There is a really simple method to deal with nervous hunger, understand where our hunger comes from (if for example it is true hunger or if it is more craving for something good) and try to use this information to lose weight. Yes, it exists. I’ve been nibbling as long as I could after first reading it in a nutritionist’s book, but it’s the third time I’ve been reading it in a specialized article and I’m convinced it can work.
The method, developed by Dr. Stephanie Clarke, and Dr. Willow Jarosh of C&J Nutrition, is based on their invention called the “hunger scale”. We start from point zero, the classic point in which we no longer see ourselves from hunger, we see ourselves doubled, we have stomach cramps, or we eat or faint; Point ten is where we’re full to pop, one more bite and skip the button.
HUNGER SCALE: HOW TO USE IT TO LOSE WEIGHT

0: So hungry that you pass out or risk
1: Very hungry
3: Hungry, with a rumbling stomach
5: We ate, we are no longer hungry but we are not full yet
6: Satisfied
8: Beautiful full, with that sudden drowsiness from eating too much load and heavy belly
10: So full it feels terrible

According to the hunger scale, we must never reduce ourselves to points 0 and 1 in order not to lower the metabolism. We must eat as soon as the stomach rumbles and we feel a distinct sense of hunger, point three. How to avoid being reduced to black hunger? Snacking between meals, for example. Not only when we are too hungry we eat everything without criteria, but the sense of prolonged fasting leads to a progressive slowdown of the metabolism. Consequence? We eat all of a sudden, we do not digest and we gain weight. We have to eat up to point six at breakfast, lunch and dinner: we have to feel satisfied, that for sure something goes into our throat but we could end up like this.It is when we breathe the first sigh of relief from the meal and look around to see whether or not we want to eat something else, serve ourselves again, and so on. We don’t eat anything else. Just as we must never go to the bottom of the scale, we must never go beyond the point eight. Lunches and dinners out must never exceed point eight. We don’t have to be so full that we think we can recover or feel bad and have to lie down. It obviously hurts terribly. In addition, the scale can work if we suffer from nervous hunger. Whenever we want to nibble, we have to ask ourselves “Where on the scale am I, how hungry?”. And if we’re not hungry, don’t eat. Simple.