How many times have you found yourself going to the kitchen
to look into the fridge or cupboards in these last few days of lockdown?
Now that you are home every day and are not allowed out, there may be some
boredom setting in, and so you find yourself in the kitchen (again)
trying to find something to do. And what’s better to do than eat when you
are bored!
There may be reasons other than boredom that have you
finding yourself in the kitchen. It could be frustration of not getting
out, trying to escape the rest of the household, desiring food because you are
watching a movie, or you could be hungry and in need of energy.
Whatever the reason, you don’t want to come out of lockdown
having gained weight (unless you need to of course!)
Whenever I ask clients why they eat I get a whole host of
answers, and most of them are not the correct reason for eating. Do you
know why you eat, and when you are truly hungry? Real stomach or body
hunger should be felt in the stomach. It is a light emptiness or
hollowness in the stomach area. The problem is that many people
cannot feel this at all or only feel it when it when they are too hungry where
they have a pain in the stomach area (too empty or hollow) or are feeling
nauseous. This is because the connection between the brain and the
stomach is severed. This happens when we stop focussing on what is
happening in our bodies, and is generally because we are too busy and
preoccupied with life.
Because the signals are not evident, we often mistake other
signals for real hunger. They may be legitimate sensations, but they are not
true stomach hunger. They tend to come from the head area and are
generally known as mouth hunger.
Some of these hungers include:
·
Mouth, eye or nose hunger – the senses trigger a
response of wanting to eat; for example seeing or smelling food can make you
desire it
·
Mind hunger – just thinking about a food can
cause you to feel like it; our minds have often associated certain activities
with food for example having a biscuit with coffee or having popcorn at the
movies
·
Emotional hunger – food fills the void of an
ache or emptiness in your heart due to unmet emotional needs
·
Thirst – confusing dehydration with the need to
eat
·
Tiredness – low energy from not sleeping enough
or working and exercising very hard can make you feel like your energy levels
are low
Understanding why you eat is an important part of learning
to improve our eating habits. Use the lockdown time to learn about and
practice listening to the hunger signal. Keep asking yourself, ‘am I
really hungry?’
If you cannot feel the light emptiness or hollowness in your
stomach when it’s time to eat, you need to reconnect the brain and the stomach
so that these signals can be ‘heard’ again. Try the hunger awareness
exercise below.
Hunger awareness exercise
Sit down and relax
Take a deep breath, close your eyes and focus on
your stomach area (the stomach is between the lower ribs – see pic)
Describe what are you feeling? *
Ask yourself:
Am I really hungry?
Do I need to eat?
Could I do something else instead of eating if I am
not really hungry?
It may take some time to understand the hunger
signal especially if you have done a lot of dieting and calorie restriction, so
be patient with the process.
* If you can’t feel anything, just say ‘I can’t
feel anything’. It is OK if that is the answer to begin with. In
time something will come through.
SURVEY
What
is your biggest nutrition challenge during lockdown?
I am starting a live series to help with your nutrition/diet/eating habits during lockdown. What are you struggling with? Let me know so that I can focus on helping you with your problems.
The exercise community has adapted brilliantly to keep us motivated to exercise over this period. I am really impressed how many people are coming together to exercise. I am benefiting from it too! Let's do the same with nutrition.
Let me know how you are coping on my Instagram or Facebook accounts 😃
Phone: 021 674 4666
Cell: 084 206 2715
E-mail: kimh.rd@mweb.co.za
Website: www.nourishdieticians.co.za
