Advice from the food section of a local newspaper:

“Listen to your body; eat when hungry,
stop when full and satisfied.”

• Frequently people who eat bananas will state that their body must be low on
potassium because they are craving bananas and bananas have potassium.

• Frequently (not just around Valentines day) people will say that even while they know intellectually that chocolate candies, because of the high fat and high sugar content, are not very good for their health, there is nothing that they can do about it. Their body is craving chocolate. (What does chocolate have that their body is now craving?)

• Eat many little meals throughout the day. Just listen to your body, and it will tell you when to eat. (So will the TV, the newspaper, your skinny spouse, your starving teenage sons, the pile of jelly donuts in the breakroon at work, and many other voices.

Recommendation: Although the “listen to your body” sounds like great advice, the reality is that humans cannot usually distinguish between true hunger and just appetite. This can easily result in obesity, because the feeling that one is listening to is usually one of wanting to eat rather than needing to eat.

Hunger: Body needs food. Appetite: Body wants food.