At 11 a.m. I wanted lunch. I snacked at 10 a.m., so I wasn’t sure why lunch sounded good so soon after my morning snack.
I fixed myself a small bowl of cottage cheese, topped with blueberries and pumpkin pie spice in an effort to hold off on lunch for another hour or two.
It was delicious, but lunch was apparently on my mind and 30 minutes later, I sat down to enjoy my mid-day meal.
I fixed myself a bowl of roasted Brussels sprouts, topped with two dippy eggs and a toasted whole wheat English muffin.
“Yolk sauce” is so yummy. It adds the perfect punch of flavor and moisture to roasted veggies.
After I finished my lunch, I realized something. I wasn’t hungry when I sat down to eat my lunch. Not even a little bit. I just wanted lunch.
I think part of the reason I kept thinking about lunch today was because I wanted a breather from working on two separate freelance articles. I’ve noticed that I’ll occasionally eat as a way to procrastinate doing actual work.
In general, I make goals for myself like “finish this article and then it’s snack time” and that helps me stay on track, but sometimes it’s best for me to just eat, get that “distraction” out of my head and sit back down and plow through the day’s workload. I was much more productive after eating today, that’s for sure. Without dippy eggs calling to me from the kitchen, researching became lot less cumbersome, even though I wasn’t actually hungry for lunch before I ate.
I think that using food as a distraction is something a lot of us struggle with from time to time. I was talking to one of my best friends the other day who said that she almost always eats the lunch that she packs for herself by 10:30 a.m. every day. She said it’s not necessarily because she’s hungry, but because eating lunch is a lot more fun than working and serves as a distraction.
I eat when I’m hungry, that’s for sure, but I definitely eat when I’m not hungry a little too often. Eating and preparing food is just plain fun to me, but I know I should listen to my body’s hunger cues a little more closely at times. I find that I eat because it’s “time” to eat or simply out of habit and this is when I seem to overeat and become uncomfortably full.
I try not to worry about it for the most part, but sometimes it’s good to remind myself to listen to my body’s natural hunger cues, not my mind telling me to eat to get out of real work, cleaning or other not-so-fun activities.
I cannot help but see the correlation between my Sunday baking habit and the fact that Sunday is typically the day that Ryan and I tackle cleaning the house… Am I baking and eating cookies for fun or am I eating cookies to avoid cleaning the bathroom?
The other day I received an e-newsletter from a company that outlined the principles behind intuitive eating:
- Reject the Diet Mentality
- Honor Your Hunger
- Make Peace with Food
- Challenge the Food Police
- Respect Your Fullness
- Discover the Satisfaction Factor
- Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food
- Respect Your Body
- Exercise and Feel the Difference
- Honor Your Health
The Intuitive Eating website goes into much more detail about these principles and I feel like the principles do a great job of highlighting the importance of listening to your body, fueling it properly and being present when you eat.
Eating when you’re actually hungry… who would’ve thought? 
Sounds simple, but in many cases it’s not.
Question of the Afternoon
- Do you find yourself eating when you’re not hungry? When?
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I had this problem over Christmas break and I’ve been trying to get out of the habit. It has been successful so far and I’m always working at it! Thanks for this post!
Oh yes, I find myself eating when I am not hungry quite often. I am a stay at home mom so I find myself going to the fridge or cupboard when I am bored or frustrated or just need some help in breaking up the day. It is worse around 3 pm everyday and I know part of it is because I am worn out and tired by that point.
Last year I read “Naturally Thin” by Bethenny Frankel and it opened up my eyes alot. I started following her “rules” which are simply common sense(duh, to me!!) and I last several pounds right away and never had that uncomfy full feeling you were talking about. It might be time for me to re-read the book!!
Intuitive eating is great — “Eating when I feel like it”… but first there is the decoding of that “feeling”. Is it ‘real’ hunger or an emotion that we respond to with food? That is the more tricky part.
Im the same way.. especially if I have something I have to get done and if I am sort of stressing about it, all I can do is think about food… Stress eater? probably… haha!
hahaha so funny that you post about intuitive eating now, as I just posted about it too!!!
I definitely neeed to work on this.. A LOT!!
xoxo
Yes! I definitely eat when I’m not hungry and it’s no good! Like you, I eat to distract myself and also out of boredom. It’s funny when I am super busy I’ll let 4-5 hours go by and not even realize that I haven’t eaten, but when I am bored or am just avoiding something to do, that’s when I snack!
On the flip side, I hate having the feeling of being starving so I try to eat little snacks to avoid that. Sometimes they just get wayyy out of hand!
I totally eat when I’m not hungry and ironically its only when I’m at the office. I’m a lot like you that I eat to distract myself.
My BF and I were talking about it this am and he said, if you’re willing to eat JUST vegetables (nothing else) then maybe you’re truly hungry. But the snacks are more of a craving.
It’s interesting that you posted about this today. I work full time and used to eat breakfast – snack – lunch – snack all at work. I was in a job that I really disliked and found myself in the breakroom due to boredom. I recently changed jobs, and I am MUCH busier. I now hardly ever snack because I’m not looking to “get away” from working. All that to say, snacking can be a great distraction when we are trying to avoid something!
I’m the same way. When 12:00pm rolls around even if I’m not really hungry, it’s like I just think it’s lunch time and I should be hungry. So then of course I start thinking about it and get hungry, but then I don’t know if I’m really hungry or hungry because I’m thinking about it. Haha. Crazy huh?
But I love cooking and preparing meals as well, so sometimes I think I look forward to that more, which makes me want to eat. Oh the joys of being a foodie!
The comment about your friend eating her whole lunch by 10:30 totally hit home. I’m always trying to force myself to hold off until at least noon to eat my lunch but that rarely happens. Totally agree that it’s more fun to eat than work.
I eat when I’m not hungry mostly after dinner, I am always craving something sweet to eat full or not. Luckily for me my job is really busy and I don’t have time to think about eating until it’s break time and I’m like holy crap I’m hungry!
interesting.
I know that I want to eat when I get overwhelmed sometimes.. thank goodness that doesn’t happen too often! But I am aware of it, so can avoid it now. Took years, though!
I LOVE this post. I really try to follow intuitive eating as much as possible but it’s definitely TOUGH. However, when I am only eating according to my hunger cues, I feel so healthy and light and full of energy. It’s amazing how smart our bodies are!
J– I have followed your blog for a long time now. I
I think you have one of the healthiest approaches to eating I’ve seen. I like your food attitude!! E
I can totally relate. I am currently studying for the bar exam, which means lots of sitting down to study, and I feel like I am eating so much more just out of boredom or to distract myself. Not good!
The same thing happened to me today. I was working all day at my desk and just wanted to eat to break it up. I would hate having a desk job because I fear this would happen to me all too often.
I definitely struggling with eating when I’m bored. Usually between breakfast and lunch. I work freelance from my home so there are always food distractions. I find it helps to keep a big glass of water near me when I’m working. Like you said sometime you just eat as a way to procrastinate doing actual work. When I think I feel hungry I drink some water and usually the fake hunger pains go away and I can get back to being productive.
I do it too. Bored=hungry for me. I’m also a sucker for the “it’s 12:00. Time for lunch” mentality. I read on a blog somewhere that most of the time when we think we are hungry we are really just dehydrated, so I drink some water. It really makes a difference for me…Plus even drinking water is more fun that studying or writing a paper.
This is exactly why I couldn’t work from home!!! I would spend the whole day walking in and out of the kitchen fixing snacks!
That’s so funny that you bring this up today, because I just got home from a 9 hour road trip, and sitting in the car for hours at a time leaves me wanting nothing more than to eat the whole time! I just watch the clock and wait for my next snack or coffee break!
Also, I love your blog! I’ve been reading it for a while now, and you’re a real inspiration, so thank you for writing! 🙂
Eggs over brussel sprouts or spinach are SO delicious! It became one of my favorite dinners for a few weeks!
I’m a really bad late night eater, even when I’m not hungry! I think it’s because I’ve made a habit of reading food blogs and eating dessert while doing so. I think when I start reading food blogs at night my brain is wired to think, ok time for dessert. I’m moving into a different house this summer so I’m going to make a rule to not eat at my desk in my room; hopefully that will help break it. It’s weird, it’s almost an anxious, gotta get it over with but also want to eat dessert thing, kinda like your lunch!
What an insightful post — and timely in my life too. I just checked out the book Intuitive Eating from the library! I have completely lost sight of the fact that food is for survival and that I should really be hungry before I eat. It’s just so difficult when you’re responsible for feeding two little mouths. Our daily schedule and routine is driven by food — breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12:00, snack at 2:00, dinner at 4:45, dessert at 7:00. I have to stop being so rigid in our routine and listen to our bodies!
Yup, I struggle with this too! I eat out of boredom at work.
I rarely make it to 11:30 am without eating my lunch. Usually, I’m hungry by then since I eat breakfast around 6 or 6:30, but somethimes (okay, more than sometimes), I’m just bored. I know this is true because on my days off, and when I’m not tied to a desk, I don’t eat nearly as much/frequently.
I can totally relate to your friend who eats their packed food early. I eat breakfast lunch and snack at work and normally all of it is gone by noon when I pack(which is most days). i notice when i dont pack and my food isnt as easlity accessible (a few feet walk to the fridge) I dont eat as much or as often. Having that distraction looming so close by vs. goign out to pick up food makes a HUGE difference for me. I eat alot less and still make healthy choices most of the time when i eat out but it is just so darn expensive.
Definitely describes my habits. I go home for lunch, so on days when I’m tired, I seem to keep wanting to eat something especially when I’m about to leave to go back to work. Clearly there’s a correlation (plus the tired = faulty full radar)
i have been working on this, trying to tune into my body for hunger cues lately since i’m off work for the summer and have been home a lot. i am happy to say, it is working! without the distraction of work, stress, or a planned “lunch break” time, it is sooo much easier to listen to my body. just hoping it will stick when i start my part time job…