Our desire to eat is driven not only by physiological signals that tell us we need to eat or sustain our energy intake but a whole host of factors, including social and cultural influences. It is a complex area with no simple explanation why everyone eats the food they do.
Our diet choices are driven by our surroundings and our situations. For example, if a delicious cake is brought in by your coworker to celebrate someone’s birthday, you may simply eat it because it’s available and everyone else is having it too.
By understanding what your individual drivers or appetite and food choices are you can learn to respond differently to them.
Some questions to bring your closer to understanding your appetite:
✅ What time is it?
✅ How long ago did you last eat?
✅ How hungry do you feel?
✅ How tired do you feel right now?
✅ How stressed or anxious do you feel right now?
✅ What food or drink would you most like to consume right now?
👉 The longer we go without eating the more a chemical in our brain signaling hunger goes up (ghrelin). If too much time elapses between meals ghrelin gets so high that makes it very difficult for us to stop eating once start. By eating regularly, we can keep ghrelin within normal levels, thereby preventing you from feeling overly hungry, over-eating and then feeling overly full.
