Food cravings are very familiar to most people. We may see or smell food and want to eat, or sometimes we suddenly feel like eating something delicious. These intense desires occur even when we’re not hungry, and they can be very difficult to resist.
There are many reasons why we may “feel” hungry even if our stomachs aren’t growling. Physical hunger in our bodies is controlled by complex physiological signals which stimulate our appetite and then suppress it after we’ve eaten (known as satiety). However, eating is much more than just responding to a biological need.