There’s more than one kind of hunger? A look into the 6 different types of hunger
The imagery that may come up for hunger can be vast depending on who you ask: the hunger for something sweet or salty, the hunger for intimacy, the hunger for knowledge, the hunger for justice. These all come down to the very human experience of desire.
For this blog, as a registered dietitian, I will be addressing the kind of hunger that can only be satiated with food. However, there’s more than one type and we’ll explore each kind.
Hunger is the body’s way of communicating a physiological, and oftentimes mental, need. Biological hunger is the most common hunger society talks about. Homeostasis is threatened, blood sugar could be tanking, and the body needs energy to continue working. Stomachs begin to growl, headaches ensue, mood takes a negative turn, and your brain is thinking, when is it time to eat and what is it going to be? These are common biological hunger cues but are certainly not the only ones. These uncomfortable cues are meant to be experienced on average every 3-5 hours. However, many factors can impact biological cues including medication side effects, illness, certain emotional states such as depression or anxiety, disordered eating, food deprivation, activity levels, menstruation, trauma, and more. Here’s a brief summary of the other kinds of hunger.
Mind Hunger: Probably one of the most underrated kinds of hunger, mind hunger is when someone gets a thought about food or is hit with a memory about food and cannot stop thinking about that food. Most people start to question the validity of this kind of hunger by bringing up the concept of willpower. I suggest getting curious about what exactly willpower is, why its brought up around a need like food, and why is it not brought up around other physiologic needs like air or using the bathroom. However, the act of thinking about food is a survival mechanism that has been passed down for generations. Imagine a time when there is limited access to food or clean water. People were then forced to problem solve how they were going to get food and clean water to survive. It became the center of most of their thoughts until it was achieved. Even though access to food may look different compared to that period, the process of mind hunger is the same.
Emotional Hunger: Unfortunately due to countless articles about how to avoid emotional hunger, there comes an underlying theme that this kind of hunger is not meant to be honored. Emotional hunger is just as valid as the others in this line-up and may be a key component for neurodivergent folks to get their food needs met. Interoception may not always be accessible or online for people. One might be better off trying to understand their emotional cues and patterns to determine if this is a sign to eat something. Hangry is usually the primary emotional and physical state people can identify as to when food could benefit the situation. Food helps everyone emotionally regulate by way of providing energy toward tolerating and going through unavoidable emotional experiences.
Sight Hunger: The kind of hunger that is experienced through your sense of sight. Food photography is a profession for a reason and sight hunger is the main one. Whether you see a commercial about the newest special at Wendy’s or your friend’s latest photo dump on social media includes a memorable meal, daily we can be subjected to many possibilities which generate sight hunger. We see something tasty then we begin to develop an appetite for it. We walk past a bakery only to realize we haven’t had fresh baked croissants in a while, maybe because we can’t make them ourselves. This hunger is very real and valid. We learn about food as babies with our eyes and hands first before we decide to bring it to our mouth. We shouldn’t avoid seeing food for fear we might eat it.
Situational Hunger: This is a type of hunger that connects with the 3 different decision-making aspects of intuitive eating: one’s intuition, rational thought, and emotions. There’s an event you are attending at which food is normally served even though the food itself is not usually what you have access to because it is situational. Maybe there’s no biological cues present, but the desire for that food increases anyway. This is situational hunger. Classic examples I and other clinicians use are weddings and birthdays: even though you might have had a 4-course meal that led to fullness, you decide to have the dessert at the end because the situation would be made more pleasant by taking part in the dessert experience.
Practical Hunger: The hunger that is of most importance when there are no other types of hunger within reach. This is a conceptual hunger that is not felt through any of the senses. When hunger cues are offline for whatever reason, practical hunger is here to remind us that because we are a living being we need and deserve to eat no matter what. When people are going through a period of loss and are grieving, their body is doing the best it can to be in homeostasis. Hunger is not nearly as prominent if at all regular. Of course, most physiological needs are not as obvious when thoughts of grief are all-consuming. Meal trains are started or people bring favorite foods to help those when grieving. The outsiders to the grief understand the grieving party’s needs need to get met somehow. Practical hunger lets us know, “hey, it’s been a while since we’ve had nourishment and even though food might not sound good at all and there’s no cue in sight, food is needed.” The other way practical hunger can be applied is when we are being pro-active to a situation where food may not be accessible. You have a jam-packed schedule where you do not have enough time to stop and get something to eat the next day or your usual lunch time requires undivided attention. You decide to make a lunch that you can eat on-the-go. You may not eat at your usual lunch time, but you decide to eat earlier rather than risk being way past hungry into hangry or famished territory. Considering and acting on practical hunger is one of the ultimate ways to show up for yourself.
Is there one type that stands out the most to you? Consider choosing one of the hungers and think back to how it has shown up in your life, how it has been talked about, and if you continue to honor it to this day.
