Why Do We Eat Even When We Are Not Hungry?
Surely you have happened to devour the first thing you saw in the refrigerator or in the pantry of your home. Maybe it also happened to you that, while you were on the street, you fell into the temptation to buy yourself a packet of biscuits, a snack or an ice cream during the summer.
But can you tell if you were really hungry in those moments?
To explain this, let’s start with an almost standard definition of “hunger”, the one that can be read in any dictionary and that is taken as a reference point:
If you go back to those moments we mentioned, perhaps you realize that you may have wanted to eat again, even if you had not finished digesting the previous meal.
You certainly haven’t noticed bowel movements or, in severe cases, a severe drop in glucose that causes fatigue and nausea.
The important thing is to realize when you are hungry and when you are not. This will make a difference and help keep temptations in check.
Now you will realize how many times you have eaten without a real appetite. And what are the reasons for this attitude? The mood and the different daily situations have a considerable weight.
Situations that make us eat even when we are not hungry
1. The stress of work or exams
These situations can cause physical manifestations, such as smoking, eating or drinking to excess.
In moments, you can lose control in several ways: the most common is unknowingly choosing unhealthy foods (fatty, salty or sweet).
Therefore, we eat out of hours and in an unhealthy way. There is also the fact that the notion of quantity is also lost when eating, something not to be underestimated.
The fact of nibbling constantly, together with the choice of unhealthy foods and an excessive amount of food, generates even more stress, anxiety or even repentance and / or frustration.
2. Concern for change
It is very common to hear of people who have not rested well due to too many thoughts and got up during the night to eat something.
Sometimes, when we eat, we want to “silence” the nervousness as if it were the rumbling of the stomach.
As we have already mentioned, we need to identify the situation we are experiencing as stressful or abnormal to know why we have this anxious hunger.
Worrying about something to happen and the event itself lead to other worries or stress, which prevents you from getting a good night’s rest or spending all day mulling over the consequences. And this situation has a certain influence even when eating.
3. Advertisements affect appetite
The world of advertising knows how to provoke certain emotions and takes the opportunity to increase sales, to make us remember the song of the commercials or repeat its slogan.
On this basis, when we see or hear an advertisement for a certain food product, we want to eat it, no matter what time of day. How many times have you seen a commercial for a drink and went to the refrigerator to get one?
What to do to be able to control these reactions?
- Count the hours that have passed without you having eaten. If it’s less than 3 hours, then try not to eat anything, for sure it’s not really hungry.
- Stop for a second, breathe deeply, try to understand if you are nervous or under stress. If so, it’s certainly not hunger, but the need to get rid of this emotional feeling.
- You are watching a movie, series or whatever is on television and seeing some food has made you hungry. Maybe you are thirsty and you can check by drinking a glass of water before drinking a soda. Try it, this way you will avoid eating when you are not really hungry.
In general, whatever the reason why you eat without being hungry, it is important to first recognize and accept it, and then understand the cause and try to deal with the situation to resolve it.
