the difference between overeating and really listening to your body

[samariah]

Ok, since i went raw, there has been plenty of days where i just ate whatever i wanted to (as long as it was raw) and ended up not feeling so hot by the end of the day. even if it was all fruit. i think its bc we are eating to satisfy our emotions and not our hunger. i know i definitely am an emotional eater and i think that is the biggest thing i have to overcome on my journey. today, was diff. i really listened to my body. everytime i "thought" i was hungry and analyzed the situation i realized that i was just eating bc i was bored/tired/felt like i should be eating at that time, etc and not bc i was really hungry. so instead, i said to myself, no im not really hungry right now and just went on. i ate what i did eat slowly and assesed myself. i ate it not to indulge a craving but to satisfy my hunger and once that satisfaction came and i was somewhat full (not stuffed) i finished and took food from my mind. i made a point to wait until my previous meal was digested also. for me, mini meals frequently throughout the day dont work bc i end up putting more into me when my bodies already working to digest previous food then i just get bloated and tired. i also made sure not to eat after 7. i got a lil hungry at 10 so i just took a tbsp of coconut oil and was good.

binging or slightly overstuffing yourself isnt good for the body no matter what it is. if your body is constantly digesting food throuhgout the day its going to be more tired and not have energy to do other things. i like to have a nice stretch of like 7-6 hrs where im not eating personally.

lol, idk this is just something ive been realizing today.

[SmilingRawDancer]

I definately feel the same way. But it's SO HARD for me to exercise those actions.
I'm so used to eating on a schedule. It's indoctrinated in me. I have a hard time knowing when I'm actually hungry.
I'll just start trying my hardest every day, and work my way up.
I think what I'm going to do is start juicing untill 12:00 ish, so I start to feel actual hunger, but I'll still have some juiced energy going through me so I won't get light-headed....

I do have food addictions. And I eat all day long, and my digestive system rarely gets a break. My poor body :(
I feel like I'm doing it a favor by giving it raw nutrition, but there IS such a thing as over-kill....

[Weazelchef]

This is what i do when i feel like i can't stop eating:
I will brush my teeth.
Drink Water.
Pay attention to my food.. does it taste as good as the first bite? If not.. quit eating.
Do i feel satisfied or full? If i feel full then i've def overdone myself!

[JulesRules]

I find that if I don't eat my green smoothie in the am, I eat way too much later in the day...The green smoothie, keeps me going until 1-2ish...My lunch is usually not that large or my dinner, because my appetite is not that great...BUT on the days where I didn't eat much in the am my appetite was less manageable later in the day and I wanted to eat and eat until I went to bed.

Jules

[Riiiya]

i feel like it's a journey.... sometimes i have days i'm very good at giving my body a rest and not stuffing it......sometimes i'm home for a long time and have nothing to do but chew! but i have noticed that it's slowly getting better- my goal is to start eating less and feel GOOD about it -and also not to THINK about food so much...

i think i'm making progress :) with time, as i detoxify, my body's signals are much more clear and sometimes i can stop before i overeat

[samariah]

the more busy i am, the less i obsess about/want to be constantly eating and i feel so much better. so now i keep busy!

[lore-ah]

This whole process is so weird to me. Yesterday I posted a thread about eating 5 billion calories. Today I have barely eaten at all. My eating times are all over the place without regard to standard meal times. I'm really digging this

[samariah]

i dont like the concept of standard meal times. everything i eat digests differently, im doing differrent things every day at different times. i just eat when im hungry and i feel fine.

[rawsurfer]

when i listen to my body and not my mind, logic, and social conditioning, sometimes i feel like i dont need food all day long. like today i had a honeydew at like 1230 and then a bunch of grapes at like 530, but when i told my mom that, the social conditoining kicked in and i saw my dad eating brazil nuts, so i went and ate like 4 or 5 handfuls of those, and i feel like crap now. honestly some days i feel like i could go all day without eating. its pretty strange. its such a journey for sure because i used to eat and then as soon as i had a little room in my stomach i would eat again if someone was eating bc i hated to be missing out and i wanted to eat and enjoy as much as possible. somehow i never got more than a few pounds of bellyfat. but i mean now i could literally go all day without eating and be better off because of it. you know what, i think iam gonna do that tomorrow. im so over food right now.

[aililiu]

i agree that it is a journey. and i think that one day i will get to that point where food has no power over me. i see it happening now, some days i can make it without stuffing myself. but sometimes if i DONT stuff myself, i feel kind of empty and lonely. i know im an emotional eater. so right im working on the fact that i CAN eat as much as i want, as long as its raw, and to LOVE MYSELF for eating raw. and by giving myself love and permission, i have been eating less. but im not going to beat myself up over it, or over the fact that i still feel like i need it, because thats just where i am in this journey. ill keep improving.

:)

[Marcus]

I've been 75% raw coming up on 5 weeks now. The green smoothies really seem to help flatten out the craving/binging cycle. I feel like I have some time to evaluate my needs/wants/desires before stuffing myself ugly with whatever former comfort food is on hand. Not that I haven't done that (corn chips & salsa were a binge food for the first 3 weeks or so there), but the frequency & intensity of the cooked food cravings is somewhat diminishing.

There is definitely a "stabilizing effect" to eating raw that allows some room for making a sound decision, rather than just running with the craving.

[EZ rider]

Most of the time all I have to do to control my eating is just to remind myself to "tune in" to my body's signals. After that if I get a bonafide slight hunger signal I eat a small meal and "tune in" again. It works better the more you do it. I would wait to start doing this until your cooked cravings abate and just eat as much raw as you want until you get past those cravings so that you can get the raw habit. Working on one thing at a time improves focus.