John,

I have the same problem weightwise.  I only eat when I'm hungry, but I
always eat when I'm hungry.  I don't deal with the hunger too well!
I've been looking into tweaking up my digestive fire (with Ayurveda and
Chinese medicine).  I don't know exactly how to do it yet. I've been
studying the thermal properties of foods.  Meat is "warming" except lamb
which is "hot".  Most fruits and veggies are cooling.

Your mention of ice cream and chocolate reminded me of casein peptides.
Chocolate supposedly has casein in it (maybe from the milk, don't know
about the chocolate itself). I've been trying to research out these
dietary proteins that are not completely broken down.  I wonder if that
happens with meat too?  Good luck with the weight (and me too)!  Mary J.