4:00 AM, and I wake up hungry. Perhaps it is time to learn more about this condition of unsatisfaction. So I spend a bunch more time searching the net. Nothing new there. Hunger is a "motivational state" that is supposed to send us in search of food. It does, and works as it should. Nothing new there.
Hunger is caused by insulin, ghrelin, leptin, Peptide YY, digestion speed, and a bunch of the usual suspects. Some say it is a psychological problem, and I am sure that is a component. There is the usual statements about... eating to just satisfy hunger... but that feeling never goes away for some of us.
I have looked at this as diet, life style choice, an addiction, a psychological issue, a maladaptive behavior, a lack of food knowledge problem, an environmental problem, a social issue, a familiar problem, a cultural problem, a philosophical problem --- and while these all help, they are not the complete solution. I have spent a fair bit of money and time chasing possible solution or getting suckered by dream merchants. I have explored OA, FAA, WW, TOPS, FA, AAA, SMART, JC, as well as the various other eating schemes, paleo, low carb, zero carb, fasting. It all come to eat less that I burn, I lose weight, and am hungry. Some helped some. Some less hungry, some more. No shit Sureluck.
So perhaps it is time to just give up and learn to live with hunger. How the f does one do that? The choice is learn or die an early death of obesity. It is that simple. I have battled this problem since I was 6 years old, and the amount of time I have been near normal weight could be counted in weeks, and have deep cycled 100 pounds 6 or 8 time. The last time it was 68 kg, and I have gained back 24 kg over the last 4 years, and that was on low carb, Paleoish, virtually no grains, etc.
I have outlive my doctor, and the new one has a bigger problem with weight than I have. Old Tim told me years ago, when I was suffering from back pain that as it had been a problem for years, that I should just learn to live with it. Years later, I took up archery and the pain went away. Explain that if you can. Perhaps it is time to do the same with this diet problem.
So how does one learn to live hungry? Well, since hunger is a natural motivation state, one will need more motivation or constraint to not eat than to eat. The desire for food, sex, are physical and at the gene/animal level according to some. Some people have too much sex drive or one of those perversions of sex that have become accepted by society as being not normal but real. Why not a food overdrive? Just because we do not want it, what difference does that make. Not all gays want to be gay. Or is this just one more excuse? I doubt it. It feels real.
I find recipes and food pictures stimulate appetite so those will be quashed, ejected, suppressed when possible.
But what do I know anyway?
Dying of obesity is certainly not a good option. I wish you success in your journey.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I recognize that. In my time hanging around OA, I have seen 3 "big ones" die off without much loss. Two laid around hospital for a long time, the third was a nasty self termination.
ReplyDeleteOA is not the place for the morbid obese, but nowhere will take then and deal with all of their problems. A OA at least we would talk to them, as they did with me. I the end, they offer moral support sort of, and advise cleaning of our morals and rebuilding relationships. In the beginning they did offer a starvation diet for those who could stay on the diet. That is the real problem, none can stay on the diet.
But I am not among the thin-fats http://www.drsharma.ca/the-highs-and-lows-of-bmi-and-mortality?