When Your Hungry ... EAT!!!! Part II

When you eat until you are "stuffed" it can take a long time before your body can tell you that it is hungry. Are you listening to me? We all over eat every day. Even now while on this journey to a new me, I know if I eat very sparingly during the day so that I can "save up" for my evening meal, I tend to over eat at that last meal of the day, and quite honestly that is the worst meal to over eat at. Your body does not have enough hours left in the day to process and better yet, USE these calories for fuel that you have just consumed. So what does your body do? It "stores" it as fat to use at a later time or day. One day when you aren't eating so much and aren't getting that 2500 to 3800 calories per day!

So back the the lady who taught us about listening to our body for clues that we are hungry. She said it is very simple. First she had us to un-program ourself about when and what time we should eat. She gave us specific instructions on how to begin this process.
1. She explained that your body is not necessarily on a "set" schedule, but our MIND is.
2. She told us to forget about three meals per day and two healthy snacks per day.
(who eats two "healthy" snacks per day any way?)
3. She said pray before you begin and ask the Lord to let you be in tune with the signals
that your body will give you when it is hungry.
4. Drink water and other unsweetened drinks while you are waiting for the first "signal" of
hunger so as not to get dehydrated.
5. But the key is to listen to your body for the "hunger signal".

So what is the "hunger signal"? I thought you would never ask! She said that the hunger signal can take on many forms. For some is is growling in the tummy, for others it is an "empty" feeling in their stomach. Some may feel weak or worn out, others may have a stomach that makes other types of noises or rumblings.

I learned so much from the Weigh Down Workshop, my problem is I never really applied any of the techniques that I learned to my every day eating. It is too easy to do what you always do. Eat what you always eat, and eat when you have always eaten. It would take a very concentrated effort to only eat when you are hungry but maybe this challenge will help all of us realize that we should not eat just to eat, but we should eat when our body is crying out for fuel (food) Sometimes a glass of cold water can fill the crying in your stomach. But if it is food you need just make sure to make a good choice. Listen to the voice inside your belly.