How Hungry Are You?
When we get hungry we eat. But we often also have a habit of eating when we’re not hungry too.
A survey carried out in 2004 by the Priory Group found that 43% of adults eat to change a negative mood. 13% of adults were found to have eaten because they were angry after an argument with someone close, and 27% of women were found to have eaten because they were stressed.
Using food for comfort, in certain situations, is often where many problems start. Perhaps you had an argument with someone. Maybe you’re bored at home with nothing to do except open the fridge.
Or perhaps you’re in the middle of writing a really stressful report at work and going to the vending machine is a welcome diversion.
Hunger is not a factor in any of the above situations. Keeping a food diary which also includes the details of the situation at the time of eating will help you to identify what the real factors are!
What triggers your eating?
Once we’re aware of our own personal triggers for eating we can then start thinking about ‘non food ways’ to deal with stress and negative emotions. Ideas might include booking yourself on a course in stress management, starting a new job search or taking up Sudoku!
Each time you go to eat something, get into the habit of asking yourself ’am I really hungry?’ Think about your response on a scale of 1 (not hungry) to 10 (starving hungry). You’ll be amazed how often you eat when you are scoring only 2 or 3.
Whenever you give yourself a low hunger score, make a note of what’s going on around you, your thoughts and feelings at the time – committing this to paper helps bring the real factors for eating to the front your consciousness.
Although we shouldn’t eat when we’re not hungry, we shouldn’t let our hunger levels get to a 9 or 10 either. By leaving long periods between meals and getting ravenously hungry, we’re likely to end up overeating.
GetFit Nutrition’s unique ‘Fridge Frame’ magnet will help you get on the right track to ‘hunger only’ eating. On each side of the magnet there are two colour coded scales (one each for how stressed or hungry you are).
It’s a great way to identify when you’re heading for the fridge or cupboard just out of habit or to ‘comfort eat’. You’ll receive one (with your LEAN Pack), when you become a member of GetFit Nutrition.