Read time: 7 minutes
TLDR:
- Being tired increases my stress levels and thus my cravings for food
- Ensuring I have many different food textures, tastes and options (all separated on my plate) helps to satisfy my cravings and decrease my overeating
Preamble:
Hello Readers,
Feels crazy to write one post right after another, but hey, when inspiration strikes I just have to go with it so…here it is!
The day after I wrote the last post, I had some people message and talk to me about their eating struggles. They also mentioned they have difficulties with overeating especially with the stresses of work and kids so it was a good reminder that it’s not simply a “me and ADHD” problem. We all have this struggle and we all have the difficulties of cravings and giving in from time to time. Like I said in the last post, be kind to yourself when it happens and things will work out better than being frustrated and being yourself up.
…Trust me, I know.
I wanted to write today because it was a challenging day for me eating-wise. I had a late night’s sleep and that always makes it easier to overeat for several reasons:
- I have more messages from my body which feel like hunger (Yay hormones!)
- It’s easier to give into cravings because I am tired and have less awareness
- My body has more propensity to want to fidget (cue munching on snacks – yum!)
- More cravings for salty, sweet and sour foods from stress signals
I feel fortunate though because although these cravings are more present when I’m tired, I’ve done enough reading and have enough self awareness to know that these feelings will pass. Furthermore, the reason that I’m getting these signals in such volume is simply because I’m tired.
…Don’t get me wrong though. It’s still extremely confusing as I try to sort through my body’s sensations and decide what is actually me being hungry. And to be honest, I think I postponed my eating too long today because I wasn’t sure if I was hungry and thus ended up with a hunger headache. Hilarious no?
I digress…back to habits that work even when I’m tired. To be honest, I’m proud to say they actually work pretty well for me so I’ll list them here for my memory and your perusal:
Healthy Habits to Satisfy Cravings and Decrease Overeating:
- Drinking water first if I’m hungry – I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize this, but most times, I’m not craving salt…I’m just thirsty. Until I can more accurately depict what is hunger vs. me being thirsty, I will start with water (thank you Barcelona for your drinkable tap water!)
- Filling my plate with as many different tastes, textures and colours as possible – by having these different choices, I find that I surprisingly feel full faster and feel satisfied with less food than before as my body gets to tick all the boxes it wants. Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, crunchy, soft, nutty etc.
- Keeping my foods separate – my plate reminds me of a toddler’s these days because I have everything separate and also random things that don’t seem to go together like a few nuts, some berries, yogurt, peanut butter, asparagus, cheese and tempeh…but hey, it seems to work so why not! If my body’s looking for a specific craving like something crunchy, I don’t need to eat a whole spoonful of combined flavours to satisfy a little craving, I’ll just eat the nuts. It works for toddlers so why not me?
- Giving myself permission to stop eating when full even if I only have a couple bites left on my plate. Surprisingly, it’s actually been pretty easy for me to leave food provided I have a fridge or container handy to save it for later
- Putting things back at the grocery store – this was SO difficult today. I had a bag of crunchy Cheetoes in my grocery cart for 15 minutes and right at the checkout isle, I looked at it, debated for 5 minutes, then ran to put it back. All day and even right now I’m still craving that salty, cheesy, and crunchy snack…I have half a mind to go to my neighbour and ask for her bag, but to be honest, I know that even if I eat a whole bag I won’t feel satisfied. I don’t have much self-control and even if it’ll hit the craving temporarily, I won’t be able to stop and there will be nothing, but my overly bloated stomach and a pile of guilt. Nothing that can satisfy this craving, but a good night’s sleep.
All of this said, I want to explain a bit into why I’m talking so much about cravings and feeling satisfied. In the book “What Are You Hungry For?”, the author speaks about cravings and feeling satisfied. His philosophy is that we don’t become healthier by limiting our foods. We become our ideal weight by simply being aware of our bodies needs and meeting them with healthier, unprocessed options. More on that in a future post as I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it myself, but the bottom line: I’m not going to limit myself. I’ll give into the cravings with healthier, more colourful alternatives and my body will adjust my brain chemistry with time. I also have some confidence I’ll reach a new, more balanced state because I used to be someone who could eat a bunch of chocolate in one sitting and now I’d rather have an apple. Crazy no?
T
World of Wandering Minds 