What gets in the way of you waiting for your hunger?

October 3, 2008

This question has been really important for me this week. I started

a new 8 hour/day work position and have started to encounter some of

the challenges mentioned by others previously on the group.

What gets in the way of me waiting for my hunger?

1) Schedule pressures:

Our training schedule is 7:30 - 4:00 p.m. I realized that I don't

usually get hungry until after 8...so what do do for breakfast? We

have lunch schedule at 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. What to do if I'm not

hungry then? The first day, I was starving by our 10:30 break and

ate something then and then I unconsciously ate lunch at 12:30

because of external schedule pressure and didn't feel good at all.

Solution: I bring an assortment of easy snacks (trail mix, granola

bars, sliced carrots, etc.) so that I can respond to my hunger as it

comes.

2) Food/Peer pressure:

So, some staff members brought Krispy Kreme donuts to celebrate our

first week of training today. I got pressured to take two donuts and

I've already decided to only take one...which I'm fine with. I

completely forgot to check in with my hunger...ate the donut...and

my stomach started hurting. Solution: Am I hungry? - is really the

only checkpoint I have in these moments to take care of myself.

After the stomach pains started, I realized that I could have taken

the donut and put it aside to eat when I was obviously hungry.

3) Self pressure:

I've been so tense about learning everything and speaking in front

of new people I don't know that I couldn't find/feel my hunger for

most of the week...it was like I was overstimulated and

this " feeling " state blocked out or repressed my hunger signals.

Toward the end of this week, my hunger signals started to get more

clear again. Most of the week, I waited longer for my hunger signals

than usual...and I felt confident that they would come through

again. When I couldn't feel my hunger, I had thoughts about

eating something because I " should " ...and I was able to just let my

hunger come when it came.

How about you all: What gets in the way of you waiting for your

hunger?

Latoya

Practicing IE since Jan'08

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