Food is one of the biggest pleasures that humans have in this world. However it is also the mort over indulgent pleasure of man. Men like to indulge themselves in food. Eating most of the times is an emotional factor than a need of the body. It is true that there is no other greater comforter than food. Food can satisfy the soul beyond anything else. No matter what your problems are, it is very difficult to stay worried on full satisfied stomach. In fact it is a well known fact that people who are hungry are irritable and more violent. That is why perhaps in the ancient roman army, the soldiers were given bad food before going to war so that they would fight more violently. Food is the ultimate comforter for man. But to over indulge in food is defiantly unhealthy. Gluttony is one of the biggest sins of mankind. People who indulge in food often end up in unhealthy eating habits. This is the cause of several health problems the most common ones being obesity. Obesity leads to further complications in the body which leads to further problems. As such eating healthily and in limits is always advised.
But here lies the biggest question of them all. Are you really hungry or is it just a caving of the mind? Hunger can be of two types. One of the minds and one of the bodies. It is important to understand the difference between the two types of hungers as emotional hunger mostly leads you to over eating. If you are on a diet plan then emotional hunger is your biggest enemy. But then all hunger is not emotional. You should not look to fight all hunger patterns as emotional and then not eat at all. To know what is hunger and what are cravings is important. The key to differentiating between the two is to trust yourself on weather what you are craving for is hunger or is it just another urge from the mind. Giving into too much of the cravings can lead to unhealthy eating and subsequently extra weight gain. You should understand what healthy eating is. Healthy eating is to eat till your hunger is satisfied. It does not mean that you gobble up every food you see around you. To eat healthily you should be able to differentiate between the cravings to eat unhealthy food and eating nutritious food.
To eat food is to bring joy to yourself. But to eat only for your joy is dangerous. It is in fact like an addiction that can be dangerous. To over eat like any other addiction can have many side effects. Obesity is the most common effect of over eating. There are countless problems that are associated with obesity. They include many problems of the heart that are life threatening. These problems can cause a person to lose his life also. To truly enjoy your food does not mean you gobbling down tons of chips. To enjoy food is to eat in moderate levels while being satisfied with the portion of food that you have eaten. This will not only help you calm your urges but also keep your body in a healthy shape. There are many techniques that you can use to distinguish for yourself between the cravings and the urges in your body. With the help of these techniques you can eat only when it is really needed by you and you can also eat to the required portions that are necessary. This will help you to keep in tune with your diet routine plans and not make your meal nutritional at the same time.
When you are physically hungry, you will experience a bodily craving for food. This would mean that you are really hungry. This is common if you have not eaten for long periods of time. This craving will not go away no matter how long you wait. In fact, if you keep waiting this craving will increase more and more. It is best advised not to ignore this craving of the body and eat something to satisfy this craving as this is a call from the body for nourishment. If you do not periodically nourish your body then your body will break down. Also this type of craving will not be satisfied unless and until you eat the food that you are craving for in the amount that is required for your body. This is also the limit of your hunger. When you have eaten enough to satisfy your hunger then your body will stop having these cravings. You body’s cravings should give you confidence enough to satisfy your body’s hunger. These signals originate from your stomach and then go to your brain indicating that the body now requires nourishment. These signals can be pangs, growls, a hollow feeling etc.
An emotional craving for food is quite different from the physical craving. It is important to identify the emotional cravings for food so that you can avoid these cravings. These cravings only lead to you over eating and subsequently gaining weight. You are not physiologically hungry with these types of cravings. It will soon go away if you wait it out. It does not intensify. All that is required is that you distract your mind. These cravings are most common between meals. If you don’t feed these cravings the feelings won’t intensify, only your emotion will. You can take care of these intense feelings by eating something else in the place of what you are craving for. Also you can distract your mind by doing something else rather than concentrating on food. This will stop these cravings. To identify the emotional cravings and taking care of them will stop you from over eating or eating at the wrong times. This will help you to keep your habits in check and eat healthily. You can try many ways to distract yourself by reading a book or watching TV or taking a walk.
