A speaker challenges common beliefs about hunger, arguing that 'empty stomach hunger' is often a sensation caused by stretched stomachs and nutrient-poor diets rather than true physiological need. The speaker recommends occasional short fasts to experience an empty stomach, allow bodily repair/cleansing, and to neutralize multiple drivers of eating so one consumes less and higher-quality food.
Chapters
So why do we eat? I mean, why do you eat? Do you eat because you're hungry? I want to suggest that we have a whole lot of reasons for eating and they actually often don't have much to do with hunger at all. The next kind of hunger is also not an actual form of hunger at all. It's called empty stomach hunger. I know, I know you're probably thinking, well, yeah, but Eric, if my stomach is empty, I must be hungry. No, not the case at all. You could have all the vitamins, you could have all the minerals, you could have all the fats, all the proteins, you could be very well nourished, you could be super hydrated and you're still stomach could be empty. And that would be a good thing. The challenge is that in our world today, because we've bought into the three meals a day lie and we've bought into way more food than we really need to eat, is that we've stretched out our stomachs. Do you know that your stomach is normally about the size of your fist, but when you eat a large meal, your stomach can stretch. The trouble is we eat so many large meals that our stomachs keep stretching and they stay big. And then what happens is when the stomach is empty and stretched like that, it feels bad. It doesn't feel very nice. Now add one more problem, and that is the vast majority of people living in the developed world today are overfed energy, sugar and underfed nutrients, which means they're starving just a little bit. They're a little low on vitamin C, they're a little low on vitamin D, they're a little low on these minerals and these fats and so forth. So they are actually hungry. Now, you combine that slightly starving feeling with an empty stomach and it starts to feel like a very powerful hunger. The truth is, is that your stomach being empty is actually really healthy. It's a good thing. That's when your body can do repair work, it can do cleansing work. And so I want to suggest to you that one of the best things you can do is actually plan for a day to let yourself get hungry. Go on a small fast and feel how your stomach feels when it's empty. Drink some water, notice how it feels when it fills and then again when it's empty. And you'll begin to realize an empty stomach is actually a nice cleansing experience. As long as you're eating well, the rest of the time you feel these hungers, it's almost too late. So if you address them in advance, then they won't have power over you. Neutralize the six hungers, and then you'll find yourself eating less, but more importantly, eating more good quality food as well.
