Re-post: Hunger is NOT an emergency!
Great post, Nik..
My personal lesson went even deeper than that, into a whole uncovering about the notion of scaricity and how it relates to my outlook, my anxiety, my relationship with food, and stuff, and weight.
For me, it's not just that hunger feels like an emergency, it's even the mere potential of hunger felt like an emergency. I'd feel emergencyified before I even got out the door because in three hours I might not be able to find something (that was a good choice) to eat (note here that the good choice was part of my brain's narrative, but actually had little to do with the anxiety itself).
It's made me realize how prevalent the idea of scarcity is in my life, and I can trace it back clearly through my mom's family. Now that I can see it in myself, I can see clear as day where it comes from.
And there's a constant reassurance from me to myself to say: there are many people in this world for whom scarcity of food is a real and prevalent and life-threatening concern. You are luckily not one of them. You will not go even hours without the opportunity and means to obtain food if you need it. Feeling hunger will not kill you. It will indeed only serve to keep you in contact with your body, and feeling hunger will help you decide when and what and how much to eat if you do it mindfully.
Wild ride. It also has pointed me to a process of understanding the scarcity I feel in other areas of my life. The social walls I put up for so long, the hesitance, the isolation, the refusing to confront my own sense of vulnerability. A journey that's fascinating, and freeing, and scary and probably won't ever, ever end.
Best!
~Mo
My personal lesson went even deeper than that, into a whole uncovering about the notion of scaricity and how it relates to my outlook, my anxiety, my relationship with food, and stuff, and weight.
For me, it's not just that hunger feels like an emergency, it's even the mere potential of hunger felt like an emergency. I'd feel emergencyified before I even got out the door because in three hours I might not be able to find something (that was a good choice) to eat (note here that the good choice was part of my brain's narrative, but actually had little to do with the anxiety itself).
It's made me realize how prevalent the idea of scarcity is in my life, and I can trace it back clearly through my mom's family. Now that I can see it in myself, I can see clear as day where it comes from.
And there's a constant reassurance from me to myself to say: there are many people in this world for whom scarcity of food is a real and prevalent and life-threatening concern. You are luckily not one of them. You will not go even hours without the opportunity and means to obtain food if you need it. Feeling hunger will not kill you. It will indeed only serve to keep you in contact with your body, and feeling hunger will help you decide when and what and how much to eat if you do it mindfully.
Wild ride. It also has pointed me to a process of understanding the scarcity I feel in other areas of my life. The social walls I put up for so long, the hesitance, the isolation, the refusing to confront my own sense of vulnerability. A journey that's fascinating, and freeing, and scary and probably won't ever, ever end.
Best!
~Mo
It's interesting you re-post this now. Just last night I was re-reading this on your blog
http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/11/hunger-what-your-surgeon-didnt-tell-you.html
Hunger being an "emergency" is a big struggle of mine. Just this afternoon I was SURE I NEEEDED to eat before I went to a one hour meeting. Why did I NEED to eat? Because I started craving the Quest bar in my lunch bag. Not real hunger, I'd just had a great lunch about 2hrs before.
So I told myself "You WILL get to eat again, just not now. You will eat after at least 4hrs have passed from lunch".
It's been 5hrs, and I am just now getting to my Quest bar - and I survived.
http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/11/hunger-what-your-surgeon-didnt-tell-you.html
Hunger being an "emergency" is a big struggle of mine. Just this afternoon I was SURE I NEEEDED to eat before I went to a one hour meeting. Why did I NEED to eat? Because I started craving the Quest bar in my lunch bag. Not real hunger, I'd just had a great lunch about 2hrs before.
So I told myself "You WILL get to eat again, just not now. You will eat after at least 4hrs have passed from lunch".
It's been 5hrs, and I am just now getting to my Quest bar - and I survived.
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