types of hunger is accomplished by gaining skillpower when willpower won't do the job. Best of all, mindful eating is a non-diet approach to savoring food.
Skillpower Practice: Rating Your Hunger
My new book Simply Mindful Meal by Meal contains several practices for working with hunger and making better food choices. Best of all, mindful eating offers a non-diet approach to savoring food.
It’s important to tune into your body’s signals for what hunger really needs in the long term, rather than the more temporary craving or desire for a particular taste or feeling. It can help to get in the habit of sitting in silence for at least a minute before eating as a way to discern your hunger.
Most “accidental” or unhealthy eating happens because we aren’t aware of moderate hunger levels. Imagine hunger being on a 1-10 scale, where number one represents the absence of hunger and ten is extreme hunger. If you eat when your hunger is in the more extreme 7-10 range, you’ll be prone to making choices that are more impulsive. But if you eat when your hunger is in the moderate 4-5-6 range, you’ll likely make better choices without eating more than you need.
Rate your hunger level today as you enter your meals. Get to know what different body signals are telling you—whether it’s a pang in the gut, a bad headache, or just a subtle sense of wanting to eat. In particular, get to know what your body’s moderate hunger signals feel like when in the 4-5-6 range.
Once you’re learned to recognize the moderate hunger signals, you can enter your next meal with the question: What foods, textures, tastes and quantity will best satisfy this hunger right now? And, how much food will satisfy this hunger?
Conclusion
Above all, don't blame yourself when things don't go as planned. Mindful eating takes time. Most importantly, it is a gentle, forgiving and accepting approach to food, eating and body image. It is not a blaming and shaming one. After all, you eat many meals in a lifetime, and you'll get another chance to practice on your food journey!
