Discussion Board

I've looked through posts, but cant find anything specific to why we feel extremely hungry some days? Today is one of those days for me, and I'm trying to figure out why, and how to handle it.
I am traveling so today I ate:
B: Large Portion Steel Cut Oatmeal (made with water..I asked)
1/4 grapefruit
L: 1/2 box of Dr. M lentil soup low sodium
one slice of wheat bread
pretty large salad lettuce, onions, tomato, cukes, radishes
Snack: medium size salad
one slice of wheat or sprouted bread
Still very hungry and will eat dinner.

Is this normal?

Thanks for sharing any experience you may have.

Sandy

Doesn't look like much food to me.

I consider that a starvation diet. Where are your starches? Potatoes? Sweet potatoes? Brown rice? Those are the things I eat a ton of with cooked veggies and some fruit and I don't go around hungry, ever. Have you been studying the McDougall books and this website? If so, you'd know your list equals very little food for this way of eating and how not to be hungry.

I'd be really hungry on that little food!

As a comparison, here's what I'm eating today - which is the same food I have most weekdays when I'm at work.

Breakfast: large bowl oatmeal and a banana
Morning snack: carrot sticks (3 smallish carrots)
Lunch: salad made from brown rice, pinto beans, corn, lettuce and tomatoes with salsa on top, followed by half a large sweet potato
Afternoon snack: an apple and maybe a black bean brownie
Supper: brown rice with broccoli and spicy Indian chickpeas

Starches are the key for satiety. You may find these older posts useful:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=7961

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=15014

When I first decided to adopt this WOE, I went to the grocery store and loaded up on McDougall-friendly snack foods, including Lundberg rice cakes.

I was really worried because I used to snack a lot on things like chips and nuts.

But what I found, ironically, is that eating this way I'm no longer tempted to snack. In fact I ended up throwing out the remaining rice cakes because I never finished them!

I eat brown rice just about every lunch and dinner and it really fills me up. I'll even just eat plain brown rice as a side with something that I never would have considered before, such as a sandwich. I used to have a big serving of chips or fries with a sandwich.

I think that the genius of this WOE is looking at calorie density rather than just calories. If you're limiting yourself to 1,000 calories a day, as an example, you could eat a small portion of meat and dairy to get those calories and be hungry the rest of the day and miserable, or eat rice and potatoes and be full.

1/4 grapefruit and 1/2 box lentil soup sounds pretty scant, maybe not even 100 calories? Don't know if we are supposed to restrict calories...just eat the right kinds of foods.

If you multiply your weight times 10 this should give you an idea of approximate calories to keep you going, then you add in more calories for activity you burn. Then input your food into a caloric value site such as fit day and you can figure out how much you had for the day.

I agree--I eat like 4X that much, LOL! No wonder you're hungry!

One thing I continue to point out to my wife is eat as much food as you want! She will eat oatmeal or cereal in the morning, maybe some sort of veggie/fruit smoothie (she makes) before work and then not eat for 5-7 hours and come home famished! Thankfully she is a bit potato fan, so cooking some sweet potatoes the night before for her to reheat at work is a possibility. But is still under a bit of a misconception that if she eats too much she will gain weight, which with this way of eating isn't possible.

I would definitely add more food.

I lost 2 lbs this week. I eat ALL DAY LONG.

Today's food:
Breakfast - 4 small nuked yukon gold
Snack - mango
Lunch - Big bowl of cauliflower and red lentil curry (leftovers)
Snack - will be either some nuked taters or oatmeal
Dinner - ww spaghetti, broccoli rabe and other veggies in a red pepper and white bean sauce

Um . . .sure it is. If you're very overweight, you will probably continue to lose even if you eat a great deal, but once you're at goal weight, esp. if you are on the lower end of the BMI scale, you DO have to watch it. I eat a lot of food but I have to be careful. I WILL gain weight if I eat too much--it's just simple math! It takes fewer calories to keep me at 120 than it did at 207.

Would love the red pepper and white bean sauce recipe.

Thank you so much everyone. I had that huge bowl of steel cut oatmeal, so I thought that should fill me up. I also ate a lot of salad...I'm a little like a rabbit like that, so I guess I am overlooking the starch. I made up for it last night for dinner.

I am light, so not trying to lose weight. Just want to increase my overall health, avoid disease and feel fit and great!

Thanks again for pointing out what I was obviously overlooking!

To I had"

B: Large bowl of steel cut oats, 1/2 buckwheat waffle, 1 piece of whole wheat bread
L: Sweet potatoe
S: Oatmeal and celery
D: up next....I think a large salad and a sweet potato.
S: Apple and some nuts

Eating a late snack is a bad habit, but as long as I'm happy with my weight, does it matter? I don't think it's good for overall health from what I've read.

Easy peasy. Roasted red pepper, garlic and white bean in the vitamix or food processor. Add veggie broth or water to desired consistency. We leave it thick for a spread or dip and thin it out for a sauce.

It wouldn't be enough food for me Sandy P! I think you need to add some potatoes

Sue