Blog
Forget about hunger, it doesn't matter.
I have never and will never say “eat only when you’re hungry”. In fact this is a non-negotiable cornerstone rule of my philosophy on food. Leaving the word hunger out of the rule was a very deliberate decision.
Rule 2: Eat as much as you feel like, whenever you feel like it.
“Eat only when you’re hungry” is a common feature of most of the diets out there that we’ve all failed at a million times over. Some of these diets take it a step further by asking you to stop eating when you’re 80% full. Or worse, only eat between certain hours each day. You don’t need to try to figure out if you’re really just stressed or tired or anxious or bored or any other emotional state. It doesn’t matter if you just like to eat while watching your favourite TV show or because it’s cold outside. You don’t have to eat mindfully or intuitively and you don’t have to figure out if you’re feeling the ‘right type of hunger’ - what does that even mean?!
“Eat only when you’re hungry” doesn’t work because it adds an extra layer of decision making and pressure that only serves to increase the degree of difficulty and add to the obsessive nature of our relationship with food. We need to cultivate a mindset that brings freedom and peace to the way we think about food.
When you choose the right foods, it doesn’t matter if you’re hungry or not and it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. Potatoes are the right food.
Potatoes are low calorie density foods, which means that it’s very hard to eat excess calories.
If you do end up eating a surplus of calories, your body will recognise this and adjust your hunger signals accordingly. On the other hand if you don’t eat enough, your body will upregulate your hunger drive to make up for it in the day(s) ahead.
Rule 2: Eat as much as you feel like, whenever you feel like it.
It really is that simple. Stop overthinking. Your body knows exactly what to do when you give it the right fuel, all you need to do is get out of the way.
Spud up!
Andrew
P.S. Join us for a Spud Fit Challenge this Starchy Marchy. Relax and take a month off from counting, weighing, measuring, tracking and restricting. Eat simply, live fully.