Eating Less Frequently

I typically eat either 2 or 3 meals a day, depending on my hunger, my day, and my schedule. Getting rid of addictive foods changed how I experienced hunger, and once I felt that change, I was able to eat at meal times instead of more frequently.

Eating a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle has literally transformed my life. I have learned first and foremost how deeply physical hunger. I used to think my failure was a shortcoming in my mind; now I see hunger first and foremost as a physical process in my body and far less as an emotional process.

I used see experience feeling “hangry” as a normal part of life. I now see feeling “hangry” as a direct result of the addictive foods that I was eating. 

Perhaps the biggest physical change is that I no longer feel “hangry” now that I eat a whole foods, plant-based diet. I recognize feeling “hangry” as coming out of eating the highly processed, addictive foods that permeate society.

Practically speaking, that means I used to feel a dramatic plummeting of energy and the need to eat far more frequently than I do now. I feel hunger differently without the addictive foods.

I typically am not hungry when I wake up in the morning. I also try to be done eating 3-4 hours before I go to bed. Discovering the patterns within myself has been part of the process — the patterns have taken me time and experimentation to find.

When I am eating the right foods and feel satiation, I no longer feel agitation around foods when I am not hungry, and that calmness and freedom makes the efforts to eat healthy worthwhile.

Succeeding over time has meant braiding together successes and failures to learn what it meant to feel hunger and the rhythms of eating in myself over time. Every success and every failure has been an opportunity to learn more about what it means to Eat When Hungry.

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My Transform Shadows Framework

This is the framework that I use to explain my ongoing mental processes to build successes and handle failures in my health journey and my broader life.

Naming my shadows honestly lives at the foundation of making any change. I have to start from a position of honesty in order to change myself. Being honest about binge eating was particularly challenging for me. Once I accepted that as my reality, I could face it.

Facing my shadows moves me from speaking my truths honestly to acting on these truths. For me, there is a distinct difference between naming and acting — largely because I lived for so long knowing what I should do and not doing anything.

Understanding my shadows allows me to act for success. Misinformation about health, wellness, and weight loss permeate society. A big part of my journey includes the process of uprooting misinformation. Understandings that I can feel from inside of me help the most.

Fighting my shadows centers the ongoing battles of working against my instincts and the constant pressures for unhealthy living from the world around me. Some days, the fight runs deep in what feels like a losing battle. Giving up was my action of choice for way too long. The verb nerd in me now centers action verbs – actions that have positive results.

Reframing my shadows redefines how I understand and perceive ideas, actions, and myself. I have learned to love foods I used to hate. I understand hunger and eating when hungry differently in myself. Learning to see myself, foods, and concepts in new ways has empowered me.

Transcending my shadows describes the state of living where all the changes seem effortless, normal, and natural. In this phase, I wonder how I could ever struggle. Perhaps most importantly, I feel a sensuality of wellness that permeates all aspects of my life. And, I always want to come back when I leave this wonderful place.