Here is exercise physiologist/certified personal trainer Bob Greene's Hunger Scale, a tool to help people avoid mindless eating.

You are supposed to decide how you are feeling -- from 1 to 10 -- and eat only when you're feeling 1, 2, 3 or 4. Put your fork down at 5 or 6 and wait until the next scheduled meal or snack. If you're trying to lose weight, stop at 5, the point at which you're eating a little less than your body is burning.

1: Weak and light-headed. Your stomach acid is churning.

2: Very uncomfortable. You feel irritable and unable to concentrate.

3: Uncomfortably hungry. Your stomach is rumbling.

4: Slightly uncomfortable. You're just beginning to feel signs of hunger.

5: Comfortable. You're more or less satisfied, but could eat a little more.

6: Perfectly comfortable. You feel satisfied.

7: Full. A little bit uncomfortable.

8: Uncomfortably full. You feel bloated.

9: Very uncomfortably full. You need to loosen your clothes.

10: Stuffed. You are so full you feel nauseous.

Now, here's Upstate humorist Jeff Kramer's hunger scale, a tool similarly designed to help people avoid mindless eating.

The Kramer Hunger Scale

1: Desperate. Willing to eat pet toys, inorganics, Slim Jims

2: Ravenous. Still have appetite even if food is radioactive or infested with mites.

3: Crazy Hungry. Can‘t concentrate on simple tasks such as bathing and complaining. Starting to empathize with The Donner Party.

4: Intense Hunger. Gnawing on unthawed Lean Cuisine spa collection meal.

5: Kind of Hungry. Stealing Easter candy from children who are not yours.

6: A Little Hungry. At sub shop, when counter person asks, “Whole or half?” you reply, “Both.”

7: Barely Hungry. At Wegmans the nice lady handing out free samples says, “I‘m sorry, Sir, if I give you any more I‘ll lose my job.”

8: Moderately Full: Able to go up to 20 minutes without thinking about food. Much.

9: Full. Able to make it most of the way home from restaurant with box of leftovers unopened.

10: Stuffed. Barely have room for a pint of Haagen-Dazs Salted Caramel Truffle.