Eating When You Are Not Hungry
By Duncan Nalos
I was observing my dog Gabby eat the other day. She would munch some kibble, stop for a while, and ponder whether or not she was done, then possibly eat some more, and quit when she was satisfied. I believe that it is a good thing to eat when you are hungry, especially when the food is good. The temptation with really good food is to keep eating when your hunger is long satisfied, and I’m afraid my saintly puppy might start wolfing down a plate of sumptuous table food without restraint if tempted in that way. I believe in the notion that you should quit eating when your hunger has been satisfied.
I don’t believe in dieting. During a diet, food deprivation causes the body to adapt and change. The body learns that it needs to conserve and store what it can. When people complete their diet it doesn’t take long for them to gain back everything they lost, plus some extra just in case. How healthy is it to go through cycles of weight loss and weight gain? My contention is that sticking to the idea of eating when you are hungry is the best way to discover your natural weight and maintain it.
One of the big weight loss issues is eating when you are not hungry. People who eat when they are not hungry are seeking to meet some other need. Using food to try and satisfy a need that has nothing to do with food just doesn’t work. There are some hungers of the human soul that can never be satisfied with food no matter how much food you eat, because it’s not a hunger for food but a hunger for something else. Discovering what that ”something else” is, is important.
If you have a tendency to binge on food you could try to get in touch with what you are feeling and thinking at the time it is happening, and write it down. What I have discovered is that the kind of self talk people have at that time can be destructive. For example: “I’ve already blown my diet, I might as well eat the whole box”, or “I am such a loser”. Often the messages we tell ourselves are simply not true. Sometimes the inner dialogue sounds like an old tape from the past that has been internalized. It has become your script. The painful things we tell ourselves leave us feeling a deep sense of emptiness which then fuels the binge. These internal messages need to be examined for their truthfulness. Usually they are just lies that need to be debunked.
When you feel like bingeing what is needed is not a new set of put downs like “You should know better”, but a big picture affirmation of who you are. The Bible is full of affirmations of God’s love for you , and who you are in Christ, and these can be helpful to reflect on. Think of your strengths and the qualities that others have affirmed about you. Tell yourself things that are true and good about you. This will move you away from the pain. Telling yourself the truth about who you really are, is the only way to satisfy this inner hunger, food won’t do it.
Perhaps it’s time to do a little work on cleaning up your self talk. You have to stamp on the ants. ANTS is an acrostic for Automatic Negative Thoughts
I don’t believe in dieting. During a diet, food deprivation causes the body to adapt and change. The body learns that it needs to conserve and store what it can. When people complete their diet it doesn’t take long for them to gain back everything they lost, plus some extra just in case. How healthy is it to go through cycles of weight loss and weight gain? My contention is that sticking to the idea of eating when you are hungry is the best way to discover your natural weight and maintain it.
One of the big weight loss issues is eating when you are not hungry. People who eat when they are not hungry are seeking to meet some other need. Using food to try and satisfy a need that has nothing to do with food just doesn’t work. There are some hungers of the human soul that can never be satisfied with food no matter how much food you eat, because it’s not a hunger for food but a hunger for something else. Discovering what that ”something else” is, is important.
If you have a tendency to binge on food you could try to get in touch with what you are feeling and thinking at the time it is happening, and write it down. What I have discovered is that the kind of self talk people have at that time can be destructive. For example: “I’ve already blown my diet, I might as well eat the whole box”, or “I am such a loser”. Often the messages we tell ourselves are simply not true. Sometimes the inner dialogue sounds like an old tape from the past that has been internalized. It has become your script. The painful things we tell ourselves leave us feeling a deep sense of emptiness which then fuels the binge. These internal messages need to be examined for their truthfulness. Usually they are just lies that need to be debunked.
When you feel like bingeing what is needed is not a new set of put downs like “You should know better”, but a big picture affirmation of who you are. The Bible is full of affirmations of God’s love for you , and who you are in Christ, and these can be helpful to reflect on. Think of your strengths and the qualities that others have affirmed about you. Tell yourself things that are true and good about you. This will move you away from the pain. Telling yourself the truth about who you really are, is the only way to satisfy this inner hunger, food won’t do it.
Perhaps it’s time to do a little work on cleaning up your self talk. You have to stamp on the ants. ANTS is an acrostic for Automatic Negative Thoughts