I’m not talking about hunger. Hunger and appetite are different. Let’s get clear on these two words first.
Hunger (noun):
1. a compelling need or desire for food.2. the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food: to collapse from hunger.3. a shortage of food; famine.4. a strong or compelling desire or craving: hunger for power. (source)
Appetite (noun):
1. a desire for food or drink: I have no appetite for lunch today.2. a desire to satisfy any bodily need or craving.3. a desire or liking for something; fondness; taste: an appetite for power; an appetite for pleasure. (source)
This is not a strategy to reduce the physical need to eat, but rather the mental desire to do so. We good? Then let’s get rollin…
Why We Eat So Much
We Use Food for Other Purposes
I’ve talked about this before, but for many of us, eating has become a habitual reaction to all kinds of stuff besides hunger. We eat when we’re bored. We eat when we’re frustrated. We eat when we’re celebrating or depressed or anxious.
We’re Eating Adulterated “Food”
To make it worse, our food supply today is jacked with sugar, salt, and the unhealthy kind of fat, and that shit is addicting. Literally. This crap food serves as a legal drug for many people. Really sad, but true.
We’re Humans
We’re programmed to seek calories, which was useful way back when starving and famine were real and common concerns. Today, we have all this food available to us all the time, and we can’t help but load up on calories repeatedly — it’s our human instinct. (How nice/shitty.)
The Simple Solution
Stop doing things that suck. Start spending time on cool shit.
Do you know what flow is? John and I recently watched a documentary on the concept of happiness, and flow was discussed, and now we keep nerdily referencing it. Here’s a quick definition:
Flow (noun):
the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. (source)
Have you ever started on a project, only to look up six hours later and have no idea where the time went? At any point, did you think to yourself, ‘Self, I think right now I should take a break from this amazing fuggin feeling I’ve got going, totally disrupt my rhythm and screw my momentum, and go eat something.’? No. No that doesn’t happen.
If you hate your job, you’re probably eating more than you should. Consider that.
In jobs I’ve hated, meal and snack times were happy little bright spots in my otherwise cloudy day. But when I’m doing work I love, I forget I’m supposed to eat. It almost pisses me off that I have to stop working to feed myself when the true hunger feeling becomes too strong to ignore.
Quit doing soul-sucking work. Find your flow. Do that instead.
And let me know how many pounds you effortlessly drop.
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Discuss
Do you use food to satisfy things other than hunger? Have you experienced flow? (I want to hear stories!!!!!!!!!)
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I thought it would be gum 😉 At least that’s my secret to keep me from feeling those hunger pangs.
Oh yeah. Gum totally works. Also caffeine. But we’re getting off track here, Erik… 🙂
I brush my teeth whenever i feel like eating for the wrong reasons. This way i no longer want to put food in my freshly clean mouth. Seems to work. =)
I do this lately too! Specifically after dinner. I rinse my plate off and practically run to my toothbrush. The 20-minute rule is so true–if I just wait 20 minutes, I realize that entire plate really was enough food, and I don’t need more. Brushing my teeth helps me wait it out.
Thanks Cassie! This is a great tip and it totally makes sense why it would work!!
Yep, it’s amazing how differently you sometimes feel after 20 minutes.
I keep a list of things that I want to learn more about or to just google, perhaps something someone said that intrigued me. That’s my hop-to-it when the “hungries” hit.
I love this, Sharyn! It would totally work for me–I google EVERYTHING.
The next time I learn a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I do know it was my choice to learn, but I actually thought youd have one thing fascinating to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you could possibly fix when you werent too busy looking for attention. pompa wody http://www.orrg.pl/dom/al-ko-kober-sp-z-o-o-traktorki-s-1310/
In all fairness, nobody is forcing you to read a blog, Pompa. You’re entitled to your opinion, but so is Cassie. If you’re not happy, move on, but don’t judge or hate. The world is already full of negativity. Kudos to Cassie for living out loud.
Aw thanks, lt. Pretty sure it’s just a stupid spam bot. What an entertaining comment, though, huh? 🙂
What the fuck are you talking about?? Way to be completely irrelevant and rude
Insightful post. I think I definitely eat food for many reasons beyond hunger. And I think you’re right, if you hate your job, you are more likely to eat more. That’s definitely me, anyway.
Glad you could connect with this, Pam. Well, you know, sort of. 🙂
I have found that cutting out sweets and reducing other savory carbs dramatically reduces appetite and hunger. When I’m hungry and then eat healthy veggies, fats and proteins, I naturally eat less. When I’m bored or upset, my appetite is no longer for food; it’s for diversion of some kind. A hot bath, a phone call, etc. When I’m eating sweets, I’m starving and emotional all the time because of glucose spikes and drops. Vicious cycle.
THIS. Yes. All of this.
I definately think I eat more when im stressed out and feeling fed up. i had no option but to try something to help me and i half been using pills from innoveats. they half made a big diffrence and i only pig out when i am mega stressed which is rarely now because i also feel more relaxed taking the innoveats. i hope to keep losing weight the way i half been with these.
Yeah, eliminating stress is huge (and closely related to the topic of this post) in curbing overeating. I’m not familiar with the pills you’re referring to, but I know what works for me in terms of stress management is not so much the specific tactics often recommended (long walks, hot baths, etc.) but just working to change my attitude and perspective. I sometimes challenge myself to imagine the worse case scenario in whatever situation I’m worrying about actually happening, and I usually realize that even if that were to happen, everything would still ultimately be OK, so there’s no reason I should be so anxious about it. Another thing that helps me is considering how little control any of us actually have in life. Remembering most things are truly out of my hands anyway helps me calm down.
Thanks for your comment, and good luck!
“If you hate your job, you’re probably eating more than you should.”
i think i know why i’m eating a lot lately.
And I think you know the solution. 🙂
This is a real ass article. Thanks a lot. I feel motivated now
I needed this
🙂