So I'm sitting here at work. I ate a pretty hefty breakfast at about noon and it's currently 3:30 pm.
My breakfast was easily 900 calories, as I pumped it up with some coconut oil to add some fat to it, as well as greek yogurt, macadamia nuts and some shredded coconut. It was delicious and full of good stuff, albeit pretty high calorie. I brought, for lunch, a bowl full of chicken that I pulled off of a whole chicken that I baked last night. It was baked in olive oil and is delicious.
Now for the past hour I've been thinking about that chicken. It's a little early, after such a high fat high calorie breakfast, to be truly hungry. So I decided to wait. A few minutes ago I almost opened up the tupperware and just went for it but I stopped myself. My stomach isn't telling my I'm hungry. It's a different feeling. The same type of feeling I get when I'm about to start plowing cake into my mouth or pop open a can of pringles. It's not hunger, it's a craving for the taste of that chicken.
Obviously that chicken is a healthy meal to eat. I'm not drooling over a hot pocket or candy bar, I'm just looking forward to the meal I know is going to be very tasty.
But, healthy or not, I want to wait until my stomach is actually telling me I'm hungry. Is there really a difference between giving in to the craving for a sugary treat and giving in to the craving for the tasty chicken you prepared? It's going to mean I'm eating my food before I'm hungry, leaving me without anything to eat for about 5 hours which will probably result in some for-real hunger, sending me to the vending machine probably ready to make a not-so-good choice.
I started this primal blueprint in hopes of really getting in touch with my hunger signals. I just didn't realize that my hunger signals were so warped.
What do you guys think about learning to listen to your body? For so long I've given in to the cravings. Sure, I've been hungry and I know what it feels like, but so often I mistake a craving for hunger, especially with it's a craving for a healthy meal. I figure 'why the **** not eat my healthy meal if I'm hungry'? But the thing is...I'm not hungry. So I shouldn't eat yet, even if it's healthy.
I feel like this has been an epiphany.