That's a lot of different ways you can experience hunger!
What makes you experience hunger isn't cut and dry. Hunger is not just your tummy grumbling when it is running empty. True, an empty stomach can lead to feeling hungry; but for many people (myself included), we can still experience hunger despite having just ate a large meal.
Hunger is influenced by the physiological need to eat as well as the biological necessity to eat nutrients (e.g. protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals). However, hunger is also impacted by your senses, emotions, and thoughts even when your physiological and biological needs are being met.
In Jan Chozen-Bays' Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food she discusses 9 kinds of hunger and helpful ideas on satisfying those types of hunger that doesn't necessarily end with eating.
Here is a quick review of the 9 kinds of hunger:
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1. Stomach hunger – when you are physically hunger.
- The stomach grumbles and you know it is empty.
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2. Cellular hunger – when your cells crave and require certain nutrients.
- Our bodies are made up of teeny tiny cells. Those cells require certain nutrients to survive and keep our bodies alive. Back in the day, sailors died of scurvy (a disease related to a lack of Vitamin C) when they were out of sea and those foods rich in Vitamin C were not available. Cells hunger for adequate nutrients to survive.
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3. Eye hunger – when you see something tasty.
- You just finished a big meal but the dessert table just got put out and suddenly you're hungry. Even looking at pictures of food can trigger hunger.
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4. Nose hunger – when you smell something delicious.
- Ever gone by a cinnamon bun store and noticed feeling hungry all of sudden? One waft of that delicious aroma can be enough to trigger hunger, again, even if you just ate.
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5. Mouth hunger – when your mouth starts to salivate for food.
- Mouth hunger enjoys the tastes and sensations of foods. People vary on mouth hunger. For example, some people like the taste of cilantro, whereas other people find it tastes like soap. Another example is chocolate…I know…who doesn’t like chocolate? But some people do not like the taste. They describe it as “chalky” and unappealing.
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6. Touch hunger – when you experience the sensations of contacting food.
- Children love touching their food. It can feel good! This can apply to adults too! Notice any hunger arise while kneading bread?
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7. Ear hunger – when you hear something sizzling and want to eat whatever is cooking.
- I call this the “bacon effect”. Sizzling bacon makes me hungry! The sounds of food are appealing (popcorn popping, stir fry frying, chop chop chopping).
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8. Mind hunger – when you think about food.
- Mind hunger is your general beliefs about food that are typically influenced by what you see and hear about food. This type of hunger develops rules about food (e.g. I should eat this, I shouldn’t eat that).
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9. Heart hunger – when you eat to soothe emotions.
- When we are heart hungry we might be soothing a broken heart (e.g. icecream after a break-up) or connecting with loved ones (e.g. eating a big turkey dinner at Thanksgiving). There is an emotional drive to eat. I am not going to go into too much detail here. This is a huge topic! I am going to save this one for another day, another post.
- But I will say heart hunger is the dearest to me as it relates to stress eating. There are ways to fill up you heart without filling up your stomach. And even if you are satisfying your heart hunger with food, there are ways of eating, via mindful eating, that helps us stay connected and fulfilled.
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For a more in-depth account on these types of hunger, check out Jan's book.
