I am trying to differentiate between true physiological hunger and hunger that is more of a craving. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sure. You could start by just sitting and 'allowing' your hunger for a day. This would allow you to see thoughts/emotions and other mental debris look/feel like. Then, later, when you feel an actual sort of 'cramping' or physical shifting of the stomach area....then this might be a good sign of actual physical hunger.

-YOUR signs might be different, but the process should be the same. Just my experiences.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

You can find out by doing a long fast. Your body lets you know when to quit. You'll go weeks without being hungry then all of a sudden you *need* food. For me, cravings are usually in my head. I'll want something and get fixated on it. Also if you do have a problem with cravings, might want to look into "colon cleansing", having food rotting in your colon can trigger cravings.

Another thing is that dehydration/thirst can be mistaken for hunger. I get "hunger pains" when I am dehydrated. Even crap SAD diets like Weight Watchers preach to drink a few glasses of water a day and there really is truth to that. Regardless of "cravings" or "hunger", try drinking like 16oz of water in between meals (or every few hours) and see what happens after a day or 2. I make it a point to go through at least 40oz of water a day..and on days when I drink most of it by 4pm'ish, I'm "starving" at night.

This is a really helpful thread for me too, hope to hear more responses. I really appreciate what you say DZM about allowing the hunger. Its definitely a tough one! Thanks for posting this Irena, lots of peace your way.