Getting in Touch with Hungry and Full
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:30 pm
I've mentioned on some of my online forums that I'm doing No S. (I have a Livejournal and being a writer and a bit of a recluse, it's a source of a lot of social contact for me).
I am amused at how often people talk about how three meals a day Just Wouldn't Work for Them.
One of the questions that should be absurd, but isn't when you think in the context of how people are encouraged to eat these days is:
Aren't you hungry by mealtime?
Of course I am. That's the point of a meal - to satisfy hunger. You're supposed to be hungry for your dinner, for heaven's sake! But if you never know hunger, you really never know satisfaction.
And that's the flip side. The sensation of properly full after having actually been hungry feels really good. It's my theory that's why we often overeat or stress eat, to try to catch that feeling of relaxation and mild relief you get after a good meal you were physically hungry for.
Thing is, you've gotta actually be hungry and need the food to get that response. A snack won't produce that feeling. We don't realize it in our culture because all too often, we're snacking all the time. We're never hungry enough to produce the appropriate tension to have the relief. (Yes, I could make a somewhat more earthy analogy, but I'll leave it to your imagination. But you get the point).
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I am amused at how often people talk about how three meals a day Just Wouldn't Work for Them.
One of the questions that should be absurd, but isn't when you think in the context of how people are encouraged to eat these days is:
Aren't you hungry by mealtime?
Of course I am. That's the point of a meal - to satisfy hunger. You're supposed to be hungry for your dinner, for heaven's sake! But if you never know hunger, you really never know satisfaction.
And that's the flip side. The sensation of properly full after having actually been hungry feels really good. It's my theory that's why we often overeat or stress eat, to try to catch that feeling of relaxation and mild relief you get after a good meal you were physically hungry for.
Thing is, you've gotta actually be hungry and need the food to get that response. A snack won't produce that feeling. We don't realize it in our culture because all too often, we're snacking all the time. We're never hungry enough to produce the appropriate tension to have the relief. (Yes, I could make a somewhat more earthy analogy, but I'll leave it to your imagination. But you get the point).
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