Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a bustling day, the hours drifting by without realizing you haven't eaten anything?
All those hours without the sensation of needing to eat. Only now do you realize the time. Suddenly, you're “starving,” and you lose sight of any healthy habits you're committed to.
Immediately, you panic. The idea that you might explode or burst into flames, or even worse, shrivel away takes precedence over your desire to lose weight, keep blood sugar in check, lower cholesterol, etc.
To be absolutely sure that none of these things happen, you reach into the back of your desk drawer for yesterday's leftover pastry. Once it's past your lips and down your throat, you’re in the clear.
You survived!
*****
I use this anecdote to show how we have become so detached from the sensations of hunger and satiety.
Chef AJ, a famous advocate for healthy living and living at your ideal weight, says this: Hunger is not an emergency.
Furthermore, hunger isn't the crisis we think it is.
The idea isn't to ignore genuine hunger but to recognize that not every pang is an emergency.
Hunger is a normal part of healthy digestion – our bodies are well-equipped to handle it.
Now, let's dive a bit deeper. If we eat at the first sign of hunger, our bodies stay in a post-prandial state (that's a fancy term for after eating). In this state, our bodies focus on digesting food. Our digestive systems prioritize absorbing nutrients over burning fat or repairing tissues.
When you feel hungry, your body is already burning fat for energy. It's already recycling old, damaged cells into shiny new stem cells. It's already revitalizing brain cells and obliterating microscopic tumors.
If we’re always topping up the fuel tank, the body won’t tap into its stored energy - the fat reserves. If we want to burn fat or repair tissues, we should embrace occasional gaps between meals. It's not just okay; it's beneficial.Listening to our bodies doesn’t mean we’re diving into deprivation. It means giving our bodies the chance to function optimally. There's no need to empty fat stores if we're always eating.
The way I see it, there are three stages of the hunger cycle.
This is the stage of being neither hungry nor full. It's a subtle, often ignored stage. The body is not crying out for more food, but it's not stuffed either. The feeling of “nothing” is perfectly okay.
A hearty bowl of oatmeal and berries for breakfast at 7 AM should have you feeling "nothing" by mid-morning. Comfortable between full and hungry, you go about your day. Feeling hungry by noon is reasonable. Enjoy the healthy lunch that you prepared for yourself.
And, the next time you're "starving," don't grab that day-old doughnut. Instead, take a deep breath, drink some water, and ask yourself, "Do I need to eat now?"
Besides. If you ride it out, the feeling will probably pass in a few minutes.
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