Hunger Management

Hormones, hardwiring, and set point aside, hunger isn’t completely beyond our ability to control. Clinical and health psychologist Susan Head, Ph.D, suggests several ways to stave it off when we know we’ve already eaten enough:

• Have a drink – water, coffee, tea, club soda with lime. Often what initially fells like hunger is thirst and the liquid can temporarily fill your stomach.
• Eat breakfast. Many people who skip it eat much more later
• Delay. If you are hungry even though you think you’ve eaten enough, give yourself 20 minutes to consider whether you’re feeling real hunger or boredom, stress, or unhappiness.
• If a mealtime is coming up in an hour or so, remind yourself of that. Just knowing there’s only a short wait can give you incentive to hold off a little longer.