When many people first hear of Intuitive Eating, they tend to think it is simply about eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. While this is certainly an important part of being an intuitive eater, eating intuitively goes well beyond responding to our physiological hunger/fullness cues. In this post we will explore some of the other kinds of “hungers.”

This concept of “types of hungers” is introduced in the Intuitive Eating book and I will elaborate and expand a bit more in terms of how I tend to think about it. Of course, generally when we think of feeling hungry we are talking about a physiological drive to eat. Everyone experiences physiological hunger in slightly different ways, often some combination of a grumbling stomach, lightheadedness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, etc. For the purposes of this post, we will explore hunger as a concept of various drives/reasons to eat including and beyond just physical hunger.

Let’s explore some of the different types of hunger!

Physical Hunger:

As mentioned above, physical hunger is the symptoms we experience as our bodies’ physiological drive to eat. As we all know from experience, this can range in intensity, frequency, and sensation. Most of us fall into a general pattern of eating roughly every 2-4 hours as guided by physical hunger cues. Please note that this is highly individualistic and can even vary day by day for each person! Eating regularly helps with warding off the unpleasant symptoms that happen when we go way too long without eating, helps avoid the cycle of restriction/overeating, keeps our bodily functions humming along properly, and helps us have the concentration, energy, and stamina to focus on and engage in our work/relationships/responsibilities throughout the day. One important side note is that in recovery from an eating disorder, physical hunger cues are often silenced and it takes sustained regular eating (despite the lack of physical hunger cues) over a long period of time for physical hunger cues to return normally.

Taste Hunger:

Taste hunger is when you are craving something specific. It is eating simply because a food sounds good! Often eating is most pleasurable when we are physically hungry and eating something that satisfies our “taste hunger.” Sure, almost anything can do the trick if we are physically hungry, but how much more enjoyable to eat something that satisfies our tastebuds and cravings as well! What’s more, our bodies are incredibly wise with the “information” they give us when we are craving certain foods. Oftentimes a craving/experience of a certain taste hunger is an indicator of what our bodies need. For example, this could be a craving for red meat indicating a need for more iron, or a craving for a carbohydrate-rich snack when we are feeling lightheaded and our brain is needing glucose ASAP! (Glucose = brain’s preferred/primary fuel source). Eating intuitively involves learning to trust our bodies and to not judge our food choices/cravings as morally good/bad. When we eat from a place of nurturance and trust, regularly responding to all the types of hunger, nutrition AND satisfaction tend to fall into place!

Anticipatory/Practical Hunger:

Practical hunger is when we are not necessarily feeling physically hungry but we are anticipating that if we didn’t eat something now, we would be hungry later and not have the time to eat and/or access to food. Examples of honoring anticipatory/practical hunger include: having a meal at the airport before a long plane ride (even when not physically hungry), eating more than you usually do at breakfast before your 4-hour chemistry lab, or having a nighttime snack because you usually wake up hungry if you don’t eat something before bed. Sometimes engaging with practical hunger can (in the moment) feel like a nuisance or unnecessary, but responding to our anticipatory hunger needs is an important part of caring for ourselves and our physical needs!

Fun (Social) Hunger:

Fun hunger is when we eat something out of joy, celebration, fun, and pure pleasure! Oftentimes we are not physically hungry when we eat for this purpose (although that is not always the case, of course). Fun hunger could be enjoying a slice of birthday cake (even if you are already full from dinner), going out to ice cream mid-day with friends, or enjoying some nightly (dare I say, *everyday*) chocolate like I often do! Often in recovery from an eating disorder/any degree of disordered eating this is the kind of hunger that brings on the most anxiety. It can feel so extra, unnecessary, superfluous. That is where (in my opinion) it is helpful (and HEALTHY) to think of health in a much broader way. Whole-person health, I believe, encompasses so many facets – not only nutrition and physical health, but also mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health. Pursuing “fun hunger experiences” is a way we can engage in relationship with others, practice flexibility and spontaneity, and experience JOY in our everyday eating experiences.

Emotional Hunger:

The last form of hunger I will discuss is emotional hunger. Emotional eating certainly tends to get a bad rap these days and I can understand why. While I don’t think it is healthy to always/most of the time be going to food as a way to distract yourself from your emotions, I do think that at times and with mindfulness eating emotionally can be a healthy source of comfort. I think it is perfectly normal and healthy from time to time to want to veg out on the couch with a bowl of popcorn or to enjoy your mom’s comforting pot roast on a rainy or sad day. What’s more, who says emotional hunger has to be associated with more difficult emotions? Eating for emotional hunger could be grabbing an ice cream cone on the way home from work to celebrate the joy and relief of completing a big project or enjoying a glass of wine or two on a peaceful summer evening!

I hope this post inspires you to grow in listening to not only your body’s physical hunger cues, but also in seeking out food for the joy, sensation, connection, and pleasure that it can bring. We are more than just physical beings, we are human beings with souls, mental states, and emotions! Enjoying food beyond just pure physical hunger is one way we can tap into all the various aspects of who we are.