Let us first understand what hunger really is? Hunger and appetite (discussed later) are two terms closely associated with food. Hunger is generated by the digestive system as a demand for food and manifests itself in the form of hunger contractions of the stomach or by saliva secretion in the mouth. A delay in eating begins to produce the unpleasant symptoms of hunger. The physical sensation of hunger increases irritability. There is physical pain in the stomach commonly and energy decreases.
As discussed earlier overweight people are constantly hungry because the foods they eat lack nourishment. They lack the good proteins, vitamins and minerals that satisfy the body’s needs. In a vain effort to check insatiable appetite, or by force of habit, they stuff themselves with white bread, biscuits, chivada, pastries and sweets, but still the body goes hungry and unsatisfied and unable to assimilate this “synthetic” nourishment retaliates by pilling it up in rolls upon rolls of fat. Lacking basic nourishment, overweighters are constantly hungry-and so that overeat and so it goes around the vicious circle – the ever expanding waist, hips and thighs.
You say you have no will power. Well, let me tell you I often hear this lament from most overweight people, I have no will power”. Let’s analyze this statement. What does it mean? First lets analyze this word ‘will power’. In classical philosophy the term ‘will’ means your conscious desire.
Thus when an overweight person says ‘I have no will- power’ what he really means is this ‘I have a strong conscious desire to lose weight – I often resolve to lose weight ; but temptations sweep away my best resolutions. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But this is not quite the same thing as having no will- power. The fact is that most overweight people have ample supply of will power. They have a very strong conscious desire to lose weight, and this by definition is will power. But they don’t know to use their will power.
Most overweight people use willpower in a direct confrontation with temptation and temptation wins, but there is a way out of this dilemma. Think of yourself as a swimmer in a river with a strong current. The current is temptation or compulsive desire to overeat. Your ability to swim is by analogy your willpower. You want to get out of the river ( i.e. free yourself from compulsion). Can you swim upstream against the current? Even if you are a very strong swimmer ( i.e. have a great deal of willpower), you will soon become fatigued and be swept away by the current. What can you do? Obviously, you can use your swimming strength to reach one of the shores. By going ‘with’ the current you eventually escape it. You have options of freedom ‘within’ the situation.
Most overweight people waste their willpower in a futile attempt to fight temptation. Very few people can lose weight by trying, to use willpower to suppress desire. Such efforts are almost doomed to failure. Even if they lose weight by a valiant effort of will against temptation they almost gain the weight back.
The suggestions in this chapter are recommended to help you to use willpower in a constructive, creative way. These specific and practical suggestions are given to help you to ‘swim with’ the current of your temptations and eventually escape them. The only willpower you need is the willpower to actually ‘do’ the things suggested. If you actually try out the suggestions, you will find how well you can eat, how many good foods you can enjoy and yet reduce to your proportion and maintain your real weight for life.
Can I eat all I want and still lose weight ?
How many times have you seen this statement used in the promotion of weight-reducing program? Some people maintain that you can eat all you want of almost ‘anything’ and still lose weight. Of course, three is no healthful way to staff yourself and lose body fat as a result.
If your diet is nutritionally balanced, it won’t be necessary to eat large amounts of food to get the nutrients you need. But if you eat the right foods, you ‘can’ nibble! Let yourself go on vegetables. Vegetables are rich in food-fibre and they satisfy your need for bulk. Vegetables should be boiled, baked or eaten raw. Avoid frying as it adds fats. You can eat all you want of your favourite vegetables between meals as long as you include other basic foods in your regular meals as per The Balanced-Nutrient Diet. Nibbling on vegetables should, however, reduce your appetite at mealtime.
M.D. kept all kind of fresh vegetables in her refrigerator. Every time she felt an urge to eat something, she nibbled on a carrot, a piece of celery, a section of cucumber, or some other favourite vegetable. The result was that she ate smaller portions during regular meals. She was thus able to adhere to The Balanced-Nutrient Diet advised by me for her weight problem and managed to lose a kilo a week by doing nothing more than eating vegetables between meals.
Another way to eat between meals is to eat a fresh fruit. Fruits are excellent carriers of vitamins and minerals and are out-standing for carbohydrate because of their content of natural sugar starches. I wish every reducer would acquire the good habit of eating ripe fruits. It is a fine way to train the palate away from the concentrated sweets. Fresh fruits can be eaten any time of the day and even as dessert. Fruit consumption is an art to be developed by each individual. What matter is that you eat enough to feel satisfied. Learn to listen to the wants and needs of your body. DON’T OVEREAT AND DON’T UNDER- EAT! Eat a fruit. Enjoy it! Remember to eat it slowly, chewing and mixing with your saliva. Do not gulp or consume fruits too rapidly, then may upset body systems.
CAUTION!
Don’t ever succumb to the temptation to eat sweets, pastries, cakes, white bread, processed foods and other highly fattening, foods in -between meals. These devitalized foods are very low in their nutrient content and are often referred to as ‘empty foods’ or foodless that will, artificially stimulate your appetite, resulting in over-indulgence and escalate your problem into fat- building eating binges.