Is Hunger Just a Feeling?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert S on September 17, 2011 at 6:41am

Hunger is a name we use to describe a signal from our body.

I know people that feel hunger and hold it in  a positive context, such as "I'm getting lean"

Others may  feel hunger and it may mean they are feeling  lonely etc.

Our body can usually go a long time without food, in fact fasting has health benefits

Permalink Reply by Bill Kennedy on September 17, 2011 at 6:48am

Thanks, Robert.  That's exactly what I'm driving at.  Is it a signal from the body, or really a signal from the mind?

Robert S said:

Hunger is a name we use to describe a signal from our body.

I know people that feel hunger and hold it in  a positive context, such as "I'm getting lean"

Others may  feel hunger and it may mean they are feeling  lonely etc.

Our body can usually go a long time without food, in fact fasting has health benefits

Permalink Reply by Robert S on September 17, 2011 at 6:51am

well we experience a signal from the body, and create a context in the mind around it.

 

hungers means > ?

Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on September 17, 2011 at 8:23am

Or it could just be those emotive cells that line your enteric nervous system firing off! Just look down at ask yourself, "What am I really hungry for?"

Permalink Reply by Chris Witherspoon on September 17, 2011 at 3:07pm

I eat  breakfast very early in the morning and usually get mild feeling of hunger around 11:30 am.  If I am very busy I can ignore the mental signal that I am hungry but after awhile my stomach begins to growl and what I describe as contracting.  I feel hunger is both mental and physical.   My experience tells me that it starts as a mental signal and goes on to a stronger physical signal as time goes by.  I think the problem  comes in when we are dealing with other emotions and try to sooth them with food because we don't know what else to do and eating distracts us from the problem we are dealing with.  We have a hunger but it is nor for food but for a solution.  We have programmed ourselves and confused the real hunger signal with a false hunger signal.   Just my 2 cents ........................

 

Chris  

Permalink Reply by Pete & Lorraine on September 30, 2011 at 11:10am

Apparently thirst can also be mistaken for hunger so perhaps a glass of water to check. It could also be a where you would normally eat or have eaten around that time of day so your stomach or brain creates the feeling of hunger out of habit.

Permalink Reply by Marc Carlin on September 30, 2011 at 12:35pm

I always thought that hunger was a feeling that came as a result of a drop in blood sugar.  Our body's response to reserves needing to be replenished.

And I thought that we have the ability to perceive other feelings as calls for food which is where the problem of the emotional eater comes in.

Permalink Reply by Bill Kennedy on October 3, 2011 at 4:06pm

A common suggestion in weight management hypnosis is that the client will only eat when hungry.  If hunger is purely due to a drop in blood sugar, that should be an effective suggestion.  If hunger is also a learned behavior or triggered by emotion, then that suggestion might not be so effective.

Marc Carlin said:

I always thought that hunger was a feeling that came as a result of a drop in blood sugar.  Our body's response to reserves needing to be replenished.

And I thought that we have the ability to perceive other feelings as calls for food which is where the problem of the emotional eater comes in.

Permalink Reply by Pete & Lorraine on October 10, 2011 at 3:03am

If the "hunger" feeling is from an emotional basis then I would deal with said emotion to let that behaviour go. Personally I will normally only use direct suggestion after dealing with the cause of a problem, if the cause needs to looked at.

Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on October 10, 2011 at 4:50am

Hey Bill,

I believe all of our "experiences" are mind/brain based - We experience our opinions of what we are experiencing based on many inputs that are processed into our automatic reactions and experiences. 

Imagine hunger is what we say it is in the sense that hypnosis is a persuasive art.

With that in mind, we can help clients take charge of their weight by suggesting they will be able to recognize and appreciate the difference between "hunger" and their "cravings". The model is that: "Hunger pangs" are automatically triggered by the mind and brain when we require nutrition and "Cravings" are automatically triggered by learned behaviors. As soon as a client believes that the "craving signals" are triggered by and can only exist in unhealthly-emotional states associated with their addictive behaviors or withdrawal it is reasonable to believe that a post hypnotic signal will help them instantly move back into non-craving states which automatically turns of their awareness of those "cravings".

We can also reduce a client's reaction to his or her painful signals by making them aware of the difference between PAIN and Suffering

 

Michael E.