day 27: getting in touch with your inner... hunger
Today's Food:
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: romaine with good ole green velour
Dinner: vegan mock chicken salad wrap from the Natural Foods Store
Exercise: 55 minutes on the treadmill
Ok, yes, dinner was off plan but I've worked hard this week and have been 99 - 100% ETL. It is vegan and all natural so it's much better than digging in on the delish smelling calzone that *someone* has in the fridge right now. ;-) PLUS I think that I did pretty good with workouts this week, so I think that I can take the hit.
But anyway, something that I wanted to blog about today is being in touch with hunger. Dr. Fuhrman frequently stresses eating only when you are hungry so that you learn to listen to your body and can experience true hunger (as opposed to the toxic hunger that occurs on a SAD diet). I think this is a great concept. I can remember times when I was eating a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian diet and thinking to myself, I can't remember the last time I actually felt hungry.
Why would I think this to myself? Because I was eating for companionship and comfort, or just because the food was there and I wanted to experience the pleasure of something that I thought tasted good. I didn't really need all of that food, and I wasn't really listening to my body. It was all in my head.
In the past few days I have been really putting an effort forth to be conscious of my hunger and then only eat when I am hungry. It's tough to do; after years of being conditioned to eat breakfast when you first get up and lunch in the middle of the day and dinner at a certain time in the evening. I'm learning that food is much more enjoyable when you are actually hungry for it; and the sensation of being (full or "comfortable" as we called it growing up) is also much more satisfying. To give an example, I'd usually eat dinner between 7:30 and 8:00 because that's when I'm done with my workout and showered and all, but tonight I just wasn't hungry at 7:30. I ended up eating dinner at nearly 9:00, and as a result; I enjoyed my dinner much more than I would have if I weren't hungry for it, and I also feel fuller on less food. It's a great thing.
In other news, I think tomorrow will be a cooking day. I have some good stuff in mind; definitely some sort of bean concoction and something with cooked veggies because those are the areas that are challenging for me. I'll be sure to post pics and recipes etc.
