I got the best question the other day: How can you tell the difference between a craving and hunger? 

Let’s start with the obvious – the definitions of each.

Craving vs. hunger

Craving: a strong desire for a certain thing.

Hunger: a physical feeling of needing food.

What gets confusing is the fact that “hunger” has also evolved to mean “craving.” She has a hunger for love. He has a hunger for fulfillment in his work.

When it comes to food, it’s easier to forget the romanticized spin on these words and just come back to their basic meanings. Cravings are desires. Hunger is a physical feeling.

Identifying a craving

So, how do we apply this in practice? Say you’re sitting at your desk working, and you catch yourself thinking about a chocolate bar. Is this hunger or a craving?

  1. Ask yourself: Am I sitting here picturing this chocolate bar? That desire behind a craving often pushes a visual into the forefront of your mind, which is separate from the experience of a physical sensation.
  2. Ask yourself: Am I obsessing over this chocolate bar? That’s an emotional response; that’s probably a craving.
  3. Also, emotional cravings tend to involve less nutritious foods.
  4. If you are obsessing over this craving, ask yourself: Why? Did you tell yourself you’re not allowed to eat this food? Are you trying to distract yourself from an emotion like stress, anxiety or sadness? If you’re still at your desk and trying to hit a deadline, that craving can easily be stress-driven. Right?

Ok, so we’ve identified the craving: a chocolate bar. What about the hunger piece? Because that’s still important; you can obviously be hungry and have a specific craving.

Identifying hunger

  1. You know hunger by that empty/growling feeling in your stomach. There’s nothing else like it. It’s a sensation you’re physically experiencing in a specific location in your body.
  2. If you’re due for a meal, say it’s getting close to lunchtime, then ask yourself: How can I honor and satisfy this hunger and this craving? If eating just a chocolate bar won’t nourish me and will only satisfy my craving, what can I add? Maybe I can eat a sandwich, which also sounds good, and top off my meal with this chocolate bar, which I’m intensely desiring. Then, notice if you feel satisfied and if the craving fades away.
  3. If you’re not due for a meal, say it’s 3pm and you recently had a lunch that made you feel comfortably full and satisfied, ask yourself: Do I need to satisfy this craving? If it’s truly emotionally driven, it can help to sit with this craving for a few minutes. Take deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Think about where this emotion is coming from. Oh, I know I’m trying to hit this deadline, but I’m stressed about finishing the work on time, so my mind is conjuring up this distracting image of a chocolate bar. See if the craving passes with a few more deep breaths and the choice to dive back into work. If it doesn’t, it’s time to consider whether you’re truly hungry.

Ultimately, you have one choice with hunger: satisfy it! And two choices with a craving: satisfy it, or let it go.

It can be trial and error, too. Maybe you’re still learning to read your physical and emotional cues (that’s ok!) and you decide you’re going to satisfy your chocolate bar craving even though you’re not convinced you’re hungry. Say you eat that sweet goodness and realize you don’t feel any better, because really what you haven’t solved is that stress around that deadline.

Notice that, and learn from that. And move on; take care of that deadline.