Killer Hunger

Hunger - it's like an evil thing, to be avoided at all costs. I mean the phrase is "hunger pains." PAIN. Not hunger nudges. Not hunger you-might-want-to-think-about-getting-a-snack.

Look at these two phrases:

1. Labor pains
2. Hunger pains

Not even close to the same thing, right? But sometimes I behave as though the latter is as bad as the former.

Because I tend to eat according to outside cues rather than inner hunger, I don't often feel hunger pains. But when I do, it's like an agony that I have to relieve immediately. I'll get home from work, and as I'm cooking dinner, I'm eating cereal out of the box or a downing handful of chips to ease the hungry agony. Why not just wait until I sit down to dinner?

Some years ago, I followed a plan called the Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian-based group that had the premise that God gives us internal cues to tell us when we're hungry and when we're full, i.e., when to eat and when to stop eating. On the first day, you aren't supposed to eat anything at all until you feel TRUE hunger, and note what time of day it was. For me, it was 4 p.m. before I felt real, true hunger. But had it been a different day, I would have eaten breakfast, lunch and a couple snacks by then. I need to get back to that, just listening to my body. Another premise of this group is that you can eat anything you want, just eat only when hungry and stop when full. "Eat anything you want" is a dangerous phrase for compulsive/emotional eaters. But I digress ...

Way back in the day, my microbiology professor was talking about dieting and how diets will tout the fact that people using a particular plan will not be hungry. He said (paraphrasing) "If you're trying to lose weight and you eat less food than you usually do, you'll be hungry. It's a fact. Just deal with it."

On Monday, I decided to experiment and teach myself that hunger isn't a bad guy. I decided I wasn't going to eat while I was at work. Many times while I'm working, as I find myself tackling something a bit stressful, I'll automatically eat; without food, I'll just have to find a way to get through the stress on my own. Plus, I also wonder, I sit at a desk all day; how many calories do I really need to sustain that?

I did it. There was a period of time around 1 p.m./2 p.m. where I was rather uncomfortable with an empty stomach, but I didn't give in. And get this. I SURVIVED. I ate a regular dinner, but no before bedtime snack, and I felt rather good.

Though how I was ever anorexic in my life is beyond me.

In one of my comments to Alana (http://www.foodismyfrenemy.blogspot.com/), I talked about how the phrase "I'm not hungry" is rather foreign to me. I'm going to use it this week at some point and see what happens.