mmm a little peckish maybe...

20^th April 2012

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.  Marcel Proust

Yay it’s Friday, I’m looking forward to chilling a bit this weekend after I get through today, which is going to be a busy day, Alfies got a vet check up at 8.30 then I’ll be out and about till teatime, it’ll be worth it though. 

Well I’ve survived the week without eating any processed food at all and I have to say my body feels better for it, I haven’t had any heartburn or hot flushes at all, and I’ve eaten some delicious food which makes it worth while. 

In the meetings this week we talked about being hungry and full, it’s an interesting subject because not many of us now hungry and full we only acknowledge starving and stuffed!   We all know the latter two mean we’ve gone to far to the extreme so it worth taking time to learn the middle grounds by listening to your body, if zero is ravenous and 5 is stuffed, work on finding out what 1, 2, 3 and 4 feel like!

What does peckish feel like for example? 

Eating when you are hungry is a very basic concept.  When you eat when you're hungry (and consequently stop eating when you're not hungry) it will help you to lose your excess weight.  At home its easy enough to stay on track because you probably weigh and ProPoint your food but when you’re out in a restaurant you need to use physical cues to help you know when to stop as the portions are much larger. 

And one thing I didn’t’ mention in the meeting was that it's important to avoid the 'all or nothing' trap and vow to only ever eat when you're physically hungry.  It's absolutely okay to eat for pleasure, for comfort, to celebrate, for whatever reason occasionally, the aim is to learn to recognise your hunger and to eat because you are hungry most of the time.

It sounds simple enough and yet so many of us eat when we are not physiologically hungry at all.  We eat at set meal times, because it's convenient, because other people are eating, because we like the food, because we don't want to say no, because we're bored, because it's there... Some never let themselves get hungry at all, they graze and pick all day whereas others are constantly hungry, always resisting temptation and eating as little as they can.  Many of us yo-yo between the two. 

Most of us eat to the clock, we don’t really have a choice if we work or your kids go to school so they have set meal times, even if you do knowing how hungry you are and then recognising when you’ve had enough is still really important and can only help your weight loss journey.

There’s no 'right' time to eat, nor a ‘correct’ kind of meal, heck I had curry Sunday morning and chicken and rice Tuesday morning, I know you all think I’m mad but I enjoy eating at that time of day. 

Never wait until you're ravenous to eat as you are not likely to be choosy about what you have - anything will do as long as it's NOW.  We tend to eat anything and quickly when we're over hungry and that's one of the surest ways to end up overeating.  So aim to eat before you're famished.

So today pay attention to your bodies signals and start to recognise it’s messages, maybe one day this week, instead of having your breakfast at the usual time, wait until you are hungry (not starving).  How long does this take?  How do you know when your body needs food?  Tune in throughout the morning.  After your meal of the day, tune in every 30 minutes and find out where you are on your hunger scale.  Notice what you tell yourself about being hungry... What are the messages you have about it?  Is it a good thing to be hungry?  Do you welcome or resist it?   

Today every time to reach for food ask yourself 'am I hungry?'  Again remember its fine to eat when you're not - this is just learning to work with your body.