I find that there are two distinct sensations that I have to call hunger. They seem to get confused.

The first is what I think people in modern society call hunger, because it's the only kind they've experienced. It's a craving for food, or even just a sensation of not being full. We call "not full" "hungry" when they aren't really necessarily the same.

The second kind comes after you've fasted for quite a while. It's difficult to describe if you haven't felt it, but it's sort of like... tightness maybe as if your body is buzzing or something.

Whenever I used to say I was hungry my Dutch grandfather would say, "No, you'd like to eat something. Hunger is something we had during the war".

("Je hebt trek, honger hadden we tijdens de oorlog")

The first one is appetite. The real hunger comes around after a few weeks of fasting - and unlike appetite, it doesn't go away when you do something interesting.

Really? I thought the feeling I get, when I didn't eat for >10h was hunger. It's an ugly feeling, which comes with borborygmus.

Appetite is a feeling I would describe more psychological. I'm smelling something delicious and suddenly want to eat it.

Feeling of hunger is very individual. For some people, it's no big deal. For other people, it is very annoying. I know that if I haven't eaten for a day, I start notice limping people more, and I can't stop watching small children, because I want to kill and eat them.

> Appetite is a feeling I would describe more psychological. I'm smelling something delicious and suddenly want to eat it.

It is psycho-physiological addiction. (smell is not psychology, it is physiological). It is like cigarette addiction. But it isn't a physiological need.

10h? That's not hunger, that's regular appetite.

Not having eaten for 2-3 days would be hunger.

Actually he described it quite well. Appetite is psychological, whereas hunger is a physical sensation of pain.

I'm replying to your post because I get hungry even quicker. I had lunch (rump steak, potatoes) at 1pm and now at 4:30, I'm hungry again. My BMI Is 21, with rather low body fat.

Still, that's appetite, not hunger.

Even with a BMI of 21, you can probably fast for 20-40 days with no irreversible damage, and that feeling you call "hunger" will not be there after the 2nd day.

You do not know what hunger is until you've felt it. I thought I knew what hunger was, until I fasted for 25 days. Then, I actually discovered what hunger is.

Is it a crinkly feeling in your gut? That could be your GI tract closing down since it has nothing to do.

When I did a 3-day fast, the feeling of hunger went away after the first day. But the first day I did have to repress it. That was a bit hard. And then the second day, there were all these student clubs (university at the time) who were giving away free food. Not junk, but high quality food. And recruiting sessions. Free food again, the high quality stuff. So I realized there are 2 things to resist in a fast. One, dealing with hunger, but two, dealing with temptation to taste something succulent.

I usually try to fast at least once a week, the longest I've fasted for is 5 days.

The first few days I get hunger pangs around my usual meal times, but they go away soon enough.

Around the fourth day I get the 'real hunger' feeling where it's your whole body aches for food, but the hunger pangs go away. But that had lessened by the end of my fast.

Even if you're not religious I think it's still worth giving fasting a shot, just because it teaches you about hunger. Most people in developed countries will never understand it.

Didn't you get headache? When I don't eat for 20 hours or so I get a severe headache, feel terribly weak and fall asleep. Only when I wake up I feel strong enough to bother with getting something to eat.

It goes away. I went without food for 2 weeks (saline IV only), felt no hunger, but did watch a ridiculous number of cooking shows.