A metabolism question
Jul. 6th, 2006 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmith...or something.
What is your baseline state, hunger-wise? Do you always feel sated (no desire to eat), except when you're expressly hungry? Do you only eat when your stomach growls, or do you let it get that far?
I'm trying to eat more healthy food and yes, lose some weight, and I'm trying to figure out--how am I supposed to feel? Is a constant mild feeling of hunger the sensation I should aim for, or not? What is the baseline for an average human being?
In all the diet and lifestyle articles I've read, this isn't addressed. External factors--food groups, calorie counts--work only for so long. How am I supposed to feel?
I fear the answer is that everyone is different, but otoh, not sure if that's true. I wonder if, because of the constant proximity and availability of food, our baseline has shifted up so that what we now call sated is really overstuffed, and what we call hunger is often simply craving.
What is your baseline state, hunger-wise? Do you always feel sated (no desire to eat), except when you're expressly hungry? Do you only eat when your stomach growls, or do you let it get that far?
I'm trying to eat more healthy food and yes, lose some weight, and I'm trying to figure out--how am I supposed to feel? Is a constant mild feeling of hunger the sensation I should aim for, or not? What is the baseline for an average human being?
In all the diet and lifestyle articles I've read, this isn't addressed. External factors--food groups, calorie counts--work only for so long. How am I supposed to feel?
I fear the answer is that everyone is different, but otoh, not sure if that's true. I wonder if, because of the constant proximity and availability of food, our baseline has shifted up so that what we now call sated is really overstuffed, and what we call hunger is often simply craving.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 11:04 pm (UTC)Thirsty *very* often feels like hungry. Since LA is (quite literally) a desert, and I grew up in something a hair short of a humid swamp, I very often am thirsty and don't realize it until I *think* about it. Tho I *will* feel hungry. If I think about it I can distinguish the hungry feeling that means I'm dehydrated from the hungry feeling that means I need food.
Hungry is well, hungry. Even on a healthy and appropriate sized diet, I'm not usually hungry after I eat. If I am, I should have another serving of salad or colored vegetables until I'm not.
And then there's sated. I've just eaten or drunk *enough* and I'm pleasantly full.
There's also several *abnormal* states. I go into electrolyte deficiency fairly easily, and that really screws up a lot of my body's normal signals. I'll feel actually thirsty (rather than the normal and healthy confused signal) all the time, and have other biological rythmns screwed up. I can also be stuffed from overeating, which is quite unpleasant and should be avoided. There's also sugar crash, when I haven't eaten for too long, or what I've eaten was bad for me, and I suddenly get very scattered. Probably more I'm not thinking of.
A lot of it for me has been observing how I feel and what works to correct it.