Are You Hungry or Just Bored?

Do you catch yourself munching on food when you aren't hungry and feel guilty about it?

Wondering if there is a better way to judge your hunger signals so you can stick to your weight loss goals?

I've got you covered.

The biggest thing that you can do to improve your health and body weight is to become more mindful. Start by examining your food and emotion link.

Are you under the spell of emotional eating?

For some of you eating at random, or eating based on your emotional state could be a habit. This type of eating is emotional eating.

To know your hunger signals and differentiate it from emotional eating, you need to know if:

• You're eating based on your emotional needs and not physical needs
• If you eat when you are under stress, anxiety or depressed or feel bored.

Emotions can influence what, when, and how much we eat. If you have recently eaten and find yourself craving food again, do a quick emotional check.

How to determine your hunger signals?

Hunger builds at a slow pace, usually several hours after you have eaten. If you have recently eaten and find yourself craving food again, it may not be true hunger.

Genuine hunger comes with emptiness in stomach, rumbling stomach and sometimes accompanied by fatigue. Fatigue is due to drop in blood sugar levels.

Before you eat, ask yourself these –

• Did I just eat an hour or two ago?
• Am I eating in response to an emotion?

Practicing mindfulness in eating, helps you watch what you eat, how you eat and when you eat. This is crucial for anyone that wants to lose weight or keep up with eating healthy habits.

4 Tips for Mindful Eating

1. Keep a Food Journal

This is the top recommendation for anyone that wants to lose weight.

Track all you eat, when you eat AND what triggered you to eat. 

Write down every detail, if it's the candy bowl at your work place, aroma of food or a TV ad, whatever the trigger note them. It helps you keep tabs on your eating pattern and correct.

You'll be amazed at how much this simple habit will enlighten you when you read it at the end of the day!

2. Know Your Options

Remember that food will not make your emotions go away (it won’t fix anything).

There are healthier things you can do to help like take a walk, read a book, call a friend or volunteer for a cause you are passionate about.

3. Keep it Small & Frequent

My recommendation is to eat small, frequent meals to keep your hunger in check.

Eat six meals a day that includes three meals and three snacks. This is a sure and best way to help prevent emotional eating.

4. Chew Your Food

Chewing your food slow helps your digestive system work well. Chewing slows eating improves the flow of digestive juices in your saliva and stomach.

These stimuli are important to send the right signals to your brain. This helps it sense the feeling of fullness and satisfaction from a meal.

The result? You'll feel satiated for longer and won't reach for snacks.

Yours in health and happiness,

Danette

P.S. Please share this with your friends and I welcome your comments below. Do you catch yourself eating because you're bored or stressed?