The boiled potato test
How to separate physical hunger from emotional noise
It’s 7pm. I am done being a responsible adult for the day. I am tired and my guard is down.
I go to the kitchen and make peanut butter and banana toast. Then a second one.
Five minutes later, I grab the jar, add honey and oats to it, and sit with a spoon in front of my laptop.
Half an hour later the jar is empty. I feel heavy, I feel ashamed, and I already know my sleep will be ruined.
What happened?
I acted on three different signals at once:
Hunger: I needed fuel.
Craving: I wanted salt, fat, and sugar.
Impulse: I wanted to numb whatever I was feeling.
Most of us confuse these signals. We eat when we are bored, stressed, or just because food is there. Over the next few weeks, we are going to untangle these threads.
Today, we start with the foundation: Physical Hunger.
I struggled with binge eating for years. I was overweight as a teenager and spent a long time fixing my relationship with food. I know the feeling of the empty jar. What I am sharing here is the toolkit I used to gain back control.
What is real hunger?
Hunger is the body’s request for fuel. It is a biological signal, not an emotional one.
It is gradual. Real hunger builds slowly over hours. If you felt fine ten minutes ago and now you are “starving,” that is not hunger. That is a craving.
It is physical. You feel it in the stomach (growling, emptiness) or the head (lightheadedness, low focus).
It is not picky. Real hunger lowers your standards, and you would eat almost anything.
The Potato Test
The easiest way to identify real hunger is to remove the entertainment value of the food.
Picture a large boiled potato. Nothing added. No salt, no butter.
Ask yourself: “Would I happily eat this right now?”
If the answer is yes, your body needs fuel. Go eat something healthy and filling.
If the answer is no, and you only want food if it’s crunchy, sweet, or salty, then you are not hungry. You are looking for stimulation, comfort, or distraction.
You can still choose to eat. But don’t lie to yourself that it’s for hunger.
Action for the Week
This week, your goal is to identify the signal. Before any meal or snack:
1. Pause.
Do not eat while standing up or looking at a screen. Take ten seconds to pause.
2. Scan.
Where do you feel the urge? Is it in your stomach (empty or growling) or is it in your mouth and throat (wanting taste/texture)?
3. Ask.
“Would I eat a plain boiled potato right now?”
If yes, eat.
If no, wait 20 minutes and ask again.