Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Managing Hunger

If you ever had a nicotine addiction you will understand the subtle nature of the craving. It does not scream out inside you but rather is seductive and unrelenting. The more cigarettes you smoke in a day the more empowered the craving becomes.

Hunger is no different. The more you eat in excess of your daily energy needs the more fat cells are created and these add to the sum total of your body's energy requirement and your daily compulsion to eat. Soon you are eating as much to feed and maintain your fat cells as you are feeding and maintaining the cells which perform the physical and cognitive functions your body requires. It began like a teeter-totter when one day you ate more than your body was able to use.

What you have to realize with hunger is that there is not an instantaneous relationship between eating and satisfying the hunger craving. It is not like a buzzer that goes off when the right amount of food has been swallowed. Would that this were the case. What happens is that when we are hungry the "Eyes become Bigger than our Stomachs." For example suppose at lunch time we feel particularly hungry and instead of one Burger at McDonalds and a small fry we double the order. If we eat fast the food can be choked down before our body provides feedback we've eaten enough. Had we had ordered less and eaten slowly, the hunger would have subsided and been satisfied with half as much. So these are the first two rules of losing weight... Eat less and eat slowly.

The next rule is to eat only when hungry and not on some schedule you learned at the dining table of your parents. A human does not have to eat three times a day. Twice a day works fine for starters and once we get used to that than one meal a day will suffice. Eating does not have to become a habitual activity but rather one designed to provide a daily ration of food designed make your body stay attractive and operate the way it is supposed to.