Question:
I need some suggestions...

Hey guys I need some suggestions for a support group meeting that I am leading on ways to stay compliant with the new diet we must follow after surgery. I know the things I do, but I haven't had much problem staying compliant. So I was hoping for some help from you. Let me know how you deal with head hunger and just hunger in general. Thanks!!    — dkinson (posted on March 2, 2003)

March 2, 2003
I think a great topic for a support group is learning the difference between actual hunger and head hunger. Thats a real tough one. However, if its real hunger, my advice is to eat! There are tons of healthy, protein type snacks out there that we can have to stave off hunger. I've learned that if I ignore hunger because its not time to eat, then I get VERY hungry and can make some dumb choices. The trick is to not get hungry to begin with by eating small amounts frequently. Some tricks I have heard to deal with head hunger: eat sunflower seeds one at a time-takes forever and keeps the hands busy, that old time favorite - exercise-go for a walk, cross stitching/knitting/macrame/cross work puzzles/regular puzzles/reading. Hope some of these help.
   — Cindy R.

March 2, 2003
I agree with the previous poster: eating frequently in small amounts will keep one from overeating. If we wait for the three meals a day, one will overeat when you get to the meal. > Also, I like what I heard Oprah say a few weeks ago, which helps me to deal with hunger. Her dietician said when you feel the hunger pains, that means your body is eating away at its fat. So with that, we can actually welcome those (unreal) hunger pains knowing we are losing weight! At least it helps to stave off eating for a little while. > I've also found eating sliced lean ham or other lean lunchmeat is a great snack for between meals. I use the paper thin-sliced Boars Head maple baked ham and I eat cheddar cheese chunks. This keeps me from eating the carbohydrates like cookies when I get hungry. > I've also found these things to be helpful: Always eat with a salad fork, never a full sized fork. Always eat out of a salad plate or sandwich sized plate so you won't overfill your plate and unintentionally eat too much. >> Dassani Bottled water tastes so good, that I like drinking water better than cola (and I was a diet coke junkie). At restaurants, I always ask for a to-go box and "in advance" put any food I don't plan to eat in it and set it aside. Out of sight, out of mind. Then I take it with me and eat the rest later in the day. I hope some of these ideas help.
   — Darlene P.

March 2, 2003
Identifying head hunger vs. physical hunger...excellent topic. I was just discussing this with my shrink in an effort to pre-combat post surgery wanting to eat (I am 3 weeks pre-op) My shrink's instructions: When you want to eat, rate your hunger from 1-10 with 10 being famished/starving, etc. Before you reach this starving point, like after you've eaten, decide at which level (1-10) you will eat (of course, don't wait until 9 or 10). Hopefully, you will discover that a typical "eating event" occurs when you're under a 5 rating, which is NOT physically hungry. Therefore, don't eat. If it's a 6 or above (or whatever you decide is your threshold), eat. My intrepretation of this was similar to how I quit smoking. When the urge (to smoke) came, I (somewhat) rated it, told myself it would pass in 5-10 minutes and drank water. It worked for smoking (just another habit), so I'm thinking it should work for eating (just another habit!) as well. So far, I've been doing it 2 days it really does seem to work if I stop and think about my "type" of hunger, i.e., head or physical and rate it, I can usually justify why I'm eating or discipline myself as to why I don't need to eat. Good luck to all and Donny!
   — msmaryk