Eating from the Fridge vs. the Pantry

The Fridge is a symbol for eating foods that are readily available and will give your body a quick blast of energy. These are generally processed foods and sugar. They raise your blood sugar fast and also raise the amount of insulin your body releases to turn that energy into fat.

The Pantry is a symbol for foods that might take a bit of preparation. They are generally whole foods that take extra energy for your body to turn into energy. Insulin is still released but not in as big a quantity. The Pantry can also refer to fat stores on your body. I like to remind my body when it is hungry to "dine-in".

The Myth of Eating when you are Hungry

I always liked the dieting strategy of not letting yourself get hungry. The theory being that if you fill up on "good" foods, you won't eat the "bad" ones.  Some programs suggest you eat every three or four hours. I loved to eat, so eating more often sounded great to me.

After years of this, I didn't really know what it felt like to be hungry. I went to an Intuitive Eating nutritionist for some help and she wanted me to rate my hunger before I ate and only ate until I was mostly full. The problem for me was I was so out of touch with my body's hunger cues I had a hard time rating myself. I could eat a good amount of food and a few hours later feel like I was starving again.  The other issue was that I could eat right before I left work but when I walked into the kitchen fifteen minutes later, my body would signal that I was hungry again. I noticed that my hunger often increased when I was around a food I liked.

I have now learned my body would release the hormone Ghrelin (a hormone that gives you an intense desire to eat) when I had trained it to eat. Like when I would walk in the door from work. 

Cutting processed foods and sugar out of my diet were very helpful controlling Ghrelin because those foods are so addictive.

I decided that I was done eating every few hours. I wanted to know what it was like to get hungry. I cut back to eating three meals a day. No snacking. No bites here and there. It was simple and helped me control the cravings as they came up. I ate until I was satisfied and sometimes full at each meal but I let myself get hungry before my next meal.

100 Things I like about me

1. I am working on a new version of myself 2. I am married to a great husband 3. I have two daughters and two sons 4. I live in Lehi 5. I am a good team lead. 6. I am good at teaching relevant gospel doctrine lessons 7. I am a good friend 8. I do my best work in the morning 9. I am a good cook. 10. I am a good organizer 11. I have the spiritual gift of believing 12. I am creative 13. I figure out more productive ways to do tasks. 14. I am kind 15. I enjoy learning 16. I know basic rules of nutrition 17. I love to travel 18. I love exploring new places with my family. 19. I love to do service in the temple 20. I am working to have an eternal marriage. 21. I  have naturally curly hair but not too curly 22. I have nice fingernails 23. I have nice hands 24. I can take thoughts and present them in a visual way. 25. I can read well 26. I can play the piano. 27. I can sing 28. I can connect with others 29. I take the stairs at work 30. I make my own natural laundry soap 31. I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ 32. I have kind parents 33. I had kind caring Grandparents 34. I can make an embroidery pattern 35. I very rarely follow a recipe or pattern exactly. 36. I have three sisters and one brother 37. I seek for self improvement 38. My mind is always going 39. I am the mother to many foreign exchange students. 40. God sometimes sends me messages in dreams. 41. I am a daughter of God 42. I like others 43. I love to learn. 44. I am good at making connections with the things I learn. 45. I love to look at clouds 46. I am kind. 47. I genuinely look for ways to help others. 48. I am a critical thinker 49. I love Jesus Christ 50. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints 51. I hold space for people 52. I love my husband on purpose 53. I birthed 4 babies 54. And nursed 2 of them 55. I am not afraid of others judgments 56. I can turn fabric into clothing. 57. I can alter a formal dress to make it modest and more attractive. 58. I have been married for 27 years 59. I have lived in the same house for 22 years 60. I still keep in touch with my best friend from 7th grade 61. My smile 62. I smile through a hard workout 63. I can not tell a lie. My face gives me away 64. I have never broken a bone 65. I have some very good and loyal friends 66. I love to snuggle with my husband. 67. I am honest 68. I an curious 69. I appreciate silence 70. I love to hear my kids do music together 71. I love being a woman 72. I like to take pictures 73. I like to see things that take my breath away 74. I like to blog 75. I have written over 1000 blog posts 76. I have compiled many scrapbooks and memory books 77. I can swim 78. I am not a picky eater 79. I have good grammar skills 80. I can find things when they are lost 81. I am a full tithe payer 82. I have a current temple recommend 83. I love flower gardens 84. I like to go hiking. 85. Kayaking is fun 86. I love general conference talks 87. I am a morning person. 88. I love that we have family traditions 89. I like to make others feel special on their birthday 90. I love to watch the sunrise 91. I like to watch the sunset 92. I like to look at stars 93. I am a recovering perfectionist 94. I strive for charity 95. I have good ideas 96. I am a good problem solver 97. I love musicals 98. I hate endings 99. I have a bachelor's degree from BYu 100. I love cake but especially frosting ReplyForward

"What if you are at your ideal weight?"

It was a question posed to me by my intuitive eating nutritionist and my brain immediately rejected it.

I decided to try on the thought. What if my bigger body was at my ideal weight?

My brain said:
1- I guess I could learn to avoid mirrors because I would never again be happy with how I look.
2- Forget swimming or other activities I enjoy

But eventually I came to some more positive thoughts

1- I wouldn't have to be on a diet all the time.
2- I could get used to my new size and others would too.
3- I could devote my brain power to other problems in my life

What I got out of this exercise was that I needed to separate my body size from how I saw my value as a person.

I realized no amount of weight loss would end the negative self talk in my head. There would always be something to criticize about myself. I needed to work on loving me just the way I was. I decided to write a list of 100 things I like about me just the way I am.

Baby Steps

February 2018

I wanted to take control of my health. I wanted to up-level my life and they way I fed and moved my body My brain had some definite ideas about what was and what wasn't possible based on past experience. 

I wanted to permanently break my addiction to processed foods and sugar. 

My brain said, "No way"

I wanted to be able to run a 5K. 

My brain said, "It's possible, it had been done before"

I wanted to not be hungry all the time.

My brain said, "Is it even possible to not be hungry all the time?"  

I heard about intermittent fasting.

My brain said, "Definitely not healthy."

I wanted to lose weight.

My brain said, "It's possible." (I had done it several times before)

I wanted to maintain a healthy weight. 

My brain told me, "Other people do it but I never have." (Previously, at the end of a diet, I would wonder how long until the weight came back.) 

I wanted to learn to eat when I was hungry.  

My brain said, "What does that even mean?"

I decided to start with what seemed the most impossible goal; breaking my sugar addiction. I changed my thought  from , "No way!" to "What if it's possible I could go without processed foods and sugar for one day?"

After one day, I decided to do two. I let the confidence of small success propel me forward until I gone several months without sugar. 

My thought changed to, "What if it's possible for me to only eat sugar and processed foods occasionally in small controlled as part of a food plan for the rest of my life?"

Baby Steps helped me move the impossible to a possibility.