Everyday Systems

I really think I eat enough at dinner but still about 8:30pm I get hungry but probably more so have cravings. This is the hardest time for me. Things that help me are:
1. Herbal tea
2. A hot bath
3. Reading this discussion board
4. Going to bed earlier than usual.
Would love to hear what helps others get through their vulnerable times!

I go to bed. Thursday nights are the only difficult time for me. Tonight, I went to bed and just got up to clean up the kitchen. It works. It's not great, but it works. In the end, I'm happier cleaning up the kitchen at 9 than breaking N Day rules at 6.

Just drink more water!

I love hot tea but since I don't drink it with milk or sugar, it doesn't satisfy an empty stomach. I usually have a large cup of decaf coffee with alittle milk or cream, especially if I want to watch something on TV.

It helps me if I brush my teeth right after my last meal of the day. Especially since sometimes (I hate to admit this) I have trouble actually getting that teeth-brushing in at night. It's just so much easier to just go to bed, and it's an awful habit I've gotten into. But if I brush right after dinner, it gets done and I don't really feel like ruining that clean feeling and minty taste!

I should REALLY start brushing after dinner. I have this thing where I like to get the spicy taste out of my mouth (I usually load my meal with pepper and red pepper flakes) with some sweets. I will try that tonight!!!

Why isn't this working for me? What am I doing wrong? I'm really sad about this

I've been doing the no s diet and I haven't lost anything. Any Suggestions.

jeanne, how is your activity level? and your portions?

Jeanne,

If it makes you feel any better, we started around the same time and I've only lost about 2 pounds. This was my first month & I'm considering it a learning experience. It has taken me a whole month to really no longer get hungry between meals and also to get my portion sizes to a 'normal' amount.

Janmarie,

We eat dinner early at my house and stay up pretty late, so I get hungry then too. Tea with a bit of milk or cream really works for me. I was also thinking of buying some V-8, thinking that it would also help bump up my fruit & veggie intake, but still not mess up my 'no snack' rule. Usually getting up to do some housework helps to distract me, plus I figure it burns a few calories too. Popping a piece of gum in my mouth while I do my reading works too.

Jeanne,

This may seem kind of random, but since my heart trouble I have added certain foods to my diet. With my supper I eat 6-7 olives and about 12 pecan halves, and also 1/4 cup of dried cherries. The olives and pecans are supposed to help my LDL (and arthritis, since I can't take much arthritis medicine now) and the cherries are supposed to be kind of a natural anti-inflammatory (to help my arthritis).
And...I take a 1000 mg. fish-oil capsule.

Since I have been doing this, I have not been nearly as hungry after supper. I may have to back off this if it seems like it is keeping me from losing weight. But, it seems like these foods are kind of nutrient-rich and the first two items have some "good fat" in them.

It may be all psychological, but I feel kind of like "I'm full and well-nourished" and I don't really want a snack.

Your mileage may vary, but I thought I'd share....

John

Hi JanMarie,

I will confess my hardest time is pre dinner, not post dinner, but usually what I do is:

1. I don't clean up immediately following dinner because I'm not feeling enough satiety yet and will be prone to nibble leftovers while I clean up. I usually give it a half hour or so after dinner.

2. By 9 pm, I'm upstairs in my bedroom. Once I'm laying down, my body seems ready for rest and I'm not fixated with eating.

3. I chew sugarless gum. A lot after dinner especially.

4. I try to read and relax from 9-10 or 11ish in my bedroom away from the kitchen.

Good luck to you! Sounds like you already have some good strategies in place.

Thank you so much for all your responses! Another routine I have recently added to my evenings is listening to relaxation audio. I really like Glenn Harrold who is a hypnotist and makes a series of audio's, if you have an mp3 player you can download them, there are quite a few, some for deep sleep, relaxation, improving self-esteem and of course losing weight. I never thought I would benefit from this sort of thing but I find the relaxing thing very helpful!

Hunger problems. It happens to me around 9-10pm usually ... it's funny I rarely have hunger problems during the day and early evenings. It's usually later that it occurs.

Here's a good recipe. celery, almost no calories, source of fiber so it fills you up quickly. A few unsalted almonds.

Ground flax seed (Lots of fiber, omega3, few calories) What I do everyday is I put a tablespoon of ground flax seed in a tall glass of water. I mix and drink it, then I have a 2nd tall glass of water. (Or if you prefer, put the ground flax seeds in your mouth and then drink the water to wash 'em down !)

Update, i was just researching this and I see some people put the ground flax seeds in a glass of water and then wait 15 minutes or even longer ... before drinking 'em, so they swell up a bit, might be easier to swallow ... and then another glass of water, I've never tried that before, I'll experiment tomorrow to see if it would be better. I don't care if it doesn't look too appetizing in a glass of water, I am not bothered. I see it's good to drink a lot of water if you do this, so I'll probably have 2 extra glasses of water instead of just one, they absorb a lot of the water and swell up 5 times in your stomach, the things you learn on the internet.


You can also put 'em on all sorts of food of course, yogurt, oatmeal, cereals.

You can buy big bags of flax seeds at the grocery store, In bulk, for 3$ ... and then you grind them yourself, I prefer to buy them already crushed, a 2$ bag lasts over a month in my case (I keep it in my refrigerator.)

http://tinyurl.com/c7qdda

Those 4 things curb my hunger quickly.
- Celery (Plain, of course !)
- Unsalted raw Almonds
- Ground Flax seeds
- Water

Tomato juice is also really good but avoid the brands which have a lot of salt, low sodium is better for your health. Plain air popped pop corn, although I haven't had that in a while.


Marc

I've just hit upon another hunger-killer that I add to a meal each day: A spoonful of blackstrap molasses. A teaspon has about 23 calories. A tablespoon contains about 25% of the iron, potassium, et. al., that you need each day.

Please notice that this is not ordinary molasses. It seems that they boil the cane once, and make sugar out of it. Then they boil whats left, and make regular molasses out of it. Then they boil what is left, and that becomes blackstrap.

Then they boil what's left after the blackstrap, and make asphalt out of it..... (Okay, I just made that part up. But blackstrap is SERIOUSLY black. It's sweet, but it has a strong taste. Probably because it has so many vitamins and minerals in it.)

Again, it's my theory that when I eat some seriously nutrient-dense food, my body says, "I see that doughnut, but I really don't want to eat it. You see, I'm glutted with iron, potassium. selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids. so I really don't have room for a doughnut." It's a matter of having my body stuffed with nutrients, and not calories.

So...I thought I would share. Maybe you can give it a shot and let us know how it works for you.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have recently found that a cup of hot almond milk works pretty good. Almond milk is really tasty, has less calories than milk, makes a good hot chocolate (not much cocoa or sugar)