fear of hunger

[kariev34]

WOW! I cannot believe how the whole "mini meals/snack" mentality has been imbedded in my brain and has made me afraid to be hungry. For so long, if I would get the slightest bit hungry, i would snack on something. All the so called "experts" always would say hunger leads to binging or leads to a slowed metabolism. This thought process is so deeply imbedded in me that its hard to go 5-6 hours without eating. Often times I think i'm more mentally hungry then physically hungry. What I mean is that I think its been "x" amount of time since I last ate or the clock says its this time and automatically I "think" i'm hungry or "should" eat so I eat something. I miss the days where food wasn't a thought. Where I would just enjoy and be completely engrossed by whatever activity I was doing instead of thinking about food all the time. I think the hardest part about all of this is changing my thinking process and learning that hunger is a good sign and is a normal process for living things.

[Strawberry Roan]

I agree that learning to embrace the hunger as a signal that your body is actually burning, not storing, the food we eat is a big step on this journey we are taking. I have actually learned to enjoy the feeling knowing that it is temporary. Makes me feel for those in regions of the world that might not be getting their next meal on schedule, however.

[Who Me?]

Freaky, isn't it?

I mean, it's highly unlikely that any of us are going to actually starve, and yet many of us have convinced ourselves otherwise.

I remember when I was really, really, really poor, and had nobody I could turn to for help. I *was* hungry for a while, there. I really stretched out the food that was in my cupboard, until the next paycheck came in. I did become a much more *careful* shopper during that period in my life. I really thought about what my money could buy.

[oolala53]

You're probably right that it is the mental change that will be most important. What you can't know until you experience it is how much you're going to like getting hungry eventually. You will love not spoiling your appetite!

[Nicest of the Damned]

I think the hardest part about all of this is changing my thinking process and learning that hunger is a good sign and is a normal process for living things.

It is. I had known this, intellectually, for a while. It really hit me emotionally last Friday, almost a year after I started No S. Thinking processes can be stubborn, and can take even longer to change than habits do.