I listened to this podcast yesterday itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast... after having fallen a little behind with it. In the last section there is a good experiment done with a single raisin, the guy who Heston uses as his guinea pig was amazed. It uses mindfulness to appreciate that raisin, and makes the tiny fruit more fulfilling. Apparently this isn’t new, it’s been known about for years and works with any food. I thought I’d share it here as it could help anyone struggling with eating between meals. For anyone who can’t follow the link, the podcast is called Heston’s Pod & Chips and the episode is called “the best raisin you’ll ever eat”
Edited after BridgeGirl replied with some excellent points!
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Yes, I agree... my struggle was more with portion size as I was a fast eater, well I still am and sometimes I am still hungry for a few minutes after eating... luckily I now know that the fullness is coming. I’d heard of the mindfulness before but found it really great to hear it explained and I’m going to eat my lunch while replaying the experiment part of the podcast.
I don’t snack often, but some days my life gets flipped upside down and I get forced into eating on the move, and right into my danger zones!
I am going to propose that every time we hear the term "snacking", we change it to "eating between meals" which will clarify what it is and give a more useful emphasis
I didn't mean for you to do that. I just think we all need to challenge that mindset. I am ancient enough to remember growing up with three meals a day, with no expectation of extras, and that was before the onset of the "snacks" market.
We are so fortunate, most of us here, to have an abundance of food to draw on and be able to afford. Your point about really experiencing our food and appreciating the privileged position we're in is always worth making.
Yeah, I know... but when you’re right, you’re right! I need to eradicate the word snack from my vocabulary really, it’s a lingering part of the old me!
oh dear I just used the snacking word on another post! I meant rather thoughtless eating between meals on the sort of snack food you just pop in your mouth, and pop in some more, then pop in some more! Nowadays I think it is best to stick to good food at meals
When I started my journey, I was all for writing the diet book that said “eat less move more” and then had 500 blank pages for the reader to fill in... I think it would have sold just as much as any other diet book! What I have found though is that it’s possible to feel “hunger” when actually it’s just the body crying out for something... when I have a good workout, I’m “hungry” but now I know a tiny amount of protein can kill that hunger... back in the day I could empty the house of crisps and snack food and still not be satisfied. Occasionally I need sugars... I’m weak and again could eat the house out of food, but a little (and it has to be as I never had a sweet tooth) something sweet and I’m instantly feeling better... I’ve not worked out wether that’s purely psychological yet... I feel better way too fast for any sugar to hit my bloodstream, but is my body happy that it’s coming? I dunno. I’ve been maintaining for years now, but some days it’s a struggle.
When I started here, I was confident I knew what "healthy eating" was. I haven't been one for "branded" diets like WW, SW and the rest, but I "knew" it all came down to cutting fat, building meals round carbs and the "eat less, move more" mantra you mention.
How wrong could I have been and how happy I am to discover that fat is my friend and a calorie isn't a calorie i.e. they don't all have equal value. I can never thanks this forum and all its many members enough fir opening my eyes.
I didn't switch to low carb high fat in one move (which is the efficient way to do it) but cut out the 'big' carbs one by one. Never in a million years would I have imagined a day go by without bread and potatoes, or with rice and pasta as swaps. In fact, it really didn't prove difficult and I found that, once you don't buy them, you have to be more creative.
Not eating between meals became much easier the more I moved away from dependence on carbs and I'm now happy on two meals a day. If I am hungry in between (or, usually, once I start preparing my meal) I have a chunk of cheese or a few nuts. I think of it as food, not a snack.
Have you joined a weekly weigh in yet, or made use of the Daily Diary? I don't know what you're aiming for in terms of weight loss but they may help, and I can see how active and supportive you are on other forums so you'd be a welcome member of any team
I’m pretty much in maintenance these days... When I weigh in, which is rare, I’m usually 24-25 BMI, slight yo-yo over a few pounds. I am 10 stones lighter than I used to be, and happy at the top end of healthy BMI. I like the recipes here and the support. I’m very active on the C25K forum and I recommend this forum to all that arrive expecting weight loss... as you can’t outrun a bad diet
I can’t weigh in weekly, I recalibrated my scales with my sledgehammer many moons ago... I use my friend the tape measure between my 6 monthly, or so, weigh ins at the doctors.
No need. If you're happy where you are, or thereabouts, the other Maintainers may be the best "home" for you here. From what I hear, the maintaining bit is every bit as demanding, if not more
Ok. I think of it as an addiction... it’s never easy for me to avoid crisps... and I used to eat them a multi pack at a time... I know having a small packet would be a bad move! Some other times I have a difficult day, but other days are easy. Maintaining through a marathon is going to be interesting... especially as it’s a boozy one I’m looking at doing. 26.25 miles, 23 wine tastings. I have to go for the crazy! So, carb loading time could be both fun and also hard to go back to regular eating after.
It’s still the norm... but that may be a legacy issue. Some coaches still preach pre-run static stretching as it was the done thing when they started... I see some young runners at parkrun performing them... so it’s sometimes unclear what is current scientific thinking, and what is decades of habit.
There is a “rungry” that I get... as a vegetarian I do tend to use an egg to combat it... usually raw. My daughter also runs and we haven’t raised her as a vegetarian, we didn’t think we had the right to make that choice for her. She is also losing weight at the moment, so her rungry is more of an issue. I discovered long ago that hunger isn’t always a sign of being hungry, sometimes it’s the body asking for something specific... after exercise this is usually protein. We run after school, so I have purchased a sous vide bath. Apparently this makes meats amazing, but what I do now is put her meat portion in the bath in time to be ready when we get back from the run... then I get a dry skillet hot, open the bag, take a small (5-10g) slice off her evening meals meat and reseal the bag, returning it to the water for later... 10 seconds each side and the meat has colour. She eats that and rungry goes... without adding even one calorie to her intake.
I think I eat quite fast too - I'm usually finished before everyone else at table. But that's because I'm usually ravenous. Sometimes I remember to have a big glass of water before I start the meal - that slows me down a little bit. But it's not yet a habit, unfortunately.
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