HUNGER PASSES
When you first make up your mind to FAST at some level; be that a Vegetable-Juice Fast, a Liquid-Fast, a 16/8-Hour Fast, a 4-Hour Fast, a 12-Hour Fast, a 24-Hour Fast, a 3-Day/4-Night Fast, a 5:2 Fast, a Skip-a-Day Fast (also known as an Alternate-Day Fast), or a Water-Only Fast, you will probably feel an immediate hunger sensation right below your sternum in the center of your torso where most people think their stomachs are. It's really just a mental thing that grips you all of a sudden after it clicks in your brain that you have made up your mind to go without precious food. This ghost-like stomach pang only lasts a few minutes as the idea of skipping a meal or two (or more) sinks in and begins to permeate the fibers of your being.
What started in the hardcore gyms in the 1950s with muscle-bound bodybuilders who came up with the grand practice of eating every 2 to 3 hours, basically consuming what amounts to six small meals a day, with the hopes of counteracting the breaking down of some of their valuable, hard-earned muscle protein as energy between meals and with the desire to keep ones metabolism burning like a well-oiled machine, fitness-conscious men and women have been tuperwaring, brown bagging, and ziplocking their lean protein and complex carbs with religious-like fervor and conviction. It took several decades but eventually the theory of eating every couple of hours all throughout the day caught on and once the food manufacturers realized they could capitalize on this frequent-meal phenomenon, the advertising execs used every medium available to them to get the message out: Eat, eat, eat!!!
Whether you down a protein drink, munch on a protein bar, or chow down on one of several well thought-out meals you packed the night before, the idea of eating six small meals a day is based on the scientific fact that it takes energy to digest your food into small enough particles that your body can utilize it as ready-to-use energy, short-term stored energy, or long-term stored energy we call FAT. Every time you nibble on a morsel or feast happily on a meal, your body must burn calories to reduce your breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and after-supper/before-bed snack into its component parts or basic units: carbohydrates into sugars, proteins into amino acids, and fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
This frequent eating schedule is theoretically keeping your metabolism humming, burning mad calories in high gear throughout the entire day. However, there is one large problem with this frequent-eating behavior: Every time you consume food, your sugar level goes up and your pancreas, an organ that is situated in the middle of your torso, approximately, and looks similar to a cow's tongue in my opinion, responds by secreting a hormone called insulin (also commonly called the fat-storage hormone.) Insulin basically tells the cells in your body to suck up the sugar and get it out of the blood. The repetitive elevation of blood sugar in response to your frequent meals received by the body every 2 to 3 hours just about guarantees that your bod never has to use its adipose tissue (fat stores disguised as chucky hips, bubble butts, muffin tops, back fat, bra fat, and the hated F.O.P.A.) in order to find energy to burn as fuel. Your body doesn't have to burn its stored fat because your perfectly measured and ideally-timed six small meals readily provides your body with all the energy you need every minute of the day.
Now that Americans and other fitness-conscious people around the world have gotten used to eating every 2-3 hours, most of us don't remember what real hunger feels like anymore because we never get hungry. People now eat according to their clocks or pre-set phone timers that chime without interruption every couple of hours without fail to EAT. For fear of shrinking muscles or slowing down ones metabolism to that of a crawl, no one skips a meal or two or more anymore, but they should.
For many health reasons, especially longevity and to re-establish insulin sensitivity, skipping a meal, going 4+ hours without food, or fasting is a very good idea for most healthy people (those not under the care of their physicans.) I will, in future blogs, tackle the many healthful reasons to fast; there's a lot of good reasons. Today, however, I'm just going to discuss hunger. It's important for people to understand hunger if they are going to partake in any fast regardless of length or type because all fasts involve some kind of denial of the body from what it is used to and that causes a hunger or yearning for what it is being denied.
Physical hunger builds gradually over several hours, is never more than slightly uncomfortable (painless), and is nothing to be afraid of I promise. Take it from someone who has gone on a vegetable-juice fast for 31 days straight (vegetable juice and water only), gone on a 4-day water-only fast (now that one is difficult I won't kid you), embarked on an every-other-day or skip-a-day fast diet for 9 weeks without interruption, and taken part in the 5:2 fast diet for 4 straight weeks with no cheating. I did all of this as research in order to help myself and clients. You can't teach what you yourself have never experienced.
So what does real hunger feel like? It starts with some painless noise coming from your stomach that sounds similar to one of those ankle-biting dogs you pass on the sidewalk who growls at you in warning. After the initally growling starts and goes on for about an hour, soon the growls are joined by small muscle contraction-like feelings commonly called "pangs" being felt in the stomach region of the body. Those stomach pangs are no more painful or distracting than what you feel when you bang your funny bone on the corner of the wall accidentally. They are more irritating than anything else. I think the body, who isn't used to missing a meal, growls initially in the hopes that you have just somehow inadvertantly forgotten to eat and if it squeals out loud enough you might just remember to send some food down the pipe.
Here is something really encouraging about the hunger pangs -- Hunger pangs only last approximately 5-7 minutes. Really! And here's what to do: Drink a tall glass or full bottle of water, like a 16.9-ounce water bottle. Next, I highly recommend (I actually do this) you set your phone's alarm for seven minutes when you first become aware of or are bothered by your stomach's pangs for food and then go do something: Call a friend or relative, wash a few dishes, or check your Instagram/Facebook page. Before you know it, you have forgotten about you being hungry and the not-so-great feeling in your empty stomach has passed. You now don't have to worry about another set of hunger pangs for about 60 minutes (maybe more for some people.) When the hunger pangs start back up again for you, you know just what to do: drink a bottle of water, go do something to take your mind off of the growling, and wait about seven minutes for it to pass. This hourly reminder to eat goes on off-and-on throughout the day. You will forget about it entirely after several hours like it is no big deal, but the hunger sensation will come back eventually and when it does, all you have to do is repeat the drinking of water and setting of your clock I described above.
Another strategy that works when you first start fasting: sugar-free flavored chewing gum or natural chewing gum without sugar. The chewing of the artificial- or naturally-flavored gum seems to mentally ease the denial of food and it gives your mouth something to do when not eating. Many of us eat a lot of the time out of habit instead of out of the need to eat. This is similar to what ex-smokers experience. It isn't so much the cigarette the ex-smoker misses. It's the oral-sensation of a physical object (prior cigarette) being between their lips and their hands having something to do constantly.
Those who fast, sometimes get light headed or feel dizzy. Dizziness is nothing to be afraid of but it is something to be cognizant of especially if you have to drive or operate machinery. Be aware of how your body feels and sit down if you experience light headedness or dizziness. Takes several deep and slow breathes and maybe have a few sips of water. This feeling should pass after a few minutes in a healthy person. (Remember that I am describing what a healthy person, one who isn't under the care of a physican, experiences when fasting.)
One more thing, before I go....Every day you wake up during a fast or after a fast day, you feel energized. You do NOT wake up feeling weak or hungry. You really don't I swear. Our species evolved during times of feast and famine. Our bodies have developed a physical mechanism that has made fasting bearable, not that bad, and actually at times it can feel really good with feelings of clear headedness, perky-like positiveness, and being temporarily filled with explosive energy that feels light-footed and almost surreal.
Thanks for reading, Bell Gia
