Friday, April 11, 2014

Get Comfortable With Being Hungry

I am sure this sounds like an incredibly odd statement and I am by no means advocating starvation diets! The reality for most of is that we are constantly surrounded by food. Living in NYC, I can’t walk 10 feet without seeing a Starbucks or bakery or fast food restaurant. Add that to the fact that I work in an office which means people are “kindly” bringing in donuts and cookies and recently selling Girl Scout cookies! So my weakness….
I am like many people – I often gobble down my food while doing work, watching TV, checking email or sometimes while I am walking around my apartment doing things. It is very rare that I actually sit and just have the meal be my entertainment. In addition to not enjoying my meal, I end up eating more because I ate so fast my body did not even have time to know I ate! I make a conscious effort to slow down and I am getting better at this, but sometimes life just doesn’t make this easy.
I am also an emotional eater. A bad day and all I want is crap or wine. And when I do succumb to it, I just inhale (literally!). I have had times (thankfully not recently) where I stop mid-handful of Cheez-its (salty snacks are my true weakness) and think my god I have eaten half the box!
As I said I have gotten a lot better about this, but what I have noticed is that it is rare that I actually eat because I am hungry. I usually crave something in response to an emotional event or because I have 30 minutes between meetings so now is the time to have lunch. Many of us have completely lost touch with our bodies signals.
As I mentioned in one of my Facebook posts, I am currently doing this amazing 30 Superfoods Nutritional Cleanse. Yes I am eating less and losing some winter weight, but I am far from starving myself. However, in addition to how great I feel, the one thing I noticed is that I actually feel when I am hungry and eat the right amount.
I know this is not rocket science and intuitively our bodies know how to do this… However in this chaotic world we live in, many of us have lost this connection. I have to say it is really nice to actually feel hunger and then to feel appropriately satiated!