Everyday Systems

Man, I'm in the mood to snack on comfort food today. Bread, bread, bread... I'm sure the weather turning gray has something to do with it. I did have fried eggs with runny yolks on toast for lunch because I was craving the comfort food. But I'm still wanting to snack.

No, I'm not going to. No, I don't feel like I need some special magic technique to get me through it. This isn't an emergency that needs to be fixed. I don't think of myself as broken or wrong or helpless in the face of wanting some buttered toast every hour or so. Just needs me saying, "Yeah, I feel like it, I really do. But I won't. Will trumps impulse, every time."

Though I'm looking forward to the time when habit is so strong I don't even consider this, because frankly I'm not all that into spending willpower on food, for pity's sake. That whole "Impulse as a toddler" thing is soo right.

Tummy toddler: BREAD!

Me: You can have some at dinner if you want to.

(A little later)

Tummy toddler: TOAST!

Me: No.

Tummy toddler: (tearful) SNACK? IT'S SO GRAY AND YUCKY! APPLE?

Me: Nope.

Tummy toddler: TEA?

Me: Of course.

Tummy toddler: (under breath) You're a MEANIE.

Me: Yep.

Hahaha this made me laugh, thank you for sharing.

Yep - we have to be strict with our inner toddlers don't we!

I admire folks like you who work at home most of the time and are therefore near food all day! For me simply being away from the kitchen all day long helps me to stay on target. The main sensory challenge for me is that since students eat all day long in the library these days, the smell of french fries, bacon, pizza etc. keeps wafting around. However I would have to cross the street and spend money (!) to indulge, and I'm simply too cheap. Anyway I can control the inner toddler better when there is nothing to hand except my own frugal lunch!

My inner toddler needs a nap. My outer big girl does too.

I swapped menus around tonight just so I could have spaghetti, meatballs and homemade bread with Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce and a liberal application of parmesan cheese. And a salad. I do like the salad. We were going to have pork chops but some nights are just pasta nights.

Gray here too, and cold. Our office is under-heated, so often I'm typing away in a jacket, sipping a cup of tea or even hot water. Bread helps, especially toasted. But at meals! Hot chocolate, yes. Tea, always. I can relate! Hope you enjoyed your bread at dinner.

It's a good night for a hearty stew with noodles. We're having a Japanese beef stew with butternut squash, over soba noodles. I was inspired to make it when I went to Costco today and they had some good-looking pre-cut butternut squash.

This made me chuckle. I actually have a toddler. We are on our journey towards impulse control at the same time!

NoelFigart wrote:This isn't an emergency that needs to be fixed. I don't think of myself as broken or wrong or helpless in the face of wanting some buttered toast every hour or so.

This knowledge is the special technique. Know that being hungry isn't a red-alert emergency. If you ignore your hunger between meals, nothing bad will happen to you (assuming a normal metabolism). Hunger is not like the urge to go to the bathroom, where bad things are likely to happen if you ignore it.

A lot of people treat hunger like an emergency, but it isn't. I suspect it's the snack food companies that have persuaded us to do this. They'd have obvious economic motives to try to convince everyone that you need a snack right away if you're hungry. It would also be in their interests if everybody snacked when they're bored or stressed, so I wouldn't be too surprised if some of them promoted that, too. If they aren't behind promoting these ideas, I'd bet they're at least not sorry to see them...

It's just like how Taco Bell is promoting the idea of eating a fourth meal. If people eat four meals instead of three, and at least sometimes eat one or more of those meals at Taco Bell, Taco Bell sells more of their product and makes more money. People also get fatter, but that doesn't affect Taco Bell's bottom line, so they don't care so much about that.

Real toddlers are susceptible to advertising. When I was around that age, I told my mother that I wanted some Oil of Olay, for younger-looking skin . I'd obviously seen ads for it on TV. Your impulsive inner toddler is susceptible to advertising, too.

And somehow the feeling has seeped into the general consciousness that if you don't respond to that hunger that your metabolism (that precious and apparently precarious thing) will slow down and decide it is starving and you will NEVER LOSE WEIGHT!! The number of people who seem to feel that your body is going to go into starvation mode if you don't eat every 3 to 4 hours is amazing!

Why people were not keeling over during centuries of eating 3 meals a day is simply incredible

librarylady wrote:And somehow the feeling has seeped into the general consciousness that if you don't respond to that hunger that your metabolism (that precious and apparently precarious thing) will slow down and decide it is starving and you will NEVER LOSE WEIGHT!! The number of people who seem to feel that your body is going to go into starvation mode if you don't eat every 3 to 4 hours is amazing!

There are some other diets with an economic interest in promoting this idea. It's the ones that sell food, especially snack food. Follow the money.

Boy my tummy toddler was active today! I had my second flat tire in a month (it's pothole time in the city.) And it's Friday and I couldn't get my coffee because I was waiting for the AAA guy. When I finally got my coffee the toddler appeared - "oh oh please, can I have a muffin - it's Friday and that means it's nearly Saturday and I've been reeeeeeaaaaly good for 2 whole months and it would be soooo yummy." But I stayed strict with that toddler (old meanie) - just coffee for you!