Hunger or appetite? How to tell the difference

Hunger or appetite? How to tell the difference? Nutritionist and researcher Pietro Senette offers advice for a better relationship with food.

Hunger is not a problem to manage nor an enemy to control: it is one of the body's most intelligent and reliable signals. Yet, very often, when we say "I'm hungry"... it's not hunger. It's habit, a constant urge, an automatic response to schedules, emotions, and conditioning. True hunger appears only when digestion is complete and the body truly needs nourishment. It is silent, calm, not urgent. It doesn't demand specific foods or elaborate combinations: when it's authentic, even the simplest is enough. Today, this hunger is rare, because the body spends most of its time digesting, eliminating, and seeking balance. Appetite, on the other hand, arises in the mind. It is sudden, selective, insistent. It is triggered by stress, boredom, tiredness, or routine. We eat because "it's time," because we see food, because we seek relief. But the body, in those moments, doesn't ask for nourishment: it asks for pause, rest, to be listened to. Distinguishing hunger from appetite isn't control, it's freedom. When you stop forcing yourself and start listening again, your body regulates itself, digestion improves, and your relationship with food becomes simpler. Eating less isn't a goal: it's a natural consequence of listening.