Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 71: Do You Eat Only When You're Hungry? What A Concept!
As I write this I am in a hotel room in Palo Alto awaiting the start of the The Great American Food & Music Fest. Thanks to the remarkable efforts of fest partners Jim Lewi, Steve Martin, and everyone at the Agency Group, our collective, nearly 20 year-old dream is going to be realized.
But just because I have been thinking about a fest like this for twenty years doesn't mean I have to eat twenty years' worth of food there. That, serious eaters, represents real progress. In fact, I realized today that It's not all that pleasant to force-feed myself like a foie gras-producing goose at the fest, that it's okay, even desirable to stop eating when you're full.
In other words I realized today that I should eat only when I'm hungry rather than eating because there is seriously delicious food available and it's mealtime.
Yesterday serious eater Carey Jones graciously met me at the San Francisco Airport. By the time my plane landed at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time (3:30 p.m. according to my body clock) I had had a bowl of oatmeal at the airport, two 130 calorie bags of blue potato chips, and two teensy bags of cashew nuts on board. Carey suggested we stop at a conveniently located In-N-Out. I'm always up for In-N-Out, so chowed down on a few bites of burgers and fries with various nicknames (animal-style and the Flying Dutchman, which was a plain double-cheeseburger that was just plopped down on our tray. It looked like a cheeseburger puddle).
Anyway, after that we went to the fest site, which looks amazing (you'll see shortly), and stopped at the local bakery where Nate Appleman has sourced the most delicious bread for the fest PB&J sandwiches before Carey dropped me back at the hotel. I told Carey that if she and her parents were free I would love to take them out to dinner. I was quite full from the burgers and fries, but I thought it was the right thing to do. Carey called and said her folks were busy and that she had work to do, so I was on my own for dinner. I contemplated eating at a couple of intriguing restaurants near my hotel and the room service options. The smoked mozzarella, Italian sausage, and caramelized onion pizza on the room service menu sounded seriously good, but how good can room service pizza be? I also started munching on the fresh and dried fruit plate the hotel had sent me as a welcome gift as I watched the Laker game.
I kept perusing the room service menu and eating the fruit. I realized that I had had just enough food during the course of my day without eating another thing. So I did the unthinkable: I skipped dinner.
The Weigh-In
Skipping dinner along with my interim weigh-in results left me feeling reasonably confident about the weigh-in. I want to at least lose the two pounds I gained last week. Here we go: 214. Down a deuce. My serious diet lesson learned: Eat reasonably when you're hungry. Good things will happen if you do. Look out, Michael Pollan.
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9 Comments:
You skipped dinner ed?????????
shame on ye.
But down a deuce? Congrats.
Be sure to keep us posted on the ffestivities!!!
hungrychristel at 11:14AM on 06/12/09
Your posts are always inspiring, Ed. I'm trying to develop a healthy relationship with food, and trying to learn my body's cues. So, essentially, trying to do what you do and eat when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full. It's the most rational and maintainable strategy I can think of, so good luck to both of us.
Aynsl156 at 11:35AM on 06/12/09
When I started losing weight and getting control of my diet, realizing that I don't HAVE to eat just because it was "time" to eat was one of the hardest things to do. On a normal day, I would have 3 meals and most likely a snack just before bed. However, some days when I would go out for lunch, it would get to be around 6 or 7 pm and I would eat not because I was hungry, but rather because it was time to do so. One of the most important things I learned, and I think you are learning as well, Ed, is that you just have to know your body.
pastry262 at 11:43AM on 06/12/09
Right on! I think you have really got one of the golden rules down. When you LOVE food it's hard not to eat whenever it's available. As someone who has lost 90 lbs and is the kind of gal who plots my dinner as I finish breakfast one of the biggest breakthroughs while dieting was figuring out that "there will be another.... brownie, cheese plate, bag of chips, pork chop, piece of pizza, etc." There will be more, so DON'T just keep eating because it's there.
porkydickens at 1:10PM on 06/12/09
Different things work for different people, but a lot of people do eat because of the clock or because food is there. Like when you ask someone if they're hungry and they answer, "I could eat." In other words, they aren't actually hungry, but they aren't full at the moment, so they could stuff some food in.
What else is difficult is stopping eating when you've satisfied the hunger, but if you wait until you feel full, it's probably too much food. It looks like you're getting the hang of it all, though. Good work.
dbcurrie at 3:24PM on 06/12/09
I'm so glad to see this come up - porkydickens, it's really helpful to hear that it can be done .I have a really hard time controlling what I eat - it's actually very rare that I feel hungry, I just eat incessantly because I enjoy food. Ha, MenuPages is the first link on my page. Although it hasn't resulted in health problems, I do feel like it's something I'd rather not be doing(at least not to this degree). Also, I think I eat to alleviate the misery of studying. I'm really going to take you suggestion to heart, I think it's really helpful advice. Thank you!
firni at 10:55PM on 06/12/09
This is a great lesson in dieting. I have recently started to watch what I eat and eat better, and this is one of my rules. Another good one is eat until you're not hungry anymore, not until you're full.
Keep up the great work, Ed!
lteafortwo at 7:23AM on 06/13/09
i just can't wrap my head around the fact that you're able to lose weight while eating burgers, fries, buffalo wings, and pizza. it's so hard to be a woman of a certain age --- i have to eat mostly vegetables just to break even. have a great time at the festival!
cybercita at 10:22AM on 06/13/09
Ed. Keep up the good work. Not only are you a great example on this thread, but I noticed you shut down comments on the Fest posting.
Look - you do all of this because you love it, and we read it because we can sense your passion, your joy, and your food knowledge. I'm sorry that the Fest wasn't smooth, but I hope that you will try again. And I hope that the constructive suggestions are built upon, and that the crappy moaning doesn't diminish your enthusiasm.
Thank you for all that you and your staff do. My life is more delicious now because of it all.
Two recent posts that sent me to places I might not have tried: All Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, MA, and Kenz Reindeer Dogs in Anchorage, AK. Thank you for both.
shoneyjoe at 10:52PM on 06/14/09