Operation GIT: Listen To Your Stomach

Dear Accuweather,

When you claimed that today was a good day for outdoor fitness at 72 degrees, clear, with a light breeze, you neglected to take into account the NINETY-THREE PERCENT HUMIDITY.  Breathing water does not a good run make.  I’m just sayin’.

I’m testing out something new this week.  Or old, depending on how you look at it.  When I was younger, I was never a breakfast person, despite the fact that there’s that whole “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” thing.  I mean it IS important, but the part everyone assumes is that it has to be eaten first thing.  I hate those kinds of strictures that act like one size fits all for everyone.  It doesn’t.  Everyone’s body is different. 

I’ve done breakfast my entire adult life because it’s way too long between getting up at 6 and lunch at 11 or 12.  But as a general rule, I don’t want anything when I wake up except tea.  That’s how I operate on weekends.  I don’t usually eat until I’ve been up 3 or 4 hours.  During the week it’s kind of rough because hubby works until 7PM, which means dinner isn’t usually until 7:30 or 8.  I eat lunch at 11:30 most days.  You do the math.  

During college, since I was on my own schedule and had no one to please but myself, I didn’t eat based on the clock.  I ate when I got hungry, whenever that was.  And I was the healthiest I’ve ever been (which, okay, some of that was because I was in my early 20s, but it also had to do with getting adequate sleep, plenty of exercise, and not overeating much).  Since this week’s breakfast is a hearty southwest casserole with eggs and loads of veggies (i.e. something I’m going to be nuking anyway), I decided that I would try having my tea before I leave the house, but bringing my breakfast to work.  And then when I go home at lunch to let the dogs out, I could pack up something to bring back for that too and eat whenever I get hungry for that (which I’m expecting to be in the neighborhood of 1:30 or 2).  At that point, I should be able to make do with a smaller snack (like string cheese or something) when I get home after work, to hold me until dinner.  

It’s all part of trying to get back to a place where I listen to my body, recognizing true hunger vs. boredom and figuring out the line between satiated vs. full.  I SO crossed that line too many times the last week and I am paying for it.  Hence the urge to re-establish that awareness.  There’s too much mindlessness that can often go along with routine, and food and eating shouldn’t be an area to suffer from that.  Particularly for someone like me who is a total foodie.  If I’m not paying attention to what I’m eating, then I’ve eaten it, and it’s gone, and I didn’t even usually notice the tastes and textures and all the things I ENJOY about food.  

So…REBOOT!

One thought on “Operation GIT: Listen To Your Stomach

  1. People who are not foodies don’t understand our relationship with food. My husband doesn’t get it. Sometimes eating is about pleasure rather than hunger. I’m having to change my thinking since discovering I have diabetes. If we all listened to our stomach instead of our mouths, there would be fewer cases of diabetes and other illnesses, and obesity would be rare. I wish I had paid more attention to my actual hunger BEFORE I let diabetes in my life. 🙁

    I agree that we all are different about when we are hungry. I can eat as soon as I get out of bed, but I don’t. I always walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes first thing. In my case, I HAVE to have breakfast pretty soon after that. Exercising for 30 minutes can bring one’s blood sugar down 30-50 points (in my experience). If I get up in the morning with a blood sugar count of 85, well, you can see the problem. But some people aren’t even hungry until mid-morning. So that would be a good time for them to eat. Some people eat two meals per day, some four or five. We are all so different, so there’s no set times that work for everyone. I’m interested to see how this works out for you. Keep us posted!

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