When you eat, even if it's chocolate or sausage, you do not get fat. Too easy ? Yet this is what studies show.

Over time, people who grow the least are those who rely on their food sensations . While those who want to control end up fatally losing their diet battle and gaining weight. Worse, eating without paying attention to one's hunger is a perverse effect, the surplus is stored in fat cells, adipocytes, which grow and even sometimes multiply, sealing for a long time our tendency to overweight. The solution is simple: you have to listen to your hunger.

In practice, it's less simple. It is even a succession of traps, so it can be difficult to know if the desire to eat that we feel is natural and reliable or if it is "something else" that invites us to enjoy a pastry or take two "tiny" squares of chocolate. Make hunger an asset and a guard against the extra pounds, it is possible and it can be learned.

Dr. Jean-Philippe Zermati *, a specialist in eating disorders, gives us his instructions for use.

Respect his tempo

We must eat at regular hours, make a king's breakfast, do not eat between meals ... Banales, rooted in our culture, these little sentences, we all know them, and this is the first trap.

Complying with them at all costs ends up making us lose our own biological tempo. In fact, today, many nutritionists no longer impose three sacrosaints meals a day at fixed times. "Not even for kids, who, too, can skip breakfast if they have no appetite," says Dr. Zermati. "Let's trust our body," the doctor repeats. This is the key.

Since the dawn of time, without fail, the body regulates itself , regardless of our schedules and our occupations. End manager of its energy reserves, it controls the feeling of hunger according to the swallowed portions and the interval between two meals.

It is "the forecast appetite", explains the specialist. In other words, if you eat lightly at noon, you may need a snack at 4 pm, but it will not make you fat because it is necessary. On the other hand, if you eat a lot at lunch, you will be more likely to shift the next meal time or eat less at that time. Nothing more normal.

Test the different intensities of your hunger

Binding and unnatural, trying to recognize the different levels of hunger is nevertheless an important and effective step. She familiarizes our mind and body with the role of food, the pleasure it gives us, the recognition of satiety signals. By repeating these exercises several times during the same week, the perception of sensations gradually improves. The first exercise, to repeat at least four days in a row, is to "discover" your hunger. Better to do it in the morning, because the urges to eat so-called "emotional", which blurs the tracks, are less present at that time.

We start by skipping breakfast with only one hot drink, sweet or not. During the morning, we wait for the appearance of the first signs of hunger. We then observe how the feelings of hunger evolve and we push the hour of our lunch from one day to another. When hunger occurs, it is necessary to focus on our physical feelings (fatigue, stomach pain, headache ...), and emotional (anxiety, aggression, fear, indifference ...).

The second exercise is to note, on a scale of 1 to 10, our level of hunger (from "not hungry" to "hungry"), our feeling of comfort (from "bearable" to "unbearable"), our desire to eat the dish (from "no desire" to "very envy"), while also specifying our physical sensation (hollow stomach, salivation, feeling dizzy, nausea, fatigue ...).

At table, then, we divide our plate into six portions. After having consumed the first, fill again the columns "level of hunger", "comfort" and "want to eat" and add a note of 1 to 10 reflecting the pleasure provided by the food. We also specify whether or not we want to switch to another food. So on for the second, the third portion ... until the last.

Neutralize compulsive hunger

Whether it's the irresistible urge to bake in the fridge at night, to buy biscuits or a pastry in the afternoon: "At this point, do three things : pause, breathe, and observe how you feel, "advises the doctor. By paying attention, we can say whether our emotional discomfort is acceptable or not, and whether it's worth breaking or not. Whatever your case, the essential thing is to break an automatism, and to realize that we can decide whether to wait or to comfort ourselves by eating. In the latter case, it will be done by relaxing, choosing the food that is good for us, especially taking the time to enjoy each bite, quietly.

Then the day goes on and if you wait until you're hungry, this little snack will not even affect the weight, says Dr. Zermati. On the other hand, if we have this type of compulsion every day, and we continue to grow, the solution can go through a behavioral, cognitive and emotional therapy **, where the patient works on his emotions, his frustrations, and his reactions.

What is "real" hunger?

At the beginning, the real hunger can be expressed by gurgles, a hollow in the stomach, a salivation, the throat which is tightened ... These signs disappear after about twenty minutes, then come back in successive rising waves, two or three times.

Usually, it "goes up" little by little and, especially, calms down easily after eating. This is often the opposite with emotional hunger.

* Coauthor, with Dr. Gérard Apfeldorfer, of "Lies, Dukan regime and baloney" (Odile Jacob).
** Infos and therapists on www.gros.org