Image Credit: Viktor Hanacek
Last night I got home from work and was hungry, like one might be around dinner time. I quickly notice the bag of marshmallows were open on the counter, since my wife made the kids hot chocolate. Now, I love marshmallows and I decided to have a few and ONLY A FEW. Unfortunately, like the Lays Potato Chips commercial from the 90s, I couldn’t eat just one. By the end of the night, I had at least a third of the bag, not including the ones I put in my massive cup of hot chocolate. The funny thing is, as I’m doing this, I thinking about the article I wrote two weeks ago about surviving the holidays. Epic Fail!
Sure I was hungry and sure I was excited for dinner. (We were having chili and I couldn’t wait) but it wasn’t the reason I was eating. I was eating because I could, it was convenient, and frankly I had zero fucks left to give at this point. I was eating because I was emotionally hungry not just physically hungry. I didn’t pass The Broccoli Test (TBT).
“What the hell is The Broccoli Test, Joe? Sounds dumb and gross.” On the contrary, I find it to be a brilliant concept I picked up from Adam Gilbert founder of MyBodyTutor.com. In this article, he states there are two types of hunger: Physical hunger and Emotional hunger. Physical hunger, not surprisingly, happens when you’re ACTUALLY hungry. You haven’t eaten in a while and it is time for you next meal. Emotional hunger happens in just about every other instance. It’s those times when you “feel” hungry but you don’t quite know what you want or when you’re craving something specific. Eventually, you eat whatever you can find.
“Sounds exciting, Joe, but how do I know the difference?” This is where The Broccoli Test comes into the mix. If you’re hungry enough to eat broccoli, then CONGRATULATIONS you are physically hungry. If you wouldn’t, then you are emotionally hungry. “But I HATE broccoli!” Then pick a vegetable you will eat and use it as a gauge. There you have it. Simple right?
Okay, we figured out when we are emotionally eating, now what? Next is to figure out why. I’ve found there are a couple of common reasons people are emotionally hungry. For some it’s boredom. They are watching TV or messing around on their phones and they “need” a snack. They grab the bag of chips and, without thinking much about it, go through half the bag, maybe more. Then there’s the anxious/depression eating. They are stressed and are looking to fill a void with food. We’ve all seen that scene on TV or in the movies where there’s a breakup and one of the individuals eats an entire half gallon of ice cream. Maybe it’s happened to us? I’m sure I’ve been through a similar experience.
When it comes down to it, there are any number of reasons we are emotionally hungry. The point is to figure out why we are and deal with it productively before it gets out of hand. Start journaling, call a friend, clean your room, start a blog or some other creative endeavor if you’re bored. Find your thing and go to town.
One trick I’ve started using to help prevent my hunger throughout the day is eating more. This may sound counter intuitive but having larger, healthier meals can prevent hunger until the next meal. I’m not talking about overeating but eating until we are full. I find when I undereat at a meal because I’m busy or trying to drop a few pounds I’m hungry again faster. Then I’m trying to stuff anything and everything into my face to get me to the next meal. This, clearly, doesn’t help me at all and only makes me feel like shit.
Now that we know the difference between physical and emotional hunger, we’re better equipped to make better eating decisions. So, next time hunger strikes we can take the test to see where we land.
