----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd Moody"
> Maybe we just sleep together.
<LOL...silly wench replies> Gee, Todd, I hope it was good.
> Question: Is it normal or abnormal to feel hunger (or no hunger)
> in the morning?
I wish I could defend the position that "normal" is whatever describes me.
Sounds so much better than defending "abnormal", doesn't it? :-)
From earliest childhood onward I've never had morning hunger or interest in
eating. At different times I've actually tried to make myself become a
breakfast person but without any long term success. I always revert to the
hunger signals that are "normal" for me. Since going paleo, I've made the
effort again to become a breakfast person. In late June I began moving up
my afternoon first meal of the day little by little. For the last few weeks
I've had a fairly consistent mild-to-moderate hunger at about 10:30-11 am.
I don't clock watch in order to eat, but do look at my watch when I first
feel some hunger and so have noticed an emergent pattern here. Though while
on vacation, I fell right back into the pattern of eating when only really
hungry, and the times varied considerably. There were at least 3-4 days on
which it was 5-6 pm before I ate. And I felt fine.
Now, here's the kicker. People have generally regarded me as some kind of
oddball because I didn't eat breakfast and rarely ever did "lunch" at the
prescribed hour. 'Tain't normal, they say. Then I joined this list and
first heard about and then got a copy of the *Warrior Diet* and Hofmekler
prescribes almost exactly the eating pattern that had always
been--yes!--normal to me. And probably normal to him, too.
My general take is that as individuals we should listen to our bodies first
and foremost regardless of whatever a prevailing wisdom is. However, our
bodies as dietary recipients and chemical messengers can sometimes send
weird messages that may or may not be in our best interest. Certainly,
what I eat at a meal can influence what I want to eat later and how soon I
want to eat it. The kind and amount of carbs are usually the culprit, but
not always since fat can sometimes trigger a desire to eat more or eat
sooner. Yet the "hunger" effect seems limited to a day's intake and doesn't
carry over to the next morning. In other words, it doesn't matter what or
how much or how little or how early or how late I eat, I'm just not hungry
of a morning. But I do prefer my carbs at night. And this has pretty much
always been the case throughout life. Following the low-carb experts'
advice, I've tried spreading them out across meals, but just don't find that
it suits what feels good, normal, or satisfying to me.
Btw, your post of a couple of months ago about situational (or carb) hunger
while reading/marking student papers reminded me of myself. I think I
dreaded it so much that eating was a diversion to keep from going crazy over
the endless hours and stacks of essays. Who says that food isn't a drug?
<g>
Theola
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