Getting to Know Hunger.

How often have we read, heard, and even advised others that we should eat only when physically hungry? How often then do we actually allow ourselves to feel hunger? I know I tend to eat on a set schedule as part of my daily routine, and rarely do I ever feel honest to goodness hunger. But that can even extend to snacks, which I will eat on schedule even if I'm not really hungry!

Today's homework is about getting in touch with the sensation of hunger, and identifying the difference between feeling hunger and thinking hunger.

Part 1: Feeling Hunger

Take a few moments today before eating to assess how hungry you are. Close your eyes for a moment and listen to your body. Where is the desire to eat coming from? Your stomach or your head? If the hunger is coming from your head (you're thinking hungry), try to put off eating until it's coming from your stomach (you're feeling hungry).

Extra credit: when you do have that feeling of hunger, close your eyes, take a few deep breathes, and then let yourself really feel the hunger. Bring your mental focus to the sensation for a minute or so.


Part 2: False Hunger

What are the things that make you think your hungry even when you know you aren't? How can you better prevent or cope with these triggers?

For me, the biggest trigger of false hunger is watching others eat. I can meet my parents at their bagel shop 30 minutes after eating my own breakfast, and seeing them tuck in makes me craze my own mouthful. I think from now on I will bring a travel cup of tea with me, so that I have something to put in my mouth when the sympathetic hunger pangs strike.

alli

quote:

I think that it is best, when in weight loss mode... to plan out what you are going to eat and then stick to the plan. I personally don't think that people should skip meals, because it is lunch time and they are not hungry. Skipping meals and crazy eating schedules are often habits of over weight people, IMO.

Wanted to clarify, too.

Somedays, things just don't go according to plan. If I ate all of my food that I planned and at 8pm, I was truly physically hungry... I ate an apple and <gasp!> "went over points for the day" and still lost just fine. Not too many people have gained weight eating too many apples.

And eventually I noticed that I was totally happy with 1/2-3/4 cups of rice and really didn't NEED a whole cup to be "full".

Yeah... make a plan. Stick to the plan. But don't be a slave to the plan. And sometimes we all come up with sucky plans. If I can't stick with a plan... it MIGHT be that I've devised a dumb plan for myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
I also don't feel the need to eat all my planned for food just because I can. If I'm not hungry, I leave food on my plate which I never did before.

To me it feels more normal to say to myself "I'm hungry so I'm going to eat part of my snack now" instead of "I'm hungry but I have to suck it until lunch no matter what".

I agree with both of these.

I have a different spin on this because I have low blood sugar. I am supposed to eat 5 - 6 small, well balanced meals a day. If I don't do this, sometimes I will have dizzy spells, weakness, lack of concentration, "the shakes"..you get the idea. My goal is to keep my blood sugar level.

Part 2: False Hunger

I would say that my biggest trigger here is in a social setting...parties, holidays, get-togethers. At holidays you want to "sample" everything and at parties there is just so much of the "mindless nibble" food.

I'm not as bad as I used to be though and I pay attention to what and how much I'm eating. I did good at our Super Bowl party (if I do say so myself) even though everyone was "telling me to eat".

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GoingSkiing:
OTOH, I agree with the Beck thing of “Hunger is not an emergency”. If I DO get hungry at work… I don’t NEED to drive thru because “I’m ‘starving’ and can’t wait until I get home”.

On the other, other hand... I think that it is best, when in weight loss mode... to plan out what you are going to eat and then stick to the plan. I personally don't think that people should skip meals, because it is lunch time and they are not hungry. Skipping meals and crazy eating schedules are often habits of over weight people, IMO.
[QUOTE]

I wanted to clarify ; )
I lost all my weight and maintain on a fixed plan too. The fast majority of the time I eat B/L/S/D. However, if I'm starving after breakfast, I'll eat 1/2 my snack early. If I have a bigger lunch and am not hungry at snack time, I'll hold off until I am hungry. Sometimes, I'll just have an early dinner.

I also don't feel the need to eat all my planned for food just because I can. If I'm not hungry, I leave food on my plate which I never did before.

The rigidity is gone for me and seems to be working much better.

To me it feels more normal to say to myself "I'm hungry so I'm going to eat part of my snack now" instead of "I'm hungry but I have to suck it until lunch no matter what".

fatigue and stress make my hunger signals all out of whack, and i think i am hungry but i really do need to rest and close my eyes for a bit.

How often have we read, heard, and even advised others that we should eat only when physically hungry?

I actually lost all of my weight eating on a schedule. I eat a snack before going to work. Period, hungry or not. I CAN’T eat at work… and I don’t really enjoy getting to the point of physically, uncomfortably hungry. So I eat a snack. By the clock.

OTOH, I agree with the Beck thing of “Hunger is not an emergency”. If I DO get hungry at work… I don’t NEED to drive thru because “I’m ‘starving’ and can’t wait until I get home”.

On the other, other hand... I think that it is best, when in weight loss mode... to plan out what you are going to eat and then stick to the plan. I personally don't think that people should skip meals, because it is lunch time and they are not hungry. Skipping meals and crazy eating schedules are often habits of over weight people, IMO.

What are the things that make you think your hungry even when you know you aren't? How can you better prevent or cope with these triggers? TV commercials and Food Network sometimes. Not watch TV…

This is one that I can't participate in, I have to eat three to six times a day, small meals because of my diabetes. But I do try to understand what my body is wanting, calcium, protein, etc. What is it that my body is craving...not just wanting. Otherwise it would be chocolate all day long!)

One of the best things I got out of the Beck book was the exercise on identifying hunger.

I used to eat by the clock but now I don't. I listen to my hunger cues before, during and after meals and stop when I'm about a 6 - 7 on a the fullness scale.

This works SOOO much better for me and has made maintenance much easier.

False hunger for me seems to be a thing of the past but it used to be triggered by boredom, stress, anxiety, etc...

I have a TERRIBLE time with false hunger and cravings...esp. for sweets. Things that make me think I'm hungry when I'm not:

1. TV commercials for food (esp. pizza).

2. Stomach acid (I used to have acid reflux quite badly but now control it the majority of the time with Prilosec). It makes me FEEL hungry but if I really stop and think about it, I will realize I'm not REALLY hungry.

3. Smelling or seeing food.

4. Cravings.

5. Emotional distress, work stress, need for comfort.


For most of the 4 1/2 years of my healthy eating journey, I thought of hunger (REAL hunger) as my enemy--because when I was REALLY hungry (ravenous) is when I tend to go off the wagon and eat "badly" and unplanned. As a result, I tried never to allow myself to get that hungry.

The process of my move from VA to DE--and the stress and busy-ness that surrounded it--was very interesting. It showed me that I could tolerate going without food for much longer periods than I had ever thought before. Not to say that going without food is GOOD, but it did show me that I had been living a certain way out of fear of my own hunger, and getting REALLY HUNGRY was not so scary because I was too busy to go too far afield. And obviously, allowing myself to feel hunger was a good thing in that I lost several pounds in the course of several days due to allowing myself to feel hunger AND the intense level of physical activity that I was at during move preparation and the move itself.

this has been a real journey for me--relearning hunger after being on low carb diets. i was either starving and craving carbs, or i was just eating on a schedule. i also have a fear of feeling hunger. i don't know where it comes from but i know i noticed it in college. it is still not a natural thing for me--to acknowledge hunger. i have to force myself to stop. i know, the more i do it, the more natural it will seem.

i know when i let myself go too long without food, i get headaches, and the shakes, and then i am ravenous and God help the person who stands between me and food.

by the way, this is why i could never fast during lent (since it IS ashe wednesday and all)--fear of being hungry and how i would respond to extreme hunger pains.

i hvae noticed that when i allow myself to enjoy that feeling of hunger, i enjoy food more.

i have heard that about chemo. it does alter your hunger signals, and which foods you enjoy.

If I waited till I felt hungry to eat...I would never eat. I don't "get hungry" so I have to eat by the clock. That has been my biggest problem with learning to eat breakfast. I don't wake up hungry.

I think it has something to do with all the chemo I had. During chemo everything & I do mean EVERYTHING had no taste whatsoever. If I closed my eyes I could not identify creamed corn from pudding. I could tell the difference in texture so I could tell the difference between corn & say watermellon but could not actually taste either of them.