Head Hunger versus Physical Hunger

Few people realize that there is a stark difference in the ways that different people perceive hunger. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of hunger; one of them is psychologically perceived, while the other is physical, “real” hunger. It is this first kind, the so-called “head hunger” that arises among people who have problems controlling their food intake. It is related to emotional eating and is not an actual physiological response to the body requiring more food, but instead is simply an urge to eat because of habit, or seeking comfort in the form of food. Meal replacement plans like the OPTIFAST program can help you to control your portion sizes and calorie intake so that you remain full, eat less and lose weight.

The appetite from head hunger comes from the development of a habit of turning to food in times of emotional stress. There are many causes for this: cortisol (stress related) cravings for sweet and salty foods, social eating (people seeking out social support and ending up eating out together), nervous energy that makes people “orally fidgety”, childhood habits of your parents making you feel better with food, stuffing emotions away while focusing on consuming something. For evolutionary reasons, when we were primitive humans and did not know when our next meal was (a stressful environment), eating actually did make us feel better. The remnants of these behaviors have haunted us to this day. Whatever the reasons, eating under these conditions (because it looks or tastes or feels good) means that your body is getting excess calories that it does not need.

Physical hunger, on the other hand, is a physiological sensation that often feels like a gnawing, empty craving for something substantial. This feeling is brought on by the hypothalamus organ in the brain. The hypothalamus, through hormones, stomach contraction and expansion sensors and also fatty acid receptors, signals to the rest of the body when we are truly in need of sustenance. It is very important for the patient to be able to identify and distinguish between head hunger and physical hunger in order to get on the right track towards a healthy weight.