By: Adrianna Delauder
Many of us have tried and failed countless times to adhere to a new diet plan. The feeling of restriction followed by binging occurs all too often. The promises of these fad diets seem too good to be true, and they usually are.
I propose to you a different mindset when it comes to the consumption of food. The book Mindful Eating by Jan Bays focuses on the joy of eating and the importance of being present during your meals. Outlined in this book are “The 9 types of hunger”. These hungers include eye, touch, ear, nose, mouth, stomach, cellular, mind and heart. I will be giving a brief explanation of the first four hungers along with an infographic that will hopefully help you to remember some exercises you can practice to better understand your hunger.
Eye Hunger
Eye hunger can trick the mind to thinking it is hungry; it may influence the mind to want whatever is being advertised. It can be hard to say no to a dessert cart or to candy at a movie theatre that is displayed on a large screen, even after eating a satisfying meal.
Advertisements from companies can work in the same way, alluring the eye to make the brain go to purchase the snack or drink that has been shown. There have been some studies on eye hunger and its association with portion control. A study using a large container of stale popcorn showed that participants would eat 21 times more or an extra 173 calories compared with participants who were given a medium popcorn. Another study used a “bottomless” soup bowl that would automatically fill up as the participant ate, making it seem like they had not eaten any of the soup. The participants with the bottomless bowl ate 73% more soup than did the participants with the regular bowl. It has also been shown that when given larger utensils and bowls, participants will eat much more than they should. This information may be alarming, but it is beneficial to know in regards to eye hunger.
To conquer our eye hunger, we must first become aware of it. You can fill your whole plate and satisfy eye hunger using smaller dishes and utensils. Before eating your food, take some time to admire the colors, textures, and shapes. It may also help to flip through a magazine and take note of how many advertisements make you feel hungry. When entering a restaurant, notice all the tools being used to work up your appetite, such as the menu or posters. The book offers a couple exercises to satisfy eye hunger. The first suggestion is to create one mindful meal for yourself during the week. Use your best plates, silverware, tablecloths, placemats, and maybe even a candle or some flowers. Arrange the food on your plate as if you are serving it to a guest. You can also take this practice into your snacks during the week. When having an apple make the slices very thin and arrange them in fan shape. You can also add leaves or flowers on the plates of your snacks and meals. When satisfying eye hunger, all we need to do is focus on the beautiful food in front of us.
Touch Hunger
The next type of hunger discussed in the book is “touch hunger”. In many cultures around the world, it is custom to eat with your hands. It has been described as a more intimate dining experience that connects a person to the food they are eating. Babies who are allowed to eat with their hands, learn “self-regulation”, while babies who are spoon fed often desire sweet flavors and are prone to obesity. While we tend to think of only our hands as our touch receptors, our lips and tongue are also highly sensitive to touch. This is why the mouth craves opposing textures. It is exciting for the brain to differentiate among the different consistencies in foods. Studies have also shown that touch deprivation can lead to body distortion issues.
Touch is sometimes also used for therapy, like in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital. Massage therapy helps premature infants gain weight and are able to go home faster than without it. The author also writes that massage therapy helps lower high blood pressure, improve lung function in children with asthma, increase mobility in people with Parkinson’s disease, lower blood sugar in those with diabetes, lower the level of the stress hormone cortisol, and reduce anxiety and depression. It can also act as a sleep aid for those with dementia and reduce pain from various causes.
Becoming aware of touch is simple. Close your eyes and notice all the materials touching your body now, or perhaps if your legs are crossed, feel your own skin touching. You can also walk around your house to experience all the textures with your hands, feet, or even your cheek. To utilize touch while you’re eating, try to eat a meal with your hands as previously discussed. Bays urges people to “investigate how this way of eating affects your attention to eating, the feeling of connection with your eating companions (if any), and also your enjoyment and satisfaction of the food.”
Ear Hunger
The next form of hunger described in the book is “ear hunger”. What we hear greatly influences our feelings about food and drinks. One study revealed that the way servers described the wine origin determined the customers’ dining experience. The server described the wine to either be from North Dakota or from a new winery in California. Those who were given the wine from North Dakota did not enjoy their food and ended up leaving the restaurant early. The study also concluded that playing French music influenced customers to buy more French wine; this was also the case with German music and German wine. Another study done in 2008 showed that changing the pitch of the crunch of a potato chip altered the consumers perception of the freshness of the chip. In the same study, the scientist created a bacon and egg ice cream. Participants that were given the ice cream in a room with sounds of chickens playing in the background described the ice cream as “eggy”. Another group of participants given the ice cream in a room with sounds of frying bacon described the flavor of the ice cream as “bacon-y”.
An exercise to help get in tune with ear hunger is to make and consume a meal in complete silence. Listen to every sound that happens as you fry or cut something. When you are eating you may be able to hear subtle sounds, such as crumbs falling or food moving around.
Nose Hunger
The last type of hunger is “nose hunger”. Have you ever noticed that when you get a cold, you can’t taste anything? This is due to the olfactory sensors in the nose being blocked. Our ancestors used our olfactory sensors to determine whether or not something was safe to eat. This sense is crucial when eating. Food would not be as enjoyable if we did not have our noses.
To become mindful of nose hunger, you can lift your plate to your nose and take time to smell all the flavors in your food. Stay aware of the smells while eating the food. Is the flavor more intense when you breathe in or out? When you are finished eating, take a moment to see how long the flavor lingers in your mouth.
Conclusion
The book Mindful Eating goes even deeper than these descriptions, and it talks about other hungers to become aware of. The idea of being mindful while eating is a lifestyle and not a diet. Mindful eating will reset the way most of us have been programmed to eat. Mindful eating allows individuals to listen to the natural cues that are already in our bodies. If you would like to learn more, I suggest picking up the book Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays.
Reference
Bays, J. C. (2017). Mindful eating: A guide to rediscovering a healthy and joyful relationship with food. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala.
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