Embracing Hunger

This post came to me tonight when I was eating a bowl of sweet potatoes and roasted vegetables and realized that I wasn't at all hungry.

I've said many times in this blog that I never go hungry. And that is true. But, one of the motivating factors for me to embark on this mission was that I felt horribly clogged and stuffed at all times. This happened because I would gorge myself when I felt even the slightest twinge of hunger or notion of eating. I've discovered that allowing myself to feel a bit hungry feels good.

Now before anyone freaks out: no, I am not starving myself; no, I am not anorexic; no, I am not using hunger as some twisted device for losing weight. All I'm saying is that I don't need to be full and/or eating all the time, and in only eating when I am actually truly hungry, I am reminded of the progress being made. This is particularly true at bed time - I like getting into bed feeling that my stomach is a bit empty. It's pretty common knowledge that eating just before bed is very bad since our bodies will cleanse and expel when we're sleeping. If there is food in the stomach, that effort is going to go to digestion rather than dealing with what is already there. More importantly, I can't think of a worse feeling than waking up in the morning after having consumed fast food or an egregious dessert at 1am the night before. It's like being pregnant with a rock baby.

The point to all of this is that I feel the best when I am eating numerous small meals throughout the day. I never allow myself to become ravenously hungry as that is when my worst cravings tempt me (refer to my last post). But I also never allow myself to get very full. Even though I'm eating mostly vegetables, there are times when I don't need to eat a ginormous bowl of them... so I don't! It's important for me that I feel in control of myself and not a slave to my appetite.

I think this can be applied to anyone anywhere: reserve eating only for when you are truly hungry.