Re: Principle #2 - Honor Your Hunger

[Guest guest]

A recent post (can't do this) made me think this would be a good time to have

Principle #2 discussions.

What I have come to discover is that 'hunger' is more broadly defined than we

are aware of. Dieting identifies hunger as 'the enemy'. IE suggests that it is a

friend which we have lost trust in. But what helped me understand hunger more

was when I realized that my mind had added signals which it identified as

'hunger' yet were NOT a biological (body INternal) drive. Emotions unconsciously

suppressed often get attempted to be acted out by way of eating - we 'stuff',

'chew on', 'comfort [food]', 'get even for' etc.

I've come to believe that while diets focus on WHAT, WHEN & HOW (to eat), IE's

focus on WHY we eat gets to the core better and faster. Plus doing that doesn't

require items that keeps the diet industry FED.

I do not always eat purely due to biological hunger, but when I don't I have

come to not fault myself but rather to allow that to be something I can learn

from and change - if and when I am ready.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

>

[Guest guest]

A recent post (can't do this) made me think this would be a good time to have

Principle #2 discussions.

What I have come to discover is that 'hunger' is more broadly defined than we

are aware of. Dieting identifies hunger as 'the enemy'. IE suggests that it is a

friend which we have lost trust in. But what helped me understand hunger more

was when I realized that my mind had added signals which it identified as

'hunger' yet were NOT a biological (body INternal) drive. Emotions unconsciously

suppressed often get attempted to be acted out by way of eating - we 'stuff',

'chew on', 'comfort [food]', 'get even for' etc.

I've come to believe that while diets focus on WHAT, WHEN & HOW (to eat), IE's

focus on WHY we eat gets to the core better and faster. Plus doing that doesn't

require items that keeps the diet industry FED.

I do not always eat purely due to biological hunger, but when I don't I have

come to not fault myself but rather to allow that to be something I can learn

from and change - if and when I am ready.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

>

[Guest guest]

This is exactly what nutritionist (who handed me an IE book) told me. I was

amazed that she wanted me to eat more, not less, carbs and fat. No more do I

take sugar-free yogurt and carrot sticks for lunch. On work days when I can't go

and get something to eat if I get hungry, I make sure I have at least the

suggested amount of carbs, fats, and proteins in my breakfast and lunch. Now

that I'm eating MORE for breakfast and lunch and having a snack to boot, the

urge to rush out of my workplace and devour a bag of chocolate or half a cake

has vanished.

I was reaching that point of triggering my primal drive to overeat every day,

and thought I just had no willpower. What a relief!

Sara

>

> Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

>

[Guest guest]

Honoring my biological hunger is something I don't THINK I do all that well. In

fact I pretty much let that suggestion 'slide' for the most part when I started

IE. I guess I was smarter than I gave myself credit for then - because not

pressuring myself to ONLY eat when 'hungry' most likely would have triggered my

diet rebel big time. Probably still does in a less driven way.

What ended up working for me - unplanned for I might add - is gifting myself

time. Months seemed 'plenty' at first, but now years don't seem all that

unreasonable when I remember that it took me decades to build up to the point of

needed change (IE). I figured that if I just hung in, allowing IE to SEEP into

my life - like water trickling down thru soil and rock - in time I would 'have'

what I needed - IE for my life.

Yesterday I noticed something that pleasantly surprised me - my double chin is

almost all gone! When did that happen?!? I certainly wasn't looking for or

working on it, but there is was(n't)! As fun and delightful as that was for me,

it also occurred to me that it wasn't all that important either. My appearance

has taken a back seat to how comfortable I am living this body that I have.

Honoring hunger has been an important tool in that I'm sure.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

>

[Guest guest]

Honoring my biological hunger is something I don't THINK I do all that well. In

fact I pretty much let that suggestion 'slide' for the most part when I started

IE. I guess I was smarter than I gave myself credit for then - because not

pressuring myself to ONLY eat when 'hungry' most likely would have triggered my

diet rebel big time. Probably still does in a less driven way.

What ended up working for me - unplanned for I might add - is gifting myself

time. Months seemed 'plenty' at first, but now years don't seem all that

unreasonable when I remember that it took me decades to build up to the point of

needed change (IE). I figured that if I just hung in, allowing IE to SEEP into

my life - like water trickling down thru soil and rock - in time I would 'have'

what I needed - IE for my life.

Yesterday I noticed something that pleasantly surprised me - my double chin is

almost all gone! When did that happen?!? I certainly wasn't looking for or

working on it, but there is was(n't)! As fun and delightful as that was for me,

it also occurred to me that it wasn't all that important either. My appearance

has taken a back seat to how comfortable I am living this body that I have.

Honoring hunger has been an important tool in that I'm sure.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

>

> Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

>

[Guest guest]

Ellie, good observations.  Maybe we can just observe without judgement and think " that's interesting " PERIOD and not try to figure it out. I like that idea because like you said, then we would be obsessing about food just like dieting. Sandy

 

I was thinking about that yesterday, too. That if we want food, maybe we need food. There all kinds of ways dieters try to get around this: What do I need that's making me want food? Am I thirsty rather than hungry? Am I bored and need something to do? Am I upset with someone and need to talk to them? Do something with my hands, like knitting, so I can't eat. Gee, maybe if we want food, we need food.

OTOH, if we're eating when also aware of being absolutely not hungry, as I was last night, there's clearly something going on that's out of line. I had eaten so much junk I felt a little sick, but was still prowling around looking for snacks. So the desire for food doesn't always indicate a need for food. It's a puzzle. But I'm thinking I may not want to spend too much

time and energy trying to figure it out, because then I'll be obsessing about food just like when I'm dieting. I'm just going with, " Last night I had something going on with food. Today I don't. Move on. "

Ellie

To: IntuitiveEating_Support

Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 9:02 PM Subject:

Re: Principle #2 - Honor Your Hunger

 

A thought came to me as I was pondering honoring hunger today. Perhaps this is simply a natural extension of the first Principle - to dump diet mentality. Honoring hunger could just mean to recognize it for what it is - a signal from one's body to supply nourishment. When I release diet mentality I no longer fear, distrust or try to avoid hunger. I also do not turn hunger into a replacement 'expert' for focusing my life on (a la dieting). Making too much of hunger is as bad as ignoring it. Either way it gets put out of it real role - sustaining life.

Katcha

IEing since March 2007

> >

> > Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I like those last few sentences; if I'm spending too much time thinking about

what I ate and why, it's just like dieting. It happened, move on. Yep.

Sandarah

>

> I was thinking about that yesterday, too. That if we want food, maybe we need

food. There all kinds of ways dieters try to get around this: What do I need

that's making me want food? Am I thirsty rather than hungry? Am I bored and need

something to do? Am I upset with someone and need to talk to them? Do something

with my hands, like knitting, so I can't eat. Gee, maybe if we want food, we

need food.

>

> OTOH, if we're eating when also aware of being absolutely not hungry, as I was

last night, there's clearly something going on that's out of line. I had eaten

so much junk I felt a little sick, but was still prowling around looking for

snacks. So the desire for food doesn't always indicate a need for food. It's a

puzzle. But I'm thinking I may not want to spend too much time and energy trying

to figure it out, because then I'll be obsessing about food just like when I'm

dieting. I'm just going with, " Last night I had something going on with food.

Today I don't. Move on. "

>

>

> Ellie

>

>

>

>

> >________________________________

> >

> >To: IntuitiveEating_Support

> >Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 9:02 PM

> >Subject: Re: Principle #2 - Honor Your Hunger

> >

> >

> >Â

> >A thought came to me as I was pondering honoring hunger today. Perhaps this

is simply a natural extension of the first Principle - to dump diet mentality.

Honoring hunger could just mean to recognize it for what it is - a signal from

one's body to supply nourishment. When I release diet mentality I no longer

fear, distrust or try to avoid hunger. I also do not turn hunger into a

replacement 'expert' for focusing my life on (a la dieting). Making too much of

hunger is as bad as ignoring it. Either way it gets put out of it real role -

sustaining life.

> >

> >Katcha

> >IEing since March 2007

> >

> >> >

> >> > Keep your body fed biologically with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment

of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting

and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage

for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

> >> >

> >>

> >

> >

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> >

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