Eating only when hungry - Need advice

[sabrefist]

Several times for about 4 months I've tried to commit to only eating when I'm hungry instead of boredom/habit. I can honestly say I've been successful with cutting out 90-95% of my boredom eating however I still find habitual eating a problem. I start to feel weird if I've not eaten within a certain timeframe, even though most of the time I'm not hungry.

I would love some advice from anyone who has kicked habitual eating or overcame any bad eating habits.

[MasterD]

I know what you mean. Skipping a meal feels really weird. It feels like going to bed without brushing your teeth before and then a little bit more pronounced. It is possible, but something in you resists it.

The way to battle this is to get into such a routine that at some point you do not need to skip meals anymore. Another helpful thing is to get really busy so that the focus on food becomes minimal. But keeping yourself into the discipline of having to skip meals regularly that you normally eat is not a long term solution and costs massive amounts of willpower that you can't focus on other things.

[bman]

From what I was told, this is a bad idea.


You should eat one lump meals, because if you don't, your colon won't clear out properly.

Don't leave toxins lingering in the colon, not healthy.

[sabrefist]

Today, despite major temptations, I ignored the urge to eat crisps and instead I nibbled on a stick of celery. It's cheap, nice and healthy and is a great replacement for junk food addiction becuase of the salty taste.

I think I'll turn this into a 21-day* trial. For 21 days, everytime I get the urge to eat something unhealthy when I'm not hungry, I'll replace it with fruit or veg (oranges, apples, celery and carrrots are my favourites).

*14-21 days is generally enough for me to progress into something permanently. I find 30 days to be a bit too intimidating for something new.

[bluedragon]

If you want to make it easier on your self, you have to get over your mentality that eating regularly is necessary.
I'll tell you - being hungry is the best feeling ever - as long as you keep your gastric juices at bay, by drinking water with an alcaline PH, you will feel the most wonderful and amazing feeling of mental clarity, joy and even altered states of consciousness.
Fasting is one of the keys to longevity.

[Some Random Loser]

This is really weird but I've found that so far, integrating more raw fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet has had rippling effects on my overall eating patterns, and I'm more conscious of my eating than ever. I see you're eating celery, which is considered an excellent vegetable even by the "Life Scientists" who tend not to look too favorably on vegetables in general

[sabrefist]

This morning I made a lettuce & tomato salad instead of chocolatey or sugary breakfast cereal. Also I've just finished eating a stick of celery that I filled with a vegan cream cheese alternative. This was actually nicer than most of the junk food I've eaten recently.

Originally Posted by bluedragon

If you want to make it easier on your self, you have to get over your mentality that eating regularly is necessary.
I'll tell you - being hungry is the best feeling ever - as long as you keep your gastric juices at bay, by drinking water with an alcaline PH, you will feel the most wonderful and amazing feeling of mental clarity, joy and even altered states of consciousness.
Fasting is one of the keys to longevity.

Yesterday I allowed myself to go hungry for about an hour before I gave in. I witnessed the feeling of mental clarity you were talking about.

When I first became vegetarian, because I was starting from scratch I purposely sought out healthy foods and plenty of fruit and veg. But over time I discovered how much junk food there is that is vegetarian.

Trial Update: It's not been long since I officially 'replaced' junk food, however, I have slept since then. And I slept better than I have done in ages.

I expect that I will have ups and downs over the next few days. When I cut out meat I had days of extreme mental clarity wheras some days I felt ill. I've tried to cut out junk before but within a few days I was craving salty or spicy foods and eventually gave in.

Hopefully by keeping my trial updated on this forum I will succeed. If anyone knows of any food (other than celery) that can beat salt cravings, I would love to know.

Edit: I've heard acai is a good hunger suppressant. Anyone had any experience with acai berries or acai supplements?

[James81]

This is a bad idea because usually by the time you feel "hungry," it means that your blood sugar is probably low and you are going to want to binge on things that make it increase.

What you want to do is more of a "grazing" factor, eating several smaller foods throughout the day and just cutting out the crap in your diet.

For instance, I've recently started into a new eating cycle. I wake up and have a bowl of healthy cereal, a banana, and a glass of juice (I never used to eat breakfast at all). At midmorning I eat a cup of lowfat yogurt. At lunch time I'll have something like a turkey sandwich with swiss and hummus, an orange, and a cup of applesauce. Then mid-afternoon I'll have an apple and a small bag of mixed nuts. Then, for supper I load up on the vegetables, fish, chicken, whatever. Before going to bed I'll have something sweet for a snack.

Now that looks like I'm eating like a hog (and I certainly feel that way because I used to eat just one meal a day and snack here and there), but look at WHAT I am eating. Nothing in that list is really all that bad for me, but most of it is great for me. Plus, the consistent eating (even small, healthy foods for snacks) is a boost to your metabolism.

[sabrefist]

Originally Posted by James81

This is a bad idea because usually by the time you feel "hungry," it means that your blood sugar is probably low and you are going to want to binge on things that make it increase.

As I've written in my updates, my goal is to eat healthy food whenever I feel like eating junk. I've always had a habit of eating throughout the day, but it was mainly junk food in between meals.

I've commited to replacing junk food (chocolate, cakes, crisps, fizzy drinks, etc) with healthier alternatives such as fruit and veg snacks, nuts and dried fruit.

I've recently found some great alternatives to junk:
Dates instead of chocolate or other 'sweets'
Celery to beat the salt cravings

Anyone got any good ideas for healthy salty or spicy food?

[James81]

Hummus and Salsa would be more healthy types of salty and spicy foods.

[bluedragon]

Originally Posted by James81

This is a bad idea because usually by the time you feel "hungry," it means that your blood sugar is probably low and you are going to want to binge on things that make it increase.

It's not a bad idea according to many. I don't feel like eating sugar at all, as long as I don't make a habit out of eating sweets daily.
After a long hunger, I feel so good, I don't even feel the need to eat, so I just take the time to wash a vegetable or something, I boil some brown rice and when it's ready I eat it. Whatever I eat, I eat it very slowly and enjoy each bite. However, if I eat a chocolate bar, after an hour I want another chocolate bar, and nothing else would satisfy me, not even a banana - of course I can refrain, but there is always a slight feeling of craving.
When I'm out in the city and I hunger, if I were to eat something, but not enough, I would feel even worth after eating, cause my stomach would be set in motion and would be waiting for "the rest of the food". Of course, I'm not saying that having a bunch of apples or bananas with you, or a smoothie, or nuts is not a great thing. But I never dealt with life so well as I did when I felt hungry. And I never felt so independent, so unfrustrated, as when I decided "my purpose is to be here and do this, not to be looking around for food like crazy", and I just was there and did what I was there to do.

[sabrefist]

Good morning all, here is my day 2 update:
Yesterday I turned down large "mini meal". It's basically fried rice and chips smothered in curry sauce. I wanted it so badly but instead I nibbled on grapes and also satisfied my salt craving with a few strips of seaweed.

I wonder why they have a "mini meal" in regular and large sizes...

Instead of buying any sort of fizzy drink, I bought Aloe Vera water with orange. It had a few bits in, but actual juicy bits and not lumpy blending leftovers.

Anyway, so far my list of good substitutes for various cravings are:
Sugar:
Dates, Grapes, Mixture of berries

Salt:
Celery, Seaweed, Greated cheese

Tangy:
Tomatoes, Oranges, 'sour' apples

[sabrefist]

Here is my daily intake for yesterday (calculated from the food label where possible, rest from calorieking.com)

TOTAL
Calories: 381
Total fat: 7.6g
Saturated fat: 3g
Sodium: 309mg
Total Carbs: 74.3g
Fibre: 2.3g
Sugars: 65.1g
Protein: 4.2g
Calcium: 32mg
Potassium: 208mg

I've noticed my fat intake for the whole day is roughly the same as an average chocolate bar.

Also, apart from the Sugars, I could have got all that from only one or two slices of pizza.

[ginkgo]

Allan Cott, M.D. is a psychiatrist. He says that hunger is a mental thing. The physical part is that when you fill your stomach, you feel pain and do not want to eat more since it will cause more pain. Otherwise it is all mental. The low blood sugar thing is a myth. It is a rare disease.

Your body keeps the same blood sugar whether you eat or do not eat for 30 days. Dr Cott wrote 2 books on fasting. The only way to understand eating is to understand not eating. What people get when they do not eat a while are not symptoms of low blood sugar but symptoms of rapid detoxification. This page on Eating and Fasting tells more about how this whole thing works. You can learn about your addiction to food from fasting. Although giving up smoking makes you sick and so fasting can make you feel worse.

You have the body of an animal. Animals were designed to enjoy eating and sex for survival of the individual and survival of the species. Being an expert on fasting, here is the sad truth. If tomorrow people lost the ability to eat and taste food and they had no need to eat, in 6 months most people will have killed themselves.

Great wisdom comes from Fat Bastard, the charactor on the Austin Powers movies. He says "I eat because I am sad and I am sad because I eat." The solution is to find happiness so you do not need to try to suck the happiness out of food. There are groups of Christians that do fasting but they do not do it for the physical benefits of fasting. Some people say that they need their booze or cigarettes or heroin or cocaine etc. But people love eating more than anything else. They adore it. They are in love with it.

Gabriel Cousins is also a psychiatrist and fasts people. Another page of the above tells how there is a long waiting list of the fasting unit of the Moscow Psychiatric Hospital. There is no way to get rid of this waiting list. Even if it were expanded to 20 times its size, it would not work to get rid of this waiting list. The reason is because the more people that are fasted, the more they tell others about it. When training an animal you reward it by giving it food. It is obvious that animals like eating and sex more than anything else. You have the animal of a body, but it is not you. Give some good human food to a dog and watch him eat it.

[sabrefist]

I have a few problems with that page you linked to ginko. First of all

When it comes to evolution the 2 most powerful desires of animals are eating and sex. This is to make sure that the animal survives and that the species survives. But unlike other animals humans have a divine soul.

A divine soul... It's hard to trust an argument when a lot of weight is given to this. The bulk of the argument requires this undefined divine soul to exist to be true. If at any point we refuse to believe that the existence of a divine soul seperates us from animals then this argument falls flat on its face.

Even weirder is the fact that the only evidence given to prove the fact that fasting works is some numbers taken from studying animals.

An MD I know has noticed the connection between depression and being overweight.

At this point I decided to blindly believe everything this person says... he knows an MD after all. And this unnamed MD has amazing powers of observation (see above quote) that far surpass those of us who don't have letters after our name.

This page will have things on it that will fascinate experts on fasting, nutrition and losing weight.

If only there was any 'real' evidence or at least anything beyond speculation and assumptions such as

I have learned about mankind from fasting. Say tomorrow that humans no longer needed to eat food and they lost the ability to eat or taste food. In 6 months most of the people on the planet will have committed suicide.

This is tested how? If we lose one sense we'll kill most of ourselves. Like most blind people do, or most deaf people, most of them kill themselves right? It is through fasting (and not studying) that the author believes he knows the behaviour of the entire population. We can't argue though... he knows an MD.

I don't know why you linked to this page ginkgo, there are far better sources of information on fasting with more substantial evidence. I've tried fasting in the day and eating only at night but I've found my body and mind works better if I eat more regularly, this will continue to be the case as long as we run on food instead of divine soul energy.

Trial Update: I'm no longer craving chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks. Also, I'm feeling mentally clearer today.

[MasterD]

gingko, you have obviously never fasted for more than a day.

[sabrefist]

I started using a hunger suppressant yesterday. It also kills sugar cravings. I've found that I've not been craaving anything spicy or salty either. After taking one yesterday evening I didn't feel like eating before bed. All I had was a cup of apple juice.

[Angela Leeds]

Originally Posted by sabrefist

This morning I made a lettuce & tomato salad instead of chocolatey or sugary breakfast cereal.

Sounds to me like you've been letting yourself let go of social ideas of what meals should be like and when they should be. That's very freeing! Helps you tune into your own true inner voice that'll guide you to what's right for you. Very nice. Keep it up!

Edit: I've heard acai is a good hunger suppressant. Anyone had any experience with acai berries or acai supplements?

Goji berries, raw chocolate, and acai are all reputed appetite suppresants. I haven't done acai as yet, but I can vouch for the first two.

I've been drinking a "raw soda" with goji berries and cayenne (chili) in it lately. Delicious, healthful, and seems to curb appetite pretty effectively, although that wasn't my intent in drinking it.

But superfoods in general are going to curb your appetite, because they are so full of nutrients and they mineralize your body intensely as compared to other foods. Most people are hungry all the time because their bodies are craving those minerals & nutrients...

[aelle]

I think eating only when hungry and as long as you are hungry is a great idea. Getting back in touch with your body's natural cravings while freeing yourself from societal ideas of what, how, how much we should eat is a great way to reach and maintain a healthy weight for many people.

However, it doesn't seem that this is really what you are attempting to do, sabrefist, and some details in your trial are worrysome. You mention waiting through hunger without eating, refraining from eating a big meal that you craved. You also mention hunger suppressants and a very low calorie intake, which can be fine if that's all your body happens to crave on a certain day, but definitifvely not good if it's usual. The foods you mention are indeed healthy, but low calorie. Are you eating healthy fats and carbs?
Finally, and to make my point clear if it wasn't already, I absolutely know the feeling of clarity one gets with hunger. It is one of the symptoms of mental anorexia. Take care of yourself.

[sabrefist]

Originally Posted by aelle

Finally, and to make my point clear if it wasn't already, I absolutely know the feeling of clarity one gets with hunger. It is one of the symptoms of mental anorexia. Take care of yourself.

I have been allowing myself to reach the point of hunger before I eat and ignoring the hunger, the low calorie count was probably the lowest ever for me. Since then I'm getting about 1500+.

The reason I had so little calories on that day was because I replaced all the junk I was eating with the healthiest stuff I could think of. It was kind of a starting point for me to work my way up to a healthy alance without my usual diet. I ate quite a lot while only consuming around 300 calories. Since then I've been including pasta in my diet as well as my girlfriend's awesome meat-free burgers, etc.

I use the hunger suppressants to supress my urge to eat when I'm not hungry rather than actually supressing my hunger.

Originally Posted by Angela Leeds
Sounds to me like you've been letting yourself let go of social ideas of what meals should be like and when they should be.

Yes, it's very hard to shake the ideals that have been socially programmed into us. The same people who go on about the importance of breakfast also fail to make the most of it. I always loved eating chocolate cereal but I've made the decision not to convince myself that it's ok just because 'breakfast is healthy'.

[sabrefist]

I've lost count of when I stopped eating junk food, but now the thought of chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks makes me feel ill. I've been enjoying smoothies and fruit juices a lot and have been eating a lot of fruit instead of unhealthy alternatives.

I'm really glad I've made this change as I am much happier, I feel much better and I can get throught tasks a lot quicker.

I think my next step will be a healthy fully vegan diet. I will have to research it a bit more before I commit so I know I'm fully prepared and know exactly how to get everything I need.

ps: I rarely eat when I'm not hungry now, and when I do, it's mainly fruit/veg.