No Matter what....

...you've consumed in the past twenty-four hours, twenty-four day, or twenty four years, eat the very next time you get hungry...Hunger is basic, primal,enlivening. Years of dieting or deprivation or judging my body has made me forget that hunger is actually a sign that informs me that it is time to eat. I usually ate, and sometimes I still do, when I am not hungry,just because it is there in front of me or because I have to deal with feelings, am bored, celebrating or whatever else I can use as an excuse. It was really hard in the beginning to recognize real physical hunger in contrast to emotional hunger, well I don't think I ever knew really, now I can say that I am hungry and I know I really am. Even though I stilll at times just graze, but if I do I try to graze on good food. I started by listening to my heart, mouth and stomach and keep asking myself what I want....is it really food or something else...it was pretty amazing to find out how often it was something else just to satisfy some emotion....pretty sad but just the way it was /and still is at times....but at least I started to listen more to myself and my hunger/fullness signals. I try to remember that if I eat because of a certain feeling that that feeling still will be there after I have eaten. Only if I am really hungry will that hungry feeling be gone, if I eat because I am sad, I still will be sad afterwards, if I eat because I am angry I still will be angry afterwards, etc. Only food will satisfy real hunger, nothing else will do.