How many times have you started a diet program only to find yourself yoyoing right back to where you started? Did you know that most people actually gain an average of three pounds per diet?
Will-power alone does not work. As long as you desire your old foods, the odds are high that you will end up eating them again. The food industry understands your body, including its impulses and physiological responses, and uses that information to create advertising campaigns that strike deep, triggering your emotions and driving you to eat and eat. For you to be able to successfully reclaim your life, you need to set yourself free from these traps.
You also need to pay attention to the responses happening within you. When you can successfully do this, you will be able to experience true freedom. When you are free, you can look at a plate of your favorite foods and decide consciously whether you want some or not. Rather than being driven by incredibly strong impulses that tell you to eat, you will be able to either take it or leave it. That is what I want for you: that you know what it is to be truly free.
To begin this process, we should first dissect one of the most basic human experiences: hunger. We have all experienced that growling sensation in our stomachs telling us that it is time to eat again. As I developed this WildFit program, however, I was able to identify six different types of human hunger, each one describing the body’s response to different stimuli. Shockingly, however, only one type of hunger actually helps the body.
The Six Human Hungers
Nutritional Hunger. This is the only genuine form of hunger. The other five might imitate it, but it is only nutritional hunger that tells you when your body needs more nutrients.
Thirst. Many people are surprised to learn that often when their body is thirsty, they might experience hunger. This makes sense when you consider that humans used to get a lot of their water from food; after all, hunter-gatherers did not perpetually have convenient bottles of water! When you experience this hunger, drinking some water should alleviate it.
Variety. The body naturally craves variety in the diet to make sure it receives the full range of necessary nutrients. If you feel hungry, try just changing up your menu to see if you feel more satiated.
Low-blood sugar. The rise and fall of our blood sugar after eating low-quality sugars can also make us feel hungry, even soon after we eat. Avoid low-quality sugars as often as possible and even limit natural sugar sources to avoid a crashing blood sugar level.
Emotional hunger. This is one of the most dangerous types of dysfunctional eating, and sadly, it is extremely common today. We connect food with emotions, and the food industry knows how to prey on these powerful feelings. Learning to see past the advertising provides the clearest means to escape this trap.
Empty Stomach Hunger. When our ancestors were faced with perpetual ‘feast or famine’ conditions, they learned to eat their fill whenever they had access to food. Now, we always have the feast (plentiful food) but never the famine. You need to recognize this feeling is only in your head and ignore it.
Understanding the six human hungers is one of the first steps you will encounter on your WILDFIT journey to genuine food freedom.
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