How did/do you handle head or heart hunger?

Ten years post op I'm still not very good at controlling cravings or snacking but I do successfully maintain a fairly low weight (135 5'9") and am quite healthy.

I find if I make exercise a priority first thing in the morning I have shining health and a very nice body and no real overeating issues.

If I DONT.... If I get stressed out because of business or other worries ... I will cook and go back for seconds and snack .... Not so great .

What saves me from gaining is a very forgiving menu ... I use super lowfat ( usually fat free) ingredients whenever possible and eat a lot of fiber in the form of "healthy" carbs like beans vegetables potatoes (cooked not fried ) and salads with fat free dressing croutons ( which have no fat) and fat free feta cheese crumbles.

I try to avoid " real " cheese , ice cream, nuts and fatty dairy products like creamer and half and half . The truth is almost every dairy product including butter sour cream half and half milk even ricotta and mozzarella cheese is available in most supermarkets or online .

You can choose meats that are leaner too like chicken breast over thighs , pork loin, eye round and extra lean ground beef which is half the fat of regular lean . Turkey medallions ate another great choice - super popular in Europe and almost a cross between meat and chicken and quite tasty .

Seafood of course is naturally mostly fat free ( I avoid salmon especially farmed salmon like the plague ) and I eat a lot of it .

I make easy sauces from powdered sauce mixes readily available in any supermarket , butter buds ( which is freeze dried fat free natural butter solids and can be bought as butter flavored popcorn seasoning anywhere) and fat free half n half n veggies- delicious!

I also try to avoid sugar - luckily I still dump so it's not that hard . Getting sleep is very important too.

My favorite snack is fat free kettle popped popcorn made in an " old fashioned" rotating twenty dollar popper from Walmart which toasts the kernels to delicious nutty flavor. A handful of popcorn makes a huge potful.

Hope this helps .

One thing I only learned after surgery is that the desire to eat sometimes when you're not hungry is completely normal and not something to feel guilty about. "Skinny" people do it too. I used to try to "white-knuckle" it and ignore the cravings, thinking that it was some sort of weakness on my part to give in. But now that I understand that it's normal, I have what I think is a much healthier approach.

Always have on hand some foods for those occasions. Foods that engage other senses in addition to taste are particularly good. Crunchy things like carrot sticks or other raw veggies are great. I like pomegranate seeds for the way they burst when you chomp down. Usually you want foods that are low in calories/carbs (whichever you're tracking), but also consider foods that you don't like enough to eat more than a nibble. For me personally, raisins and sunflower seeds fall into this category.

I drink a glass of water. Sometimes it isn't head hunger or heart hunger, but excess stomach acid. Water helps with that.

If hunger returns after the glass of water, I assume it was real hunger and eat whatever I want as long as it is low-sugar and filling. After surgery, I learned that it's normal to have days where I'm hungrier than others. Usually the next day I will be less hungry, so it tends to even out.

Thanks Wombat. The idea that even thin/"normal" people also want to turn to food at times. I guess they aren't large b/c of how often it happens or the types of food they turn to. Unfortunately, I turned to starchy carbs and sugar. Can't say why. The poster before yours (no name) mentioned stress and I have been feeling a lot of stress recently but haven't been acknowledging it to myself. I came back recently from a 2 week vacation visiting a friend a few states away (thus far away from the stress inducer) and my head and heart hunger were in abeyance. Time to find what will work in helping me cope with it. I like your use of eating something that I don't care that much for. I do have one optional snack midafternoon and substituting almonds or brazil nuts for peanuts would fit the bill.

Thanks to everyone *****sponded to me. You've given me some new ways to look at myself and ideas/options to try and to use.