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Food Cravings Verses True Hunger
Breaking an addiction means discarding old habits and learning new ones. For now, we won't worry about the food itself, but how we behave toward it. So get out yourjournal and turn to the RULES page. Enter:
Rule #1: I eat only when I am truly hungry. The question now is: How do you know when you are truly hungry? Before I conquered my food addiction, I thought craving food was hunger. It was all in the brain, seldom in the stomach. Webster's Dictionary defines hunger as "the discomfort, pain, or weakness caused by the need for food." For the food addict, food cravings are mistaken for hunger. The desire to eat is seldom triggered by discomfort in the stomach. It is more likely to be triggered by the smell of food, the sight of food, the thought of food. If you have the freedom to choose your mealtime, wait for stomach discomfort to eat. Drink some water. Wait 30 minutes, give the food craving time to pass. If you still feel discomfort after 30 minutes, have a meal. Not everyone has the freedom to choose their mealtimes. For instance: You work at a job that has a set lunch time. You are feeding a family which needs to eat at regular times, especially if there are children. You are invited out for a meal at a specified time. If this is your situaltion, you will need to experiment with the amount of food you eat that will leave you hungry just when it is time for your next prescribed mealtime. Rule #2: I eat only at mealtime. Giving up eating between meals may be your biggest challenge. If you cannot get by with three meals a day, then have four. But DO NOT SNACK. Sorry for shouting, but this is important for the food addict. Food cravings generally rear their ugly heads between meals. When this happens, get out your journal and plan your next meal. Include a small amount of the food that you have been craving, then wait until mealtime to eat it. Rule #3: I drink only water between meals.
Don't drink anything between meals, or after your evening meal, except water. If you desire a hot drink, drink hot water. You will be surprised at how pleasing it is. If you want a cold drink, drink ice water. "Why can't I have coffee, tea, or diet soda?" Because we are trying to break an addiction here. Get your body and your pigmy-self, the subconscious, used to the idea that anything other than water is food and goes with a meal.
Rule #4: I eat until I am no longer hungry, then I quit eating. With a little experimentation, you will eat just enough food at breakfast to get you to lunch. By lunch, you should be hungry. At lunch you will eat just enough food to get you to dinner. By dinner, you should be hungry. At dinner, eat just enough food to get you to bedtime. Between bedtime and breakfast, let your body live off its stored fat. If you have four meals a day, you will eat less at each meal. Listen to you your body. Quit eating when you have had enough but you are not stuffed. Be aware that sometimes after you have had enough, a food craving will creep in. Usually it is calling for more desert or other carbs. This would be a good time to sip a cup of coffee or a diet soda. Don't expect to learn this in one day. Use your journal to evaluate how you did each day. Make adjustments.
When you are learning how much food to eat, take into account your physical activity. What do you do all day? If you work hard all day but watch TV in the evening, you will need more food at breakfast and lunch than at night. If you sit at a desk all day but have a vigorous workout in the evening, dinner will be larger. It you sit at a desk all day and watch TV in the evening you either need to eat very little or add some exercise to your regimen! OK. Now you have four rules in your journal that will help you conquer your food cravings.
You eat only at mealtime. You drink only plain water between meals. You eat only until you are no longer hungry, then you quit eating.
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