Diet Survivors™ newsletter February 2006
The newsletter for normal eaters
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Work, eat, and live!
How to manage work schedules and temptations
If you're learning normal eating, you might wonder how to cope with the real world while you're trying to "tune in" to your body's desires, hunger, and fullness.
Marcia Sutton, Simi Valley, California, asks this question:
"Some people have chocolate or put sweet things out in our coffee/copy room. It is like I feel like a trapped animal—I have to be here for 8 hours on this schedule of 8am-5pm - Mon-Fri. Does anyone else struggle while at work and/or have ideas on how to cope?"
That's a good question. Another question often asked of me is "What if I can't get to food when I'm hungry?" But before answering these questions, let's first back up a bit. It is my experience as a teacher of intuitive eating that where there's a will, there's a way. Folks who resist this new way of eating will use a circumstance as an excuse.
I've heard working people say "Well, if I were home I'd have more choices in my refrigerator." But just as often, I hear stay-at-home moms and dads complain about having to be around food all the time.
So there are really two levels of change to address here. The first is called adaptive change. Adaptive change is about changing your attitudes, feelings, or beliefs. It's an internal change. Folks who give up on normal eating due to their circumstances have not yet embraced adaptive change.
The other level is called "technical" change. Technical changes consist of tips for some external changes that might help you, but ultimately, we each come up with our own that fit our unique lives.
Need some suggestions for working the hunger and fullness method into the real world of schedules and temptations? This February issue of the Diet Survivors™ offers some fresh voices on both technical and adaptive changes that have helped them, and may help you.
We interviewed three people. The first two have been practicing the hunger and fullness method for a while, and have gotten the hang of it. They are members of our Yahoo! Diet Survivors™ group.
The third has been eating this way for several years, and now has a book and some e-materials to offer others. His name is Rob Stevens, and he's the author of The Overfed Head.
Ultimately, we can each discover our own food-wisdom. But if you find yourself blaming your overeating on external circumstances, it may be time to ask yourself whether you are truly committed to this way of eating. If you feel that you are not commited, you might like to do some ABCDEF work to find out why.
Let's see what our three intuitive eating experts have to say about coping with the real world:
Terri Young of San Jose, CA
"I make sure that I have foods at work that I can eat when I can't get out of the office. I like to have a variety of foods that I enjoy available. Eating the same thing everyday is BORING!
"I also have to take a look at my schedule and make sure that I don't allow myself to become so hungry that I reach for a fast fix that may not be such a wise choice.
"On the other side of that coin is the ability to see when social functions arise where food is involved. Sometimes I eat a little something before hand so I won't fill up on some other food just because it is there."
Lisa Greer of Vancouver, BC, Canada
"My schedule is usually fairly open since I'm a stay at home, part time employed mom. I will say, though, that when I know I have a dinner or party to go to, I eat lighter so that I will be hungry for it.
"For me, intuitive eating is much easier than dieting because I can eat what I want, when I'm hungry. I can go anywhere to eat, and it fits my plan! The only challenge is when I see something that looks really good and I'm already full!
"Sometimes I pass the treat up, or I will take a bit to avoid feeling the old feelings of deprivation that I experienced as a dieter.
"The only thing I'm trying to do with regard to what I eat that is for my health is to include protein at each meal. That's easy to do, though, wherever I go. I used to have almost panic attacks when I was dieting and had to go to a place where junk would be served. Now, I know I can take or leave the junk."
Rob Stevens, author of The Overfed Head
Rob Stevens' revelation in 1999 that diets don't work led him to adopt the hunger and fullness method. He lost over 140 pounds, and has been about 160 pounds ever since. He now calls his method "thintuition." 
We asked Rob Stevens how to fit thintuitive eating into work schedules, and he offered an adaptive kind of answer:
"Many of us have a strong fear about feeling hunger. Why is that, when hunger is a natural bodily function which was designed to tell us when it's time to eat and replenish fuel and when we've had enough?
"Most of our fears around hunger come from what we have learned from the diet industry, and not based on how our bodies were originally designed to operate. The diet industry sees hunger as a dangerous thing, so they come up with extremely appealing ways to combat hunger with things they can sell you like supplements or glorified candy bars.
"Why fight our body's natural inclinations? Why not honor them instead and eat when we're hungry and stop eating when our hunger has been satisfied.
"But what do we do when we are feeling hungry and can't get food right away? What do we do, declare a state of emergency? Many fearful overweight people make sure they always have food with them at all times in case of a hunger emergency.
"Naturally thin people experience hunger and are okay with that feeling because they know that they will be fine until the next opportunity to get food. The truth is that the human body can survive for as long as 45 days without food as long as the body has hydration.
"While this is not recommended, it is possible to live without food for an extended period of time. So, why not relax about the whole hunger issue? You are not going to die any time soon if you don't get food this instant."
When asked how to cope with temptations, Stevens again unpacked a normal eater's thinking:
"An intuitive eater gives themselves permission to indulge in any food they crave, as long as they are hungry when they eat it and stop eating it when that food has satisfied their hunger, and not a bite more.
"This type of eating is how intuitive eaters stay thin, naturally, without any struggle or deprivation from eating the foods they most enjoy. They get to have their cake and be thin too!"
To find out more about Rob Stevens' book, see our review of The Overfed Head. To view his book on Amazon.com, click on the book cover above.
As you can see from these three experts, we can adopt normal eating in the same way that we fit anything new into our lives—we think about it deeply, and work it out over time. We cannot expect ourselves to do this on auto-pilot.
Also it appears to be easier to integrate normal eating into our real lives than dieting.
If you've been dieting for a long time, you probably have rituals and routines that will need to be replaced with new ones. It's time for an adaptive change. It takes an open mind, some work on your beliefs and habits, and some time.
Here's a belief you might want to start with, "This shouldn't be hard work. I should just naturally eat right." Many dieters, upon discovering normal eating, believe this. But it just isn't true.
Need support in making your adaptive and technical changes? Join the Yahoo! Diet Survivors message board today. Talk about this newsletter. Maybe Rob Stevens will decide to drop in and visit us there!
What is normal eating?
Visit our Diet Survivors™ group on
Yahoo!
Subscribe to this monthly newsletter
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