Everyday Systems

3 days so far. I think I like the NoS. I ate a good breakfast (middle east cooked beans+bread) that should have fulfilled me till lunch (Obviously I was wrong).
Now it is 11:15 am and I still have about 1 whole hour to lunch, and I feel real hunger (not psychological). I know that because my stomach start growling.
My options:
1- I have an apple with me as a backup snack, but that would mark my day as a fail.
2- I can have my lunch now, but before I go home I would be hungry again because lunch would be too early!
3- Or I can just wait and live with one hour of hunger (which I am not sure if it is good for the body).

NoS experts, please help with that decision!

Hi, I think your #3 is probably the best course of action. It won't harm you to experience an hour or two of hunger and it will start to teach your body not to expect food quite so often. If you are someplace that you can get a drink, that might help. I sometimes have a glass of milk if I'm in a situation that I honestly think I need some calories but a cup of tea or glass of water are my preferred stop-gap measures. I gage whether or not I need calories by answering this question: "Would I eat and enjoy a carrot (or bowl of sprouts) right now or am I not really hungry for vegetables but still want to eat" If I'm willing to eat my less favorite food, I'm probably really hungry and that's what I eat. If I really want the more favored food I'm probably not really hungry and should wait.

Good luck to you. Whatever you decide it's fine It's all a learning process.

- Drink water. Thirst is usually mistaken for hunger, especially by people who are accustomed to eating frequently.
- Allow yourself to fully experience the feeling of hunger, understand that it is perfectly natural and healthy, and look forward to the next meal.
- Drink herbal tea. There are many varieties that taste good and provide a multitude of health benefits. Ingesting something that's warm, flavorful, healthy, and calorie-free is better than breaking down and snacking. NOTE: This may impede the formation of a true "no snacking" habit.

I think our culture teaches us to fear hunger, and it's really bizarre. Everywhere we go there are snacks to try to keep us from ever experiencing even the slightest bit of hunger--why?

If I'm hungry, I either just wait or I get a cup of coffee or tea (one can do milk but I don't really like milk), or even some water. No biggie. I remind myself that I am very well-fed on 3 great meals per day, and I look forward to my next meal with relish. I also remind myself that I have many years of extra meals on my hips, and my body is welcome to draw from one of those.

I remind myself that nothing bad happens when I'm hungry--I'm just hungry. And I go about my business.

And then I enjoy my next meal when it's time. Sometimes I think--I really ate too little at that last meal, make note of that for the future.

Hang in there!

Sage advice from Merry, as usual! 🌞
I would also suggest number 3. "Hunger is not an emergency" - that's what I learned from reading a Beck diet solutions book. I had forgotten all about it but it's good to bear in mind! For most people, there is NO harm in being hungry for a while, seriously: none. (Unless a competent doctor tells you otherwise.)
Hunger also comes and goes. Physical hunger that is NOT a symptom of chronic food shortage will help you appreciate your three meals so much more. Then you get full faster and are much less likely to overeat. I agree with Merry, we Americans at least have this cultural obsession that one can't ever feel hungry. If you adjust your thinking about the sensation of hunger and see its value to your goals, that should help. Hang in there! The no snacking rule really is the most important one, I am beginning to think.
Take care!! 🌻

Thank you everyone for your response. I appreciate all of your answers as they really give me the push I need. It is funny that just 1 week ago I was fully convinced that if I am hungry for 15 minutes I will go into starvation mode and the next meal will be mostly converted into fats by my body! I know now I was very wrong! It also make sense to get really hungry before eating, I bet that our grand grand ancestors (when there was a real lack of food) was getting really hungry before eating. We are not meant to eat all the day, very common sense! I now see the light!

Only one thing I don't quite get:

Elyssa wrote:Then you get full faster and are much less likely to overeat.

When I am hungry I feel that I eat too much because...well...I AM really hungry. When I was snacking I was getting full faster (however I would continue the whole meal anyways and that is why I was getting fat I guess).
How can being more hungry associated with feeling full faster? What is the logic behind this?!

Thanks!!

Hi Lagflag: there may NOT be any logic behind it... it's really just an interesting experience I've had now that I got onto No-S. I used to have so many snacks, not be hungry at meals, then eat and eat & strangely NOT reach a point of satiety. Now, I'm hungry at meals. Paradoxically, I'm eating more slowly (maybe because that one plate is it) and I'm just feeling full now when the plate is empty.
I tried for years to eat slowly and/or learn to feel full after a REASONABLE amount of food. I was rarely ever hungry (because of all the snacking based on that stuff one hears about the "starvation mode" one supposedly goes into within minutes) - yet the point of "enough food" never seemed to be reached for me.
Hunger has been helping me. Also to enjoy my food more. Probably no logic but ... somehow it's working for me!
LET US KNOW HOW THINGS GO FOR YOU!!! 🐣 Take care ~ Elyssa

I think hunger is good! Embrace it! Your body will adjust to the eating times and amounts soon enough. Also, if you don't let your body get hungry before meals, it has trouble telling you when you've had enough because it thinks you had enough in the first place!

Thanks everyone. I agree on the "getting hungry" concept, only to switch a celery or a carrot for a glass of milk doesnt click! I don't mind stay away completely from snacks, but I do mind being allowed to have a fatty drink. I won't do it then.. so no snack no milk..
The 1 plate thing starting to make sense. Today at dinner I figured out that I had too much white meat and still want to add other items and the plate won't fit. I reduced the white meat (turkey leg is now half turkey leg) so the rest of foods fit. I felt full and saved my body the calories of the other turkey leg

The milk is not ideal. It is a emergency measure to prevent snacking. Its not that it is better for you than the celery or some fruit it is that it won't have the same negative psychological impact as something that is "solid". It is just a way to help reinforce the no snacking habit you are trying to build.

ETA: your solution is best, no snack, no milk

breeze94 wrote:The milk is not ideal. It is a emergency measure to prevent snacking. Its not that it is better for you than the celery or some fruit it is that it won't have the same negative psychological impact as something that is "solid". It is just a way to help reinforce the no snacking habit you are trying to build.

ETA: your solution is best, no snack, no milk

"Psychological" and "no solid" make sense. Thanks

It is actually more natural for humans to feel "real" hunger, have it go away with waiting, and then have it reappear. I'm guessing that it is the body shifting its sources of fuel from the food we recently took in to its back up stores of glycogen. If we just keep eating when it first shows up, unless we eat very little, why should it stay good at using the stores? It's only later that it shifts to the fat stores. It can take some getting used to, but in my book, is WAY preferable to that fake hunger feeling-"jonesing"- for food with no hunger. I wish I could say that disappears but it still shows up. However, it's become clear that putting up with it is WAY preferable to giving in, so I am okay with having to use a bit of effort to avoid taking the bait.

You are just getting going! You've got terrific counsel here, present company excepted. I don't want to make any predictions and taint the brew, but I'll be very curious to hear your observations a few months from now.

Totally random aside, whole milk has plenty of fat. But it also has protein, calcium, Vitamin D and A, B vitamins, potassium, etc. I used to drink a small glass of milk when I was up in the middle of the night with my kids, and wanted to avoid developing a midnight snack habit. Not really answering lagflag, but wanted to throw this out there for anyone else reading along who sometimes relies on the "milk to tide you over" option - it's not necessarily a bad option, and you don't have to feel like you've made a poor nutritional choice.

I agree with iron chef about milk. It has so many good things for your body and fills you up without breakingtthw habit. I usually try coffee or tea but when I'm truly,physicAlly hungry they don't cut it and I'll have milk. I used to put a little cocoa and sugar in and make hot chocolate but I haven't done that in a long time.

So dogs milk is for puppies, horse milk is for baby horses, even human milk is for babies, but cows milk is for adults? Are u guys sure of this?
P.S i drink milk, just for teasing you

You had me going there for a second! Lol. I've heard that argument before. I do wonder what made humans decide to try milk for the first time? Hmmmmm, I'm really thirsty and hungry. I think I'll squeeze this cows udder and try that. Ok, I've had too much caffeine today.

does that make almond milk for baby almonds?

breeze94 wrote:does that make almond milk for baby almonds?

All joking aside, decades ago a Spanish home for the aged for some reason fed some of the inhabitants two days a week with about 900-950 calories of milk and fruit and other days regular food such that the residents ate enough on the up days that none of them lost any weight. (They were already slim and averaged 1625 calories a day. So much for all those recommendations of 2000+ calories needed.) Those who had the milk/fruit days spent only 56% the number of days as the controls in the hospital and suffered only 33% rate of death from heart disease in three years.

Who knows? Maybe the milk was a moot point, but...

In any case, it's a stop gap measure to zap the chewing habit. And milk for baby almonds is fine, too.

breeze94 wrote:does that make almond milk for baby almonds?

You just made my day!!!!

breeze94 wrote:does that make almond milk for baby almonds?

Merry wrote:

breeze94 wrote:does that make almond milk for baby almonds?

You guys crack me up. I read that wrong the first time and thought I needed to feel sad for the baby almonds...

@ Merry

Totally agree about our culture and the stigma surrounding feeling hunger in any way, that's something I've observed as well & had to overcome. Eating reasonable portions and eating on a schedule has really helped me figure out when it's "reasonable" for me to feel hungry. If I feel like I need to eat something and it's 11:30, I can say that "Yes, it is reasonable for you to be hungry right now. You can hang on for another 30 minutes or so and you will be fine" If I think I'm hungry and it's 9:45-10:00 am, I can tell myself "Now is not a reasonable time to eat. Drink a glass of water or cup of coffee and make yourself busy." We've all heard the "idle hands are the devil's workshop" phrase, I think it's equally accurate to say "idle hands are hunger's workshop." It's amazing how many times in my life I've just eaten because I was bored.

BurtMacklin wrote: It's amazing how many times in my life I've just eaten because I was bored.

Seriously! Been there too many times...

RE:eating when bored: you and about 66% of the population.

It is stated above about drinking water. This works for me, I drink two glasses of water when I feel "hungry", which most of the time is just a need to drink water, and do a set of an exercise, such as pushups and squats. This keeps you on your diet and helps keep you in better shape.