Cognitive therapy is more brainwash-y than I like, but that comes from the bumbleheaded me who told my high school biology teacher that I categorically refused to think of a flower as a reproductive organ. That’s the bad, anti-scientific me who never wants the curtains flung back to reveal the man behind them. Fortunately it’s not the only me.

Here’s what’s cool about cognitive therapy: Training your thought processes has lasting physical effects on the brain. Quite literally, you can change who you are by changing the way you think.

Another good point mentioned by the article is that sometimes, we don’t need to eat when we’re hungry, at least not immediately. It’s a physical sensation that can be recognized and filed away for later action. I used to be terrified when I was hungry, because it meant that I was about 15 minutes from a blood sugar crash. Balanced eating has extended that window so that usually, I can carry normal, healthy hunger with me for an hour or two before falling apart. Non-hypoglycemics can probably go longer.

Don’t let hunger get debilitating. Compare it to pain: If you accidentally touch a hot pan, you get acute pain requiring immediate action. You drop the pan, convenient or not. But think about when your shoulders are sore. You line up a massage for the next day and go back to work. Or maybe you do nothing at all. Observe your hunger carefully, without fear, and you’ll get to know the difference.