Do You Eat Because You're Hungry Or Just Bored? How To Tell + What Can Help

The biological and psychological regulation of appetite and how they implicate metabolic health are hot topics in the science world right now. But they're also incredibly complex, so researchers' understanding of how the brain helps regulate hunger is still growing.

Appetite regulation involves brain circuits that process signals of nutritional state and food reward value. In other words, both homeorhetic eating (consumption of food to maintain energy homeostasis) and hedonic eating (consumption of food for pleasure) are processed using the same neural activity.

Boredom eating—whether because you're more stressed out than normal, feeling sad, or simply enjoy the flavor and experience of your snack—can be filed firmly under the "hedonic eating" category.

People can become disconnected from their hunger signals for a variety of reasons—including fluctuating hormone levels, unsustainable diets (i.e., the especially restrictive kind), calorie counting, and emotional eating.

Vickery recommends practicing interoceptive awareness—i.e., paying attention to the physical sensations in our bodies (hunger pangs, feelings of fullness, and energy levels)—to start reconnecting with your hunger cues. "By tuning in to these cues, we can start eating in response to our hunger instead of eating based on external cues like the time of day or what's available," she adds.

While there are many different interoceptive awareness exercises you can try, keeping a hunger journal is a good place to start, Vickery shares. Every time you feel hunger pangs, take a few minutes to jot down what you're feeling physically and emotionally. Over time, you'll start to notice patterns in your hunger cues and learn how to better respond to them.

If you're having trouble tuning in, functional medicine nutritionist Brooke Scheller, DCN, CNS, recommends giving your brain a little bit of time to process hunger cues. "It takes about 15 minutes for the body to recognize food signals. Therefore, it's best to take your time and eat slowly to allow your brain to catch up with your stomach," she explains.

Cayenne pepper and its bioactive capsaicinoids promote appetite regulation and feelings of fullness2—which, in turn, helps support energy balance3 (i.e., expenditure vs. intake).*

Veld grape also promotes energy balance and healthy appetite hormone levels (namely, adiponectin, which increases insulin sensitivity, and serotonin, which helps curb cravings).*

Tuning in to our body's hunger signals is an important part of metabolic health and optimization. When we become disconnected from these internal signals, it becomes far more difficult to differentiate homeorhetic hunger from hedonistic hunger. This can lead to eating out of boredom, unconscious snacking, and other eating habits that can make us feel detached from our bodies.

If you're looking for a holistic and innovative solution to help you regulate appetite and tune in to your hunger cues, mbg's metabolism+ fits the bill: With evidence-backed ingredients like cayenne pepper, veld grape, and EGCG and caffeine from green tea at efficacious doses, this targeted metabolic health supplement promotes healthy hormone levels, increases metabolic rate, and supports healthy body composition.*