Do you eat because of hunger or the clock? Or both?
Where you work might have something to do with mealtimes, if there are scheduled hours and scheduled breaks, but if and when you're free of a schedule, do you eat when you're hungry, or do you eat when the clock tells you to -- breakfast soon after you wake up, lunch at noon, dinner at the same time every night? Or, do you automatically get hungry at those times?
For me, breakfast and lunch are completely random. I work at home, so I eat what and when I feel like it during the day. Sometimes I graze, sometimes I have one or two meals, sometimes I won't eat at all. Dinner is always at about the same time, within and hour or so.
You?
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20 Comments:
Both. GAH! I eagerly await scheduled mealtimes, and then snack whenever I'm hungry/bored/craving/restless, etc, in between. Heh. :)
Pammeh at 3:08PM on 07/22/08
Hunger, but I wish I ate by the clock. I can go all day without eating anything, then I'm hungry until I go to bed, regardless of what I ate for dinner. When I was cooking for my family, it was much more regulated and healthier.
PerkyMac at 3:17PM on 07/22/08
Unfortunately, I find myself eating out of boredom, which is much more unhealthy than either of these two.
nichole at 3:21PM on 07/22/08
I work at home too, so my daytime meals are rather random. Although, my stomach lets me know that I absolutely have to eat something, usually within an hour of getting up. So I can probably say that I eat breakfast, but not necessarily lunch. As for dinner, we are fairly consistent and eat round 7-8 pm.
It often happens to me that I forget to eat (usually, because of work), and don't even know that I'm hungry - until my body makes it very clear (it used to be just horrible stomach pains, lately I also become light-headed and my hands shake like a leaf), which is quite unpleasant. I work on regulating my meals, but sometimes it's easier said then done:-).
brooke29 at 3:39PM on 07/22/08
For me it's more "either." If I'm starving and it's 11:00 a.m., the reason might be because I was up at 4:15 a.m. Eating lunch at 11 sounds FABULOUS when you're already up that long.
OTOH, if it hits 5-5:30 p.m. and I'm not hungry, I see no reason to eat. If I get hungry later, I can always have a bowl of cereal so I don't sleep with a heavy meal laying on my stomach.
chiff0nade at 4:41PM on 07/22/08
I'm totally a clock eater. It actually drives my boyfriend nuts because we're complete opposites. He's a snacker and so if he eats a lot during the day he doesn't need a real lunch or real dinner. I, however, live for meals and make sure to have my 2-3 meals of the day, even if I'm not hungry, haha.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 4:43PM on 07/22/08
I have a lunch bell in my tummy. It rings at 11:55 every day. Lunch is my favorite meal of the day!
izatryt at 4:49PM on 07/22/08
Definitely a clock eater. Breakfast and lunch at the same time every day, even if I'm not especially hungry at those times (but really, I'm always hungry, heh). By the end of the workday I'm starved, and wind up snacking WHILE I make dinner which doesn't make a whole lot of sense...I also always need dessert after dinner, again, even if I'm not all that hungry. I just feel incomplete without it! :) I used to be that way about lunch, too, I'd always bring a cinnamon applesauce to top off the meal, or nab one of the various candies always lying about the office, but I've gotten much better about that. Really trying to limit the snacking during the day and save the calories for dinner, when I go kinda crazy.
sarahlucy at 5:25PM on 07/22/08
um, all of the above! :) i eat when i'm hungry and when the clock dictates i do as well. probably not the healthiest plan i've got going on.....!!!
megannesta at 6:19PM on 07/22/08
I eat when I'm hungry and that's anywhere between 5-6 times a day. If I have a meeting coming up in 2 hours and I feel peckish, I'll eat before the meeting. My stomach tells EVERYONE when I'm hungry and it's freaking embarrassing!
Cassaendra at 6:31PM on 07/22/08
@izatryt - LOL! I'm going to turn off the air tomorrow at 11:54 and listen.for the rumbling clanging. ;-)
PerkyMac at 7:16PM on 07/22/08
um, Yes.
I eat breakfast and have my tub o'tea (hubby makes fun of my oversized tea mugs) right after I wake up. If I was a good little wifey and got up in time to kiss him goodbye at 6:30am, then I'm usually hungry for my Hobbit second breakfast by 9am, although I'm trying to cut back on that one.
I attended large middle and high schools where they couldn't accomodate everyone having lunch at once, and since my maiden name started with "D", I always had the first one, 11:30; that's what time my stomach still rings the lunch bell.
Then, there's the afternoon snack about 2:30, and sometimes the "hubby's stuck at work" snack so I don't kill him when he walks through the door wanting dinner at 9:30pm.
cowprintrabbit at 3:35AM on 07/23/08
I always used to eat when i'm hungry, these days i'm trying to learn to eat by the clock. I've waited till i was hungry a few times, and my blood sugar got so low i passed out :-S
huneybumper at 7:21AM on 07/23/08
I eat usually becasue I am hungry and as I have a pretty regular body clock I tend to get hungry at those times too. However, in the summer when it is hot I don't eat as much and graze on snacks throughout the day.
bircham at 5:52PM on 07/23/08
@Perk ~ Ha Ha! It was bad today because I didn't get to eat lunch until 1:00! That's just wrong.
izatryt at 6:04PM on 07/23/08
@izatryt ~ I listened for exactly 6 minutes before the heat became too intense and I had to turn the fans back on. If everyone has lunch bells in their tummys, I should hear some jubiliant bells pealing!
PerkyMac at 6:33PM on 07/23/08
I'm more of a clock kinda girl with a bit of hunger thrown in...which I kind of regret, because now I have more of a habit of eating because it's routine, versus just being hungry.
I'm definitely a breakfast person, so even if it's not at the exact same time every day, I eat it as soon as I'm out of the shower and dressed with my hair dried. For lunch, lately I've been bringing smaller meals to work. I will NEVER eat lunch before 12:00 (I'm a bit anal, I know...) but I will eat after that whenever I can find the chance and my stomach starts grumbling. Dinner is fairly routine, mostly because I'm living at home (for the summer, from college) and my family usually eats at a certain time. BUT, if they aren't around, again I won't eat before 6:00. I guess those times just stick in my head as "meal times" so perhaps my body naturally starts to get hungry, and perhaps it's just me being the scheduled, routine person I am...
I'm also a snacker though!! If I'm not working, I'll grab a little something to hold me until dinner. And I'm a sucker for evening treats. Usually some pudding or All-bran muffins, though I still give into a bowl of ice cream once in a while!
luswim06 at 6:56PM on 07/23/08
I eat when I'm hungry, but either I've trained my body, or it's trained me....I eat about every 2 hrs until about 7pm....I rarely eat after 7 or 8pm.
I don't always eat big meals...my biggest is lunch....but I usually eat something substantial...yogurt, then fruit a couple hours later, pretzels w/mustard for an afternoon snack...those sorts of things.
I've found by listening to my body, as you mentioned in a previous post @dbcurrie, I'm able to keep myself fueled, my blood sugar levels steady, and I've lost weight....never a bad thing w/ me! lol
mepolo at 9:02AM on 07/24/08
Hunger, or else if I feel like it's been too long since I last ate. I don't understand the "it's noon, it's lunch time" mentality, except for in the case when people's rhythms are set that way - to be hungry at "lunch time". Scheduled eating seems to be a carryover from the Industrial Revolution. I get to work at 6:30, am ready for breakfast by 7:30/8, and can be ready for lunch any time between 11:30 and 1. Sometimes I eat two breakfasts.
Listening to one's body is best, rather than eating by the clock without question.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 1:07PM on 07/24/08
Hunger. No kids, just hubby and me. We eat when it suits us.
When I'm helping out with my neice, I stick to the clock. She will run around until she's cranky from low-blood sugar or exhaustion unless, I or her mom, tells her it's time to eat or time to sleep.
Hungry now, must go eat.
wookie at 1:41PM on 07/24/08