Value in Nothing

One comment I hear over and over. And over. And over when people talk about "dieting" or how I generally chose to eat is "I don't want to feel like I'm depriving myself!"

I've thought about that idea a lot over the past year or so. I sit here writing this and I'm hungry. What the past year has taught me is how to respond to my hunger.

I think that for some reason we are culturally trained to think that when we feel the sensation of hunger, then something is wrong. How many times do you hear someone say "OMG I am so hungry, I need food now!"

Or, how many times do you see someone get really hungry and to compensate, they eat an enormous meal.

Just because you get more hungry doesn't magically mean your body needs more calories. What is means is that your body needs calories more urgently than it did, say, an hour ago when you were merely a touch hungry.

And being hungry isn't an emergency. The feeling you feel in your stomach is sometimes your body telling you "Hey, I need more calories to fully function for the rest of the day". But, honestly, sometimes it's your body just telling you "I'm dehydrated".

I've learned over the past year to sit a minute with my hunger. Drink a glass of water. Think about what I ate and what I've done.

Being hungry isn't an emergency. And it doesn't mean you're deprived.

It means your body is working.

Being hungry doesn't mean you need to gorge yourself. It means you need to refuel.  With great hunger, you could still eat a normal sized meal and a half hour later, you'd probably feel better than if you over did it.

If you feel like you're depriving yourself...well, that's your choice to view it that way.