I'm not so sure that thing about choosing the "plainer" (for lack of a better word) food when you're truly hungry is 100% true. Even when I'm actually, physically hungry, I'd still take the chocolate cake, or the bread, or whatever the choice was, over something like an apple, a plain chicken breast, etc. I really think it's just what your preferences are.

When I'm truly hungry, the kind of food I eat doesn't matter AS much, but it still matters quite a bit. I think *any* food can satisfy physical hunger, some just has more satiation value and nutrition than other choices.

I also think the "waiting for the growl" thing can be overdone, and can become almost like one of our former "diet rules". I think it's very important to know your body, and if you know you experience low blood sugar, eat to head it off and keep your blood sugar as stable as possible.

After reading so much non-diet and intuitive eating over the last several years, I've come to the conclusion that "intuitive eating" can become just as much like a "diet" as a diet can, because it's very easy to start following intuitive eating guidelines as "rules" instead of just understanding them as guides or principals, if that makes sense.

There probably could have been a better name for it too, instead of "intuitive eating". I think we need to just eat, period, and get ALL of these external rules and guidelines out of our heads as much as possible.

I always have a worse time, and eat more, when I'm trying to follow somebody else's idea of what I should or should not be eating, how much, and when.

For me, the more I can NOT THINK ABOUT food, and leave it in its place, the better off I am. It's when I start dwelling on how much weight I have to lose, and start thinking about following a specific weight loss plan, that I get into trouble and end up eating a bunch of stuff I probably wouldn't have if I wasn't paying so much attention to it.

Dawn I experienced the same thing so I just go ahead and eat a little something.

Becky, this is the reason that I chose IE over diets. I do not want to be thinking about FOOD all the time. Also, I don't wait for the growl because I don't seem to be able to go that far because I go into a low blood sugar state of shakes. When I start feeling hungry, I do try to see if I can tell if it is "head" or "stomach" hunger. Sometimes I can tell and sometimes I can't. The main thing for me is that I've learned that I don't like feeling stuffed so I'm learning that I would rather eat lighter or less foods than I used to. Sometimes when I go ahead and have something to eat, I find it was not real "stomach" hunger because I don't like the way I feel after eating. So I do need to learn when I'm really hungry and when I'm not.

I haven't tested my blood sugar but I can tell when its low. I try to eat before it gets to that point and the only way for me is to not go more then 4 hours without eating something. It can be a apple or peanut butter it just has to be something or else I will feel like Im gonna faint. I have always been like that and came very close a couple of years ago when I almost fainted in a grocery store. I tried to shake it off but I started seeing black spots and soon my whole vision was black and my mom rushed and gave me a banana and then I could see again. It freaked me out so now I dont let myself get to that point because it hit me really quick I went from feeling a little hungry to almost fainting.

Chocolate cake yummy. I love apples but if I had to choose I think the cake would win since I haven't had chocolate cake in years.

I almost forgot to tell you ladies that I wont have internet for a couple of days since we are moving to Colorado. To bad there isn't a mobile version for 3fc, we turn our internet and cable in today

This is me exactly. I always thought I ate just because I loved eating but I think dieting caused part of that. You love eating because you can't have what you want. I really never saw my eating as emotional because I usually lose my appetite when I am troubled about something. I know everything tastes so much better when you are hungry.

I don't like that apple vs cake test because when I'm really hungry, the LAST thing my body wants is sweet OR something acidic like an apple. I know the idea is to compare "food" vs "snacks" but I don't like the mentality of taking it so far that you compare an apple to cake just because apple is supposed to be "diet food" and chocolate cake is "fat a**es food"... Lately, when I get hungry and I imagine the perfect plate of food, it's always a little bit of red meat (which I don't usually eat much of) and a lot of boiled baby carrots and broccoli.

So, today I went grocery shopping and I really wanted caramel ice cream. I stood in front of the ice cream section thinking I should buy some low fat vanilla ice cream instead, or maybe just buy some dark chocolate... and I starting feeling so nervous and anxious, it's was crazy. So I stopped and told myself I could have any ice cream I wanted: I bought a pint of caramel ice cream.

If I had bought something else, I probably would have ended up eating vanilla ice cream, with chocolate sauce AND a piece of chocolate, just to make up for the fact that that was not what I really wanted. And I would have ended up not feeling satisfied anyway.

Instead, right now I'm dreaming of a scoop of caramel ice cream with some nuts =D Dessert time ^_^

ALO22 I'm learning to do the same thing. I think it is better to eat what you really like and want than what you don't. In fact, I've learned that what I end up doing if I don't eat what I really want, I end up eating a lot of things I don't want and would have done better if I had eaten what I eally wanted to start with.

Everybody have a great Sunday!

Good for you, ALO22.

The Eden Diet is a great addition to all I learned in IE and makes IE a better way of eating for me. She clears up a lot of things. She says we learn to overeat because diets teach us to eat ahead of our hunger instead of behind. She explains how hunger pangs are a good thing that God gave us when He created us. It was to help us know when to eat and to know when we are satisfied from what we eat. What I've read so far makes my understanding of IE more complete. Yesterday I ate only when I was "really" hungry. One thing she says is if you want something to eat and you are not hungry yet that we should wait until we are hungry and then eat it but only eat as much of it as you need to be satisfied. It's going to be a good read.

I'll have to check out the Eden woe. Sounds interesting and I like that it compliments IE. I tried giving up sweets for Lent. Almost made it, too.... I realized it was futile when I ate an entire bag of salt free pretzels, but I really wanted the Nilla wafers. Once I had the nilla wafers i was fine. I did fall into a binge the following day, with sweets...but every bite is an opportunity to learn about ourselves.

When I finished the Eden diet I was disappointed and I'm not sure why. I thought it was really good at first but then it was too "diety" is all I can think. Though Gwen Shamblin has a lot of bad ideas now, her first book was really good.

Trish, have you finished the book? Let us know what you think. Sticking really closely to hunger and fullness really helps me in everything else. I have lots more energy and less pain.

I haven't read the Eden diet but did investigate it online. From what I gathered it is more or less a vegetarian woe...and unfortunately that's too large of a leap for me to make from the way I eat now. There are also verses in the Bible about eating meat, so I don't agree with that premise. Yes, I do agree with the eat when hungry stop when satisfied, not stuffed idea.