Can You Make Friends With Hunger??

It’s 9 p.m. and you are hungry.  Yes, you ate a normal dinner at 6 p.m.  You don’t want to snack.  You are trying very hard not to eat again.

But that gnawing feeling has started in your stomach and you know it’s a long time until breakfast.

It’s not helping that your partner may be having pie, (or ice cream) or both.

What do you do??

What I would like to offer is that instead of throwing up your hands and chowing down or white-knuckling it by willpower is that you decide you will make friends with the hunger.

What?? You have to be kidding!!  What do you mean, you ask?

Let’s look at the alternatives first.

1.  You give up and give in and have some ice cream.  Yes, you get a hit of dopamine and pleasure from the sugar.  But what about the commitment you made to yourself to not eat after dinner?  Feels of regret and shame start to set in.  Not an ideal scenario.
2. You say to yourself, “No, I am not going to eat it.”  Yet your mind is doing somersaults, trying to resist, trying to stick to your promise and your protocol.  Feeling sad or agitated or whatever you feel when you are white-knuckling it.  So much internal turmoil.  Another less than ideal scenario.

Now, here is what I would like to propose instead.  What if when you start to experience the hunger, you say, “Well, that interesting.  Hello, hunger.  Why are you here?”  You track back to dinner, and you know that you ate enough to feel full.

So you sit with the hunger, as a friend, experience it and realize that you are not going to die or pass out if you don’t have the pie and ice cream.  Hunger really is your friend, because it means your appetite hormones are working well. It is a signal to your body to use its fat for energy.  This is a good thing!

Of course, ask yourself the question, “Do I feel the hunger in my stomach or in my mouth?”  If it’s in your mouth, there is probably something more going on emotionally.  That’s a topic for another day.

For now, think of this as an opportunity to honor your commitment to yourself to not eat after dinner.  Think how nice it will be to recognize that you did what you said you were going to do.

It may not be easy at first.  But keep trying.  When I tried it, it was quite a revelation.  It’s a whole new way of reacting to hunger.

That being said, do make sure that you did eat enough at dinner, especially fat.  This will help you feel satiated longer.

Another possibility is to have a cup of herbal tea in the evening with your friend, hunger.  Relax and sip. Enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that you are positively working toward your weight goals by not snacking.

Can you do it?  Can you make friends with hunger?  I am betting that you can!  Try it.

Let me know in the Comments section how it goes when you try it.  I’d love to hear.

And if you need help losing that weight around your middle that has been slowly creeping on, please contact me and we will have a 20 minute conversation about your weight challenges and how I can best assist you.

Blessings,

Jane