Hunger Cues

I’m circling back to post more about hunger cues.  Last time I delved into this, I was realizing (with the help of Vesta and her comment especially) that I do better when eating at the first hunger signal.  Since I wrote that post, I’ve realized more and more how important eating at the first hunger signal is for me.  At first, I ate at the first signal consistently… and then I did what I often do.  😉  I decided to observe more closely what happened when I didn’t eat at the first hunger signal and took the old habits for a spin again.  Wow… I sure learned a lot.  Not eating at the first hunger cue is just miserable…

For example, yesterday: the boyfriend wanted to go for a drive.  When we were leaving the house, I had already felt a few hunger pangs.  I had forgotten that eating at my first hunger signal is important and I had that old thought that I can wait another hour at least.  Hah!  An hour later, I felt seriously ill.  I was dizzy… I was nauseas… I felt like I might pass out.  *headdesk*  After all that, I spent hours very lethargic, crabby and otherwise feeling icky thanks to my waiting to eat too long.   Then, of course, I remembered about the eating at the first hunger cue again.  Alright… so I”ve had my spin with the old habits and they suck.  I’m over it…. which lead to more observations this morning…

This morning, I got home from driving the boyfriend to the train and I had my first hunger cue.  My first thought was to wait, but then I remembered the misery of yesterday, so I went about trying to figure out what I wanted to eat.  In the process of trying to figure out what I craved, I realized that my first hunger cue was actually pretty darn strong.  Sure, it’s the first one I may feel, but usually at the very first cue I notice my stomach is rumbling, I’m feeling shakey and my brain starts to get more anxious.  These symptoms just get worse as I let the hunger go on.  This is the first time that I realized that my first hunger cue is actually pretty darn strong.  I suppose years of eating disorders and restriction (and trying to eat only after I was famished or ever WORSE)  messed up my understanding of hunger signals more than I thought.  It is shocking to me when I have these moments of realization as to just how much I have hurt myself over the years.

In other news, the no-shampoo thing was a bust.  My scalp got way too itchy to the point where I started feeling depressed (this was by washing with conditioner only).  So, I went to Whole Foods and found a shampoo that is made only with oils and tea.  Hehehehehe… I love it.  It’s awesome.  My hair gets to keep it’s natural oils (the shampoo is super-gentle and the oils seem to help protect my fragile hair) and my scalp gets to be gentley cleaned without stripping my hair of its natural oils.  This is really awesome to me since it used to take my hair a day or two after shampooing to recover from the stripping of conventional shampoo… this was even when I used the most gentle conventional shampoos (and I have tried them all over the years…).  I love how my hair comes right out of the shower healthy and not needing days to recover.  😀  If this shampoo doesn’t workout in the long-run, I’m going to try the baking soda and vinegar thing that Vesta uses. 

Well… I’m realizing that cranberry/walnut muffin wasn’t sufficiently filling, so I’m going to warm up some soup right now as opposed to waiting until my hunger signals get stronger.  😉  How many readers out there also find it best to eat at their first hunger signals?  If so, do you know what may have caused this for you… or were you just born that way? 

–AngryGrayRainbows