WHERE is it written!!! (Rant about honoring hunger!)

October 23, 2007

This reminded me of something that made me double take and then smile

about when we toured New Zealand - a mother turned to her small child

and told him to " Eat your tea! " Of course being a yank, I immediately

pictured someone chewing on tea leaves... lol

>

> Being a British family, we have tea. We don't have sandwiches - just

the pastries, cakes,

> crumpets, scones, muffins...that kinda thing and have dinner a

couple of hours later.

>

> I know a lot of people for whom dinner 'tea' and dinner are the same

thing. But they don't

> necessarily have tea with it

>

October 24, 2007

>

> Okay, this is a rant, but here goes: WHERE is it written that

> " lunchtime " must be at precisely 12 noon or " dinner time " must be at

> precisely 6pm? Here's the deal:

>

....

> The larger issue here, I think, is that we're SUPPOSED to be all

about

> honoring our hunger, and coming to understand when you're hungry and

> doing something about it. Is it more sane to eat lunch at 10:30 or

to

> push off your hunger until noon or so, at which time I have passed

> hungry and gone straight to GET ME A SIDE OF BEEF?!

>

....

I actually calculated what I'd taken in over

> the course of several days of this experiment - even though I'm

eating

> something every 2-3 hours, I'm actually not eating any more calories

> than I normally would if I just ate when the clock told me to eat a

> meal. Does that make sense? I'm really trying hard to just

recognize

> and acknowledge my legitimate (versus emotional) hunger and give my

body

> some fuel when it signals it wants it.

Amen, hallelujah and all of that! Stuff the food police.

One thing I'm grateul I'm okay with is that I don't worry about the

clock when it comes to my meals (yes, multiple meals) during the

working day. I have a range of options at my desk and in the office

fridge, and when I get hungry, I try to decide which option feels

right. The things I always have with me are protein shakes (I make

damn good ones with flax oil, ground nuts, mocha flavoured - yum),

tins of tuna, vegie soups (with a little sour cream from the fridge

to dress them up right), nuts/seeds, crackers of various kinds,

fruit, yogurt ... whatever. And if they don't fit the bill, I'll go

out and buy something at whatever time I need it (fortunately we're

pretty flexible at work).

So I have the amount I feel I need to properly satisfy my hunger

without making me too stuffed (don't want to fall asleep at my desk!)

when I want it. If that's at 11.00 am, 1.00 pm, 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm,

so be it. I'm past being told what to do and when. The only time I

work around it and only have, say, a piece of fruit to tide me over

(which rarely does the trick - fruit can make you more hungry) is if

we're all going out to lunch together and I try to plan ahead to take

this into account just for that day.

Clocks mean nothing to stomachs. I'm sitting here typing

beyond " dinner time " , but I'm not hungry yet - and I'm enjoying

reading all your posts - so I'll wait until it's the right time.

End of my reply rant! (Thanks Gym.)

S

October 24, 2007

Since British ways have already been mentioned - have you hear of 'elevenses'?

Afternoon tea

isn't the only tea in England. They also have tea for 'elevenses' which is,

appropriately, 11 am.

Lunch there isn't noon, but more like 1 pm.

>

> I feel on the verge of a breakthrough here for me,

> personally.

>

> I feel like if I ate my lunch at 10:30 or even 11

> coworkers would say, " Oh, poor . She's so hungry

> she can't even wait until lunchtime. " >

>

October 24, 2007

Hi Michele,

Working from home is the way to go, I love it! My only issue is that I

can spend way too many hours working since my office is right here. Plus,

I love what I do, so I often spend way over 8 hours a day. My focus right

now is on establishing some balance.

Anyway, what happens on the weekend? How can I help you with this? Let me

know.

Thanks!

Gillian

Gillian Hood-son, MS, ACSM

Healthier Outcomes

It's not just about losing weight!

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At 09:50 PM 10/23/2007, you wrote:

Gillian,

I work at home too so it is awesome for me. I don't have to plan

when to eat as I am not donig phone calls any longer, just doing quality

control, and I can eat and listen at the same time. It is

great. But when the weekend comes that is when I have issues.

Michele

Gillian Hood-son

wrote:

Good for you! I think you are on the right track with this! I can't

stand all these rules about when we should eat. I worked with a school

teacher who would eat early before she left home and by lunchtime she was

ready to pass out. So now she eats her lunch at her 10am break (that's

about 3.5 hours after she ate in the morning) and has a snack at lunch.

It works out perfectly for her. There are no rules and since I work at

home (yes, I'm very lucky and grateful!), I never know when I'm going to

eat, just whenever I'm hungry. That is, unless I have a full day of

clients, then I plan a little more. I think it's kind of rude to chew in

a client's ear! :-)

Thanks!

Gillian

..

October 24, 2007