Will you always eat if you feel hungry ,what else can you do instead?
By pandaeyes
@pandaeyes (2065)
February 22, 2010 5:36am CST
Last night it was just about time to go to bed and my tum was rumbling away.
My husband said 'have some toast then' and he made some for us but I didn't really want to eat just before bed, for one thing you can feel it in your tum all night but also because I think sometimes it is not really a feeling of hunger at all but sometimes just imaginary or being able to feel digestion going on in there.
Often if I wait a little while, I forget about it and find I didn't really feel hungry after all, it was in my mind.
Sometimes a drink of water is enough to take away the feeling.
Do you always eat when you are hungry or do you find like I do that it is just a momentary feeling and soon gone?
6 people like this
35 responses
@i_am_moosie (62)
•
22 Feb 10
When it's late at night, I some times have a little yoghurt - because it's that bit thincker than milk or water, it makes your stomach feel full for longer.
4 people like this
@i_am_moosie (62)
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22 Feb 10
You can also add a few rolled oats to it. If you do that the day before you want to eat it, they soak into the yoghurt and make it even more filling for just a little bit.
4 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
•
22 Feb 10
sounds tasty. Jam would go well with it I think too.
3 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
I like yogurt. We don't buy it very often. Sometimes I buy a small plain pot and then use it to make some from a liter of milk but we tend to eat that as dessert or at breakfast.
3 people like this
@dorothy09 (1520)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
hi pandaeyes, when I feel hungry I drink a lot of water, sometimes hungry is psychological you just crave for something and you assumed you were hungry.
When I am also hugry and it evening I ate apple or just brush my teeth LOL..
but really it helps, when I want to have a diet every after meal I brush my teeth with much toothpaste I make sure its minty.. This is to take away my cravings for sweet after meal..
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
I shall have to try that ,I wonder if it is having a flavour in your mouth that helps?
Minty toothpaste is a bit like eating mints because the taste is there a long time after.
3 people like this
@dorothy09 (1520)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
hi there pandaeyes you try it the taste of mint helps, it works for me.
Hunger sometimes is cravy and is psychological. just drink water.
=d09:)
4 people like this
@recycledgoth (9894)
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22 Feb 10
I find myself getting a little bit hungry after around 10.30 pm and I used to ignore the feeling. I found, however, that I would wake in the middle of the night and raid the fridge :-D Now if I feel a bit hungry, I have a small snack.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
My father in law would get up in the middle of the night and eat a bowl of cornflakes.
I think they are quite a light meal but I don't like them unless they have sugar on and that wouldn't be good to eat in the night.
3 people like this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
22 Feb 10
I try a couple of things like directing my attention to something else for a little while. The other day I actually found that a piece of gum helped. Mints help sometimes too.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
yes gum is good. Once on a very long coach trip I took just gum and dried pineapple and water because I didn't want to use the toilets on the coach (not pleasant).
3 people like this
@mkrishna22 (465)
• India
22 Feb 10
i think if there is a feeling of hunger, your body really wants something to be fed into it. i would definitely go ahead and eat something whenever i feel hungry. how much i eat depends on the time of the day. this is just my opinion.
@pandaeyes (2065)
•
22 Feb 10
You just go with the flow .
I think I would probably put on weight like that.
If my husband is home late, he will have his meal when he gets in and mine has already been eaten hours before.
Other peoples dinner always smells very yummy and that doesn't help.
I have had mine but my senses can tell there is food and it smells nice.
LOL
3 people like this
@emerillus (467)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
No, I don't always eat when I'm hungry. I just drink water or eat a piece of candy to take away the feeling. Just before bedtime, when I'm hungry, I go to sleep and try to stay asleep till morning.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
Eating a piece of candy is too tempting,if I had some it would be devoured.
I only buy chocolate on Saturday and eat it after lunch and then no more till Saturday again because chocolate is my weakness.
Water is a good idea.
3 people like this
@donnakristel (1704)
• Philippines
23 Feb 10
of course! food fills our stomach so that we will not feel hungry. but sometimes, because of lack of time or budget
, i just drink hot chocolate or drink hot water. yes, a drink of water will help but after a while your stomach will call you.
, i just drink hot chocolate or drink hot water. yes, a drink of water will help but after a while your stomach will call you.2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
mm hot chocolate is nice before bed. It can help me get off to sleep. Don't know if it is the warmth or the milk in it.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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22 Feb 10
You are lucky. May you have a slow metabolism and it takes a long time to digest your breakfast.
I find I can forget to eat completely if I am very absorbed in a task but otherwise it is about 4 hours from the last meal and I know it is time for the next one.
3 people like this
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
hello,
If it is in a day and it's really time for eating,i would surely eat or had something to take in.
But,when it is already late at night,i don't.
I only drink water when i feels i am hungry.
Sometimes we need to discipline ourselves,and you are right,it could only be imaginary and just a momentarily feeling of hunger.
Eating at the right time is fine...but eating everytime we feels hungry is not good already...that's already gluttony and not good for our health too.
@pandaeyes (2065)
•
23 Feb 10
Drinking in between meals is much better than snacking.
If we do exercise,we have a banana and a drink afterwards because it helps to balance your blood sugars.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 Feb 10
I don't consider myself to be hungry everytime that my stomach is grumbling. I can actually feel a difference when I am truly hungry. When I don't feel like I am truly hungry I can either drink a glass of water or suck on a piece of hard candy and it will take the feeling of hunger away. So, in short the answer to your question is that I don't always have something to eat when my stomach starts talking to me.
2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
•
24 Feb 10
I think we all follow our internal clocks up to a point.
I can say it isn't lunch time yet or even, I ate my last meal of the day already but just sometimes even my own opinion isn't enough to quiet the idea that it would be nice to go and have a snack.
We don't keep much in the way of snack foods in the house. We never have potato chips or soda ,biscuits or sweets here because they would be eaten in moments of weakness.
Hubby has a weakness for sweets and often has a packet of fruit gums but his teeth suffer if he isn't very careful about cleaning right afterwards.
@umabharti (3972)
• India
23 Feb 10
Hi,yes it happens i feel hungry early morning when i get up or sometimes when going to bed.So if hot milk is there then i would like to have it.something liquid i possible have.
2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
I always am hungry first thing in the morning.
then I have to eat or be thinking all morning about eating.
@RobtheRock (2433)
• United States
22 Feb 10
Most of the time I eat when I'm hungry. I tend to gorge and am trying to learn how to not eat so much because I am slightly overweight. And many of my relatives have sugar diebetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other things so I should really start to change. But it's hard. And believe it or not, I can go a whole day without eating. But the bad part is that sometimes I eat when I'm no longer hungry, when I'm full and that's bad.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
Apparently our bodies go into starvation mode if we miss meals.
The body is made to react as though the next meal had better be big because who knows when there will be a follow up.
I think that is logical so I always do eat 3 times a day.
I try hard not to snack too as it can become a habit.
@TAZNEM (656)
• Philippines
22 Feb 10
well it seems that its not hunger at all if its just rumbling. and you're right its just the sound of digestion. sometimes you just feel like you need to eat but you're not really hungry. because if its hunger its painful. in our country many people are hungry and it becomes a normal sight everyday that's why i know its not hunger you're experiencing. but if you feel another one like that just drink a cup of hot beverage it will go away in no time=)
3 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
It definitely isn't painful.
I don't think many people in the western world have really experienced painful hunger.
Some will of course as their are poor people everywhere but when we say we are starving, we usually mean it in fun because to be starving really would be painful.
@freeboy90 (456)
• Italy
22 Feb 10
It happens to me as well sometimes and like you said it might just be digestion, I sometimes eat something other times I just don't I usually go do something else, if it comes back again and again then it means I really need to eat and I usually find something to eat.
3 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
if it went on along time I guess I would have to eat something or continually be thinking about it too.
@reneezoso (392)
• India
23 Feb 10
well i do eat when im hungry....
but its a tendency .. to some people to smoke ..when they feel hungry and nuthin to eat ...well not with me...
i just love to eat... :)
2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
That's true, there was a man in my work who smoked and ate biscuits, he never cooked anything or ate anything else.
He was quite unhealthy though and was in hospital with an ulcer for a while.
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
23 Feb 10
For me I'm very strict about the time to eat I eat 3times a day breakfast,lunch,supper by doing that regularly I feel good it is true what my grandparents talk you must eat time strict so that when you got older you don't have many sick.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
Sounds like they are very wise.
I think it is always worth listening to health advice from healthy elderly people because they are the living proof that their ideas work.
1 person likes this
@monkeylong (3139)
• Guangzhou, China
23 Feb 10
As far as I am concenred, I think I will just eat the food which can provides me with energy. When the time I am so hungry, I will think about nothing ,just wondering where can get the most food for me.I think I can nothing instead of hungry,except for eating some delicious food.
2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
Same here really but I do have to think is it hunger or me being just a bit greedy?
Right now it is nearly lunch time here and I am definitely hungry but in the evening ,sometimes it isn't hunger but just boredom or adverts on TV that make me think about food.
@bulastika (5966)
• Philippines
23 Feb 10
Its means you have irregular eating habit.
Try to eat regularly in that way you can manage your hunger.
Because you stomach know when you will eat.
Before I have same feeling but I try to eat regularly and on time.
Now I don't have problem with my diet or feeling hungry all the time.
because my stomach know that when it time to eat their is food.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
For me that works some days and not others.
I think i has to do with the amount of activity I undertake.
Some days we will run in the evenings for fitness and some days I will do some rope skipping.
The different tasks take different amounts of energy so one day I will be hungrier than another and sometimes it turns out to be not hunger at all.
@pandaeyes (2065)
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23 Feb 10
Milk is a good substitute especially at night.
Mine would have to be warm but not hot enough to have skin on it.
@magicwin (15)
• Singapore
23 Feb 10
When i feel hungry at night i would try to not think about it and the feeling will go away. The more you think about it the more you will feel hungry. Instead you can think some complicated problems which will aid you in forgetting about the hunger and sleeping too because when the lights are offed and it is quiet in the night you will tend to be more sleepy when you think about problems.
2 people like this
@pandaeyes (2065)
•
23 Feb 10
Yes taking your mind off it,that's a good idea.
I sometimes read before bed but mostly i will do a sudoku puzzle and I don't think of food then you are right.
It is often before we go to get ready for bed that hunger feels like it is there.
