Mãe Nuria
- Jun 5, 2020
- 2 min read

🌿 THE HUNGER WORKSHEET 🌿

Updated: Jun 7, 2020

Hangry. Is hunger an emotion?

According to a recent study performed by Jennifer MacCormack, MA, a doctoral student in the department of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, hunger alone is insufficient for feeling hangry.

"When someone is hungry, there are two key things that determine if that hunger will contribute to negative emotions or not: context and self-awareness"

Many of our clients come to us because they've never had a nutrition program coupled with behavior change and education to support their goals. They crave flexibility, balance, sustainability, and support.

Some of them have lost touch with their "hunger cues", while others feel angry when they are told to "eat intuitively!" or feel discouraged when they experience a "mysterious hunger" after having a meal - even though it was well-balanced and nutritious.

They ask themselves: what's wrong with ME?

Sounds familiar? You are not alone, or especial (sorry!)

Food behaviors

We also know from multiple studies that successful behavior modification requires time and patience and is a critical component of long-term success.

This is why we like to use tools like food diaries or the hunger worksheet to help our clients change their food behaviors one day at a time. We can start small like making sure you are eating enough protein at each meal or having a bottle of water and fresh fruits on sight at all times.

How does the Hunger Worksheet work?

The worksheet aims to emphasize the mind-body connection by ranking hunger from 1 (not hungry) to 10 (hangry!) during various times of the day.

Then we delve into the emotions that may be hiding behind your food choices and we ask that you check-in with yourself. These "checkpoints" will help you take a step back from the present situation and recognize how you're feeling.

Before we can be emotionally intelligent we need to become emotionally literate and be ready to answer: How am I feeling at any given moment 🧠

•• Remember that there's no such thing as failing. A failure just tells us about a format which doesn’t work, which doesn’t create the result we desire or we think we deserve.