Can It Be Okay to Be Hungry?

I see diet promotions assuring us we will not feel hungry. They go like this: “Avoid feeling hungry while losing weight;” “Five appetite control foods that suppress cravings without adding calories;” “You don’t need to go hungry to lose weight.”

My question is: Can it be okay to be hungry?

To lose weight and keep it off, I think it is realistic to assume we will feel hunger pangs from time to time

If you hate the feeling of being hungry, would you be willing to explore that? If you have an issue with low blood sugar then the suggestion that follows is not for you. But if you don’t have a medical reason preventing you from feeling hungry, I recommend this exercise:

When you are ready to eat, can you wait one minute before putting food into your mouth? Two minutes? Three minutes? How about fifteen minutes? What happens when you delay eating? What feelings or emotions come up for you? Can you acknowledge them and move through them?

The idea here is not to deprive yourself, but to get in touch with what hunger feels like and answer the question: “Can it be okay to be hungry?” Can there be freedom in being okay with the sensation of hunger?

http://www.newparadigmcoaching.com/

This entry was posted on 21. March 2009 at 10:50 and is filed under Healthy Body. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.