| |
| |
|
Weight Loss Information |
|
|
|
What is Real Hunger?
In order to identify hunger, you must first understand what it is. This is not as easy as it seems. Many of you may never have let yourself experience true hunger, only a feeling of discomfort. Not knowing exactly what it was, you may have been eating past hunger for such a long time you can no longer differentiate between hunger and the feeling of anxiety, stress, boredom, or any number of other emotional or circumstantial stimuli. You haven't allowed yourself to go without eating for a long enough period of time to have felt true hunger; you may not have experienced it since childhood. Each of us is born with an innate sense of hunger. When you were a baby and felt this sensation, you cried. Your mother or caregiver pacified you with a bottle or breast, and when you were no longer hungry, you pushed the food away. Before you could speak, you made yourself understood. As a toddler beginning to eat baby food, you were still in control of your food consumption. Your mother might have thought you had to finish everything she served, but you had other ideas. You might have clenched your little baby teeth and not permitted one extra spoonful of anything to enter your mouth. She might have pushed your chubby little cheeks together trying to force you to open your mouth, but you would not. If she did manage to insert some food, you spit it out, sometimes on your bib, sometimes on mom. The message was clear. "No more food, Mommy." As she persevered, you finally learned to please your mother by finishing everything on your plate. You may have been told that if you ate your vegetables, your reward would be dessert. You were bribed with a lollipop if you'd stop crying. You learned to eat all your food because it gave pleasure to others. It didn't seem to matter anymore whether you were hungry or not. You were taught to ignore your feelings of hunger and satiation just to please someone else. And you learned well. Years later, you're still keeping a friend company by sharing a meal when you're not hungry, or accepting an alcoholic beverage just to be part of the crowd, or to please a hostess. The dictionary describes hunger as "the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by need of food." Some people become irritable, shaky, or disoriented if they are not fed at their usual mealtime. Others experience hunger as feeling lightheaded, empty, low, headachy, or hollow. At times a growling stomach prompts an eating episode. Some eat when they get depressed. Others lose their appetite when they get depressed. External stimuli are abundant, as are emotional and physical ones, yet few of these are hunger, just some other strain on your nervous system. Human beings have a built-in fight or flight mechanism that helps them to survive. When your ancestors roamed the earth and encountered a tiger who had leaped out of the bushes, they would mobilize themselves to either fight the tiger or flee from it. Years later, you still face the tigers. A death in the family, loss of a job, or an illness may certainly have the bite of a tiger. Your pulse quickens, your mouth feels dry, your palms sweat and you revert to old behavior and try to quell the anxiety by putting something into your mouth. You also may be reacting to the fluctuations of daily life - a waiter being inept, traffic inching along, a line at the bank - that cause you to eat a box of cookies or ask for a second helping of food. You might be misidentifying a minor travail as a tiger when it is only a baby cub. Have you had the experience of thinking you were hungry at noontime only to become absorbed in a project or in a book, and have several hours pass before you think about food again? True hunger cannot wait a few hours. It demands to be fed. You were not hungry at noon but were responding to a time of day stimulus, another reason you've given yourself to eat. If you distract yourself with some other activity, the urge usually passes within a few minutes. Try to differentiate between your hungers and your urges. Food need not fill you up in order for you to feel satisfied. A few bites of foods you don't usually eat can be very satisfying while baskets of bread, mugs of coffee, or liter bottles of diet soda might leave you feeling hungry and unsatisfied. It is not okay to eat when you are physically or emotionally uncomfortable. Eat when you're hungry. Stop eating when you are no longer hungry, not when you are full or there is nothing remaining on your plate. As your clothes get looser, you'll start to enjoy leaving food on your plate. It is a process that takes time to achieve. Remember: · Volume of non-nutritious food merely stuffs and bloats but does not satisfy real hunger. · Variety and texture along with nutrition satiates hunger. About The Author This article is an excerpt from the book Conquer Your Food Addiction published by Simon and Schuster. Caryl Ehrlich, the author, also teaches The Caryl Ehrlich Program, a one-on-one behavioral approach to weight loss in New York City. Visit her at http://www.ConquerFood.com to know more about weight loss and keep it off without diet, deprivation, props, or pills.
MORE RESOURCES:
Weight-Loss - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Avoid These Five Common Weight Loss Mistakes Mistake 1: Not changing your calorie plan as you lose weight. The fallacy of the "1200 calorie diet" plans and the like. How To Avoid Gaining the Holiday 7 As the holidays approach, a frequent question from my clients and subscribers is "How can I avoid gaining weight during the holidays"? Their concern is legitimate. The average American adult gains seven pounds of fat between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. Cycle Your Way To Weight Loss Of all the possible exercises there are to help you lose weight, cycling is one of the best.If you want to lose weight and are looking for the perfect exercise, or if you're looking for a great calorie burning exercise to add to your exercise repertoire, this article is for you. Fast Weight Loss -- The Healthiest Fast Weight Loss Plan In general, fast weight loss is not healthy. The faster you lose weight, the faster you'll gain it back. Volumetrics Adverse Events - Two Potential Outcomes Adverse Events with VolumetricsDr. Barbara Rolls is a well respected nutritionist in the United States. Is Emotional Eating Causing You to Blow Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan? You've done everything right this time. You're eating lots of salad, fruit, and protein; using only low fat dressings and even staying away from white flour and refined sugar. Three Easy Ways To Prevent and Suppress Cravings on a Low Carb Diet If you've been on a low carb diet for any amount of time, you have undoubtedlyfelt the pangs of hunger that accompanystrong cravings. There are a number ofways in which you can deal with thesecravings and mitigate them in the future; andif you want to be successful on yourlow carb diet, you will do exactly that. Tell Me - Do You Really Like Being Fat? Once upon a time, I fretted about going to a family wedding because I was - gasp - 142 pounds. I am five foot three. The Band Fill--Adjusting Your LapBand A fill is nothing to be worried about. The actual procedure takes only about 15 minutes. Best Diet Plan Available Diet Fads-Forget about 'EmAnother fad "best diet" bites the dust. Adkins Company filed for bankruptcy recently after making a huge impact on the American diet scene. Weight Loss During Holidays: What to Do With Leftovers? If I Want to Lose Weight, What Can I Do With Leftovers?Okay, tell me if you've ever done this: It's Monday late afternoon. You decided yesterday that starting today you were going to 1) eat right, and 2) start to get regular exercise, and 3) give up all your bad habits. The College Student's Guide for EASY WEIGHT LOSS! Weight loss is a hot topic among college students today, especially considering the fact that most college freshmen gain half a pound every week! Since the schedule of college students is almost always hectic, weight loss efforts are not a priority. With so little extra time it is impractical to join the latest diet fad or commit to sweating in the gym for hours at a time. Hoodia Diet Pills - Tremendous Product and Excellent Fraud! When it comes to the matter of weight loss, peoples always prefer tricky methods. Peoples don't want to learn "Diet Basics"; they don't want to follow healthy food habit; they hate to exercise. Pushing Gastric Bypass: When to Talk, When to Keep Quiet Sharing our bariatric stories is as personal decision as electing to have the surgery itself. Some of us are very private and others of us are very open. Gene's Diet Plan Hot dang! If a few hundred other folks can peddle a plan to help people lose weight, there's no reason I can't jump on the bandwagon too! So, here's my plan. All you need to do is send me a certified check for $495. Get NeanderThin on the Cave Man Diet Are you up to a cave man diet? You won't have to start living in a cave, but your eating habits will have to become.. Why Diets DONT Work One of the biggest scams ever successfully pulled on the American public is - somewhat appropriately - a 4-letter word. That word is, of course, Diet. The Culprit of Obesity in Children - Inactivity It was bad enough hearing almost daily that obesity in adults is a growing problem, now our children are the focal point. Yes, moms and dads, the research is in. Overweight? - 5 Tips to Enhance Your Sex Drive You could try one of the many sexual enhancement drugs available today. You could sign up for very expensive workshops and retreats. The Hidden Truth About Diets Quick, what's the first thought that pops into your head when you hear the word "diet?" Probably that when you're on one, you feel like you're going to "d-i-e" right?!WHAT EXACTLY IS A DIET?Most people believe that a diet is something that involves pain, suffering, and giving up foods we enjoy. Some of the symptoms of "being on a diet" usually include being hungry and cranky all the time.
|
