Mindful Eating With The 9 Hungers
Hola Familia,
Question: How good are you at listening to your body and what it is truly hungry for? I don’t mean a donut vs potato chips. What does your body want and what part of your body is hungry? This may sound strange to think of, but hear me out. The act of hunger awareness is the bases for the concept of mindful eat.
Mindful eating is an experience that engages all parts of us, our body, our hearts, and our mind, in choosing, preparing, and eating food. Mindful eating involves paying attention to all the senses.
The 9 hungers are one way to practice mindful eating and have helped me know how hungry I truly am, and what exactly I’m hungry for.
Hunger is experienced as sensations, thoughts & emotions. Next time you shop, prepare, or eat your food, start by asking yourself to rate each type of hunger on a scale from 1 - 10. This type of mindful eating can help you better understand your hunger and what your body is truly asking for, so that you can satisfy all the parts of us that are hungry, appropriately.
For example, if you’re hungry for a donut. Practicing mindful eating with the 9 hungers would look like this:
1) Place your donut on a plate and comfortably sit with the donut in front of you.
2) Don’t begin to eat until you asked yourself to rate your hunger for all 9 hunger types.
3) Take a deep breath and allow yourself to listen with no judgement.
4) Then begin to ask yourself on a scale from 1-10,
Eye Hunger- How hungry are my eyes for this food?
Touch Hunger- How hungry are you to feel this food in your hands or in your mouth?
Ear Hunger- How hungry are your ears when you hear this food being cooked or eaten?
Nose Hunger- How hungry is your nose for this food?
Mouth Hunger- How hungry is your mouth and taste buds for this food?
Stomach Hunger- How hungry is your stomach for this food?
Cellular Hunger- How hungry are your cells for this food?
Mind Hunger- How hungry is your mind for this food? Is your mind telling you, you should or should not eat this food?
Heart Hunger- How hungry is your heart for this food?
Many times, you will realize that you’re not as hungry as you thought. This has helped me know when to stop eating before I stuff myself past my limit. Or, sometimes I realize I’m not hungry for this food at all, and then reach for something that will truly satisfy me, rather than just mindlessly.
It’s very easy to misunderstand our “hunger” ques for food. Food can easily trigger a dopamine shot, the feel-good hormone. But, the hunger, or the source that your body wanted that dopamine shot from, is not food but something else. Maybe it was art, or beauty from a nature walk (eye hunger). Maybe what you’re really craving is a change of scenery. Maybe your craving those potato chips because you want to hear that crunch (ear hunger). But, what if what you truly crave is a sound? Perhaps you haven’t spent time just listening, to music, or the sounds of your surroundings. Our bodies, our senses, all crave attention. How often do you satisfy them? How often are you aware of them? How often do you mistake food hunger for sensation hunger?
Try the 9 Hunger exercise before every meal to help you better understand your hunger. What comes up for you? Comment below!
To learn more about Mindful Eating I recommend the book “Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food: by Jan Chozen Bays
And follow along as we go deeper into the meaning behind each of the 9 hungers.
Shine Brightly,
Deslie
