On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 19:57:00 -0300, Crafting Mom wrote:

Starvation sucks, but hunger, the true signal that it is time to eat, is a
good thing.

Hunger is not the true sign that it is time to eat as very often we are
hungry with no need whatsoever to eat. Same with thirst. Your body can
willingly lie to you which is why hunger needs to be viewed from an
intellectual basis not an emotional one.

The ability to allow oneself a bit of time to feel that their
stomach is indeed truly empty, is indeed a *good* thing. The reason being,
because being NOT in a third world country, chances are high that the
hunger will soon be gone. It's still even then, not a true hunger, because
it's wayyyyy more temporary than those in 3rd world countries experience.
We have so much food that the notion that we should have
a *short* period of time (waking hours) that we have an empty stomach
freaks us (the colloquial 'us') out. It's a mindset pounded into our brain
so much that we've become fat. (I'm in Canada, but the availability of
food is pretty much the same as the US).

All you say about hunger above is accurate except that it is responsible
for being fat. Most overfat people I know eat when they are not hungry in
the least, mof, few know any hunger regularly at all.

And for us to have an empty stomach for a few hours is not the agony that
our culture would love for us to believe.

Nor is it the fear or the "assurance" of malnutrition, disease letting or a
host of other so called related conditions.

Feeling hungry may be uncomfortable but it is a lack of comfort that, in
time, becomes manageable. Like overeating becomes a manageable when
uncomfortable.

This temporary lack of comfort, imo, is the price, the sacrifice, one must
pay to lose weight and maintain weight. And why not? Anything gotten
without effort is going to be valueless and lessons learned under fire are
lessons ingrained.