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Hunger is not what we think it is. Medically speaking, its characteristic symptom is contraction of the stomach muscles: "hunger pangs" that can cause considerable pain. These cramps are especially severe in children and young people but affect older people too. This is associated with malnutrition, which affects about 12 percent of the world's population. (Info is paraphrased from Wikipedia.)
So my guess is that the majority of people in Western countries and middle-income developing countries have never suffered from this kind of hunger. We may feel "hungry" but what we mean by that is that we have an appetite, are craving food, are feeling weak or irritable, .... etc. I personally cannot remember having violent stomach pangs caused by hunger. I have been fortunate that, even in financially hard times, my family always had enough resources to pay for food in the medium term (going without food, or without sufficient food, for a short time does not cause malnutrition).
I have been reminded of this when discussing my own hunger on this forum, and when other people talk about hunger, or about fasting. Many of us -- even on one, or another, restrictive diet -- are consuming more food than our ancestors could manage to hunt, forage or grow for themselves. To really "know" hunger would, I suppose, entail doing something like the Newcastle Diet or doing some extreme fasting?
So my guess is that the majority of people in Western countries and middle-income developing countries have never suffered from this kind of hunger. We may feel "hungry" but what we mean by that is that we have an appetite, are craving food, are feeling weak or irritable, .... etc. I personally cannot remember having violent stomach pangs caused by hunger. I have been fortunate that, even in financially hard times, my family always had enough resources to pay for food in the medium term (going without food, or without sufficient food, for a short time does not cause malnutrition).
I have been reminded of this when discussing my own hunger on this forum, and when other people talk about hunger, or about fasting. Many of us -- even on one, or another, restrictive diet -- are consuming more food than our ancestors could manage to hunt, forage or grow for themselves. To really "know" hunger would, I suppose, entail doing something like the Newcastle Diet or doing some extreme fasting?