I'm Monica Reinagle and you're listening to the Nutrition Diva

podcast. Thank you for tuning in. How hungry are you right now? Were you already thinking about it

before I asked you? Well now that I mention it, are you hungrier than you were a

minute ago? Have you ever felt hungry just a couple of hours after eating a good sized

meal and wondered how you could possibly be hungry again so soon? Or maybe you've gone longer

than usual without eating and noticed a mysterious absence of hunger.

Hunger feels a little bit different to everyone and the same person can experience hunger

in lots of different ways at different times.

Laurel recently wrote to me about this.

She said, sometimes my stomach will growl,

but I don't actually feel hungry.

Other times I'll get that weak, shaky, low blood sugar feeling without ever feeling any stomach pangs.

And then of course there's the classic empty stomach feeling and almost but not quite pain. But sometimes I just have an overwhelming desire to eat without

any bodily sensations. Is there any research she wants to know on what these different types of hunger mean.

You know, hunger is a very interesting thing.

It's equal parts biological instinct and learned response.

It can show up as a variety of physical sensations,

but hunger also has psychological and even emotional dimensions.

And these are particularly susceptible to manipulation and cultural influence.

For example, not that long ago, most people used to regularly go four or five or even six hours between meals without

thinking twice about it. It's not that they never felt any sensation of hunger during those hours, it's just that those sensations weren't

perceived as an emergency.

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