Why eat when you're not hungry?

Why would you eat when you're not hungry?

This is the question I have to keep asking myself. If I stop and think about it, I will come to the conclusion I am not hungry.. But if I don't stop and think I will often keep snacking.

If there is food somewhere around me, then I have a Homer, "Eat the pudding" moment. This might be just after I 've eaten (and before the food has had time to register with me). My wife has described what happends to me in these times, as an eating frenzy, and I can't really disagree.

To try to describe it, its like a constant battle to impose my rational mind's will over my sub-conscious mind's desire.. and if I have been hungry previously in the day (or days before), then the sub-conscious desire is much stonger, and I end up eating a lot more..

Logically it would seem like the bodies natural reaction to a period of low food. Consume as much as possible when there is food, for tomorrow there may not be.. and it makes sense in a world where you may have to hunt for your food. Unfortunatley I haven't adapted to the ways of the food rich world in which I live.

Managing this 'binge' desire is ultimately the key for me to be successful on this 52 diet. So far I haven't succeeded, but I'm hoping that by trying to get my rational/ conscious mind involed more often I can, 'talk myself out of eating'.

For example today I'm having my usual porridge for breakfast (Of course on my 'off' days my porridge is sweetened and has with more milk than my 'fasting' days).. Its a big bowl of porridge, bigger than the bowl that lasts me all morning and afternoon on my fasting days, but on my 'binging' days I could devour it all in seconds. Today I manged to stretch it out over the morning.

However I did devour my lunch a bit early and uncomfortably quick.. I quickly followed it by 2 oranges. Delishious, but not needed.

So now I'm writing this self reflective piece as an excercise to banish subconscious mind, and to get back in control.. The other thing is, that it gives the food I just ate some time to register with my tummy, and now 30 minutes after eating I'm starting to feel full again..

Wednesday Feb 6 .. Fast day 8

So I'm now finishing the 4th week of my fasting, and I can safely say I've lost no weight. The reason I'd imagine is my binging on my off days.

I'm going to try to give it another few weeks to see if I can mange to keep the off days under control, since on the flip side I don't find the fast days too hard really, and in fact feel quite good on them.

What doesn't feel so good is the off days when I just cram myself full of food. .Whats strange is that I'm aware I'm doing it, but I just seem to almost watching myself from an external view.. I've often had days like those, tin the past but recently I have been able to avoid them ..

So for now the goal is to try and get my conscious brain to take over from my unconscious binging brain on my off days.. Perhaps even writing blog entries on the off days might help focus...

This week, meals were pretty similar.. Porridge in the morning/ afternoon, and fish for dinner. Tuesdays off day wasn't too bad, as usual its the stretch from Thursday to Sunday is the problem. THis week again won't hep with my 'hectic' social plans. (3 dinners out, drinks one night, and a breakfast and afternoon tea are all on the cards.. Great.)