Why they have it all wrong

Just finished reading yet another article about how to lose weight without being hungry. This one from Weill Cornell Medical College, Women's Nutrition Connection. They offer three strategies: 1. Eat breakfast. I have never skipped breakfast in my life. I often don't eat for a while after I get up because I'm not hungry but I do eat breakfast every day. If I don't eat by 9 am (I get up at 5 am), then I am pretty hungry but not more than I would expect and I'd never make it until noon if I didn't eat. I'd either bite someone's head off or eat a box of cookies. Either way, skipping breakfast is not something I do. Still it doesn't help me lose weight and I'm surely hungry in a few hours afterwards even though my breakfast is high in protein. So strategy #1 doesn't work for me.
2. Suggestion is to eat filling foods first (like high fiber foods) and fattening foods later. Hah. I don't have to be "hungry" to eat fattening foods and I'm going to eat them because I want to whether or not I've eaten the filling foods first.
3. Keep a lifestyle log. Right. Honey, I know all about my eating habits. I'm not really a mindless eater (okay, occasionally with a bag of chips and a book, I might get carried away). My eating is intentional. Triggers? Uh, yes. Show me fried chicken and I'll eat it. I like the way the author offers this quote: "...it keeps you more accountable when you write everything down." Accountable? To whom? Myself? I don't feel guilty when I've overeaten. I might feel sick but not guilty. I'm only accountable to myself and since I'm present while I'm eating, I don't need to keep a log.
So maybe I'm being just a little bit too critical of the article. It's just that it's yet another one offering up the same advice to someone who knows all the tricks and has all the (excuses) answers. This stuff works with someone who is motivated. How to motivate myself to maybe not take that second helping or eat that new ice cream that I just bought at the supermarket yesterday (Magnum bar?). Not sure.
Are dieters really "hungry"? Is that why they fall off the wagon or is it because they are bored with the food or just want something extra tasty? Because if a dieter were hungry, she could just eat something that is "legal" on her diet. So it isn't about "hunger" but HUNGER. These strategies don't address HUNGER.

Hungry after eating?

Wow. Just read an interesting article in WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123966898930315491.html) about why eating a big meal might make you hungry sooner or even more hungry than if you had eaten a "better" meal. I've always wondered why I am sooo hungry in the morning if I've eaten a particularly splurgeful (I know that's not a word!) meal the night before, especially if I've eaten that meal later than I normally eat. I'm not usually hungry when I wake up. In fact, I can wait about two to three hours after waking up before I'm hungry enough to want to eat. But if I've eaten a meal at about 9 pm and that meal is particularly high in fat and/or sugar, I am indeed ravenous when I awaken. That has always been a mystery to me. I mean, if I've eaten lots of calories at 9 pm, I shouldn't be hungry at 6 am. When I eat a "normal" meal at 7 pm, I wake up without hunger. Huh. Interesting.
The controversey about which makes you feel full longer--fiber, protein, fat--isn't going to be solved any time soon. Volumetrics is based on the fiber theory-eat lots of low calorie high fiber/high water foods and you will stay full longer. I try that all the time. Initially I am full but not "satisfied". I want more food. Not from hunger in the gut but because I want something else. Do you understand? I'm not sure how to describe the feeling except to say that I may be "full" but not satisfied.
High protein has been favored the last few years as a way of increasing the length of satiety. That's the premise for the high protein water drinks. Same issue. Doesn't work for me in the long term. Fat? We used to teach that because fat is digested more slowly it will increase satiety. Nope. That doesn't work for me either. In fact, eating a particularly high fat meal makes me "hungry" for more. Whether that's psychological hunger or physical hunger, I'm not so sure. But when I go wild with fat (fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy all in one meal), it's hard to stop me for the rest of the day.
So, still looking for the perfect combination of foods--the magic bullet.

Hunger, fullness and quantity

Another breakthrough-I shared a hamburger yesterday. A hamburger! Who doesn't eat an entire hamburger by herself? I decided if I was still hungry, I'd order another one. Half a burger and a shared green salad and I was satisfied. Until this morning! How could that be? And it wasn't a huge burger. More the size you would make at home-not a puny McD's burger. I'm shocked. Of course, I wanted more. Very flavorful meat. Cooked perfectly. Juicy. But again it was my mouth that wanted more. Not my tummy. So I resisted the tempation to overindulge. I exited quickly before the waiter came by to offer me more food. "Did you save room for dessert?". My least favorite question in the world. Save room. Is the waiter an idiot?
This morning I was thinking about being hungry. I was hungry at the time. It occurred to me that it probably doesn't matter how hungry you are when you sit down to eat, if you are mindful and intuitive you should be satisfied with about the same amount of food whether you are "starving" or just hungry. The fullness feeling would first be in the stomach. Since that would most probably be close to empty if you were truly hungry then the same amount of food should signal a fullness feeling regardless of how many hours it's been since the last meal. I don't know if this is scientifically valid but it makes sense to me.
So if I should be satisfied with about the same quantity of food regardless of the degree of hunger, then why do I eat so much when I'm very hungry? Because I'm not paying attention to how I feel. I'm focused on how hungry I WAS and not how hungry I still AM.
Even other metabolic changes that signal hunger/satiety like blood sugar should signal satiety after eating a mixed meal whether the meal is huge or normal. I think. I'm going to have to do some research to be sure but this is making sense to me.
Now if only I can use this to my advantage.....

Missing nuts

I'm in a groove with this die*ting thing now. No need to check the list of allowable foods. Don't have to write down what I've eaten for the day to make certain I've met my quota of dairy, fruits and veggies. But I've started to notice what I miss from my regular diet. And, no, it isn't ice cream. It's stuff that I can have but choose not to in order to save up "points" (aka, calories) for the weekend when I eat out. I'm talking about nuts, dried fruits and bread. I used to eat a few handfuls (okay...it's the "few" that was the problem-should have eaten just one small handful) of almonds every day. Always added dried cranberries to salads or dried blueberries to my oatmeal. Bread? Never been much of a bread eater but might take a pita bread and wrap it around some chicken for a real quickie lunch. I've had none of those since this started. I miss nuts a lot. I miss dried fruits. And I even miss bread. There isn't any bread in the house right now so there's no visual temptation-just the temptation in my head. I've had the opportunity to eat bread at restaurants and even then have chosen not to indulge.

And maybe it's not the almonds, dried fruit and bread that I miss. Maybe it's just being able to grab something to eat whenever I feel like it. And "feel" like it means when my mouth calls out for food and not when my tummy growls at me. I find that I have to "censor" my food thoughts all the time. If I'm not hungry, I do not "allow" myself to eat.

The eating orgy that I engaged in with my friends over the weekend made me realize how far I've come. I was only hungry once during those three days. Yet I ate most of the time when we stopped for food. That was the purpose of the trip, after all. To eat. I realized that I can eat whether I'm hungry or not. And that was probably my biggest problem (next to bad choices and quantity) before-eating even though I wasn't hungry. I can eat as much when I am not hungry as when I am. So filling my stomach had little to do with meeting my nutrient needs! But I always knew that my mouth and the desire for tasty food ruled my eating.

Now my brain is in charge. It's not as much fun. I liked it better when my mouth was in charge.