Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Hunger is a strange thing. It’s far more powerful than any other digestive pain I’ve experienced. I was bleeding, bloated and doubled over with an intestine trying to process whole wheat at the insistence of the USDA food pyramid, but all that pain isn’t quite as insistent as hunger.

Yet, we are told to not let food control us. ALL THE TIME…

The images show up on Pinterest and Tumbler and Facebook, urging us to control ourselves and say no to food, despite the intense urging of hunger.

How are we supposed do that?

How do people suffering from anorexia do it? Do they not feel hunger the same way I do? Is it somehow easier for them? According to this article in Psychology Today, the answer is NO. People who have anorexia feel every urge and pang.

• Psychology Today – Five Anorexia Myths Exploded

Myth 2: Anorexics don’t feel hungry.

Of course they do. They’re only human, however much they like to pretend otherwise. Hunger is the point, after a while: it’s the great tormentor and the great addictive high. You’ll say you’re not hungry ad nauseam, but it’s an excuse that wears thin when you’re staring with eyes sunken into a skeletal head at the biscuit on someone else’s plate, of which you’ve just been offered one, and refused. (‘I’ve already eaten / just had a big lunch, thanks’, is the other implausible stand-by.)

So, even people who starve themselves feel hunger and deny it. If they can stop themselves from eating despite that physical urging of LITERAL starvation, why is it so difficult for me?

Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to suffer through the pain of anorexia. I just wonder why my I cannot do what every “fitspo” and “thinspiration” Tumbler urges me to do.

Part of the problem is eating the right foods. When I eat low carb, I tend to have less hunger than when I eat a higher percentage of carbohydrates. Then again, once I’ve been eating low carb for a while, I tend to have insane cravings that become downright obsessive.

According to this post, I just need to take control.

• Take Charge of Your Life: Don’t Let Food Cravings Get the Best of You

Think of the consequences. When you feel a craving surfacing in your thoughts, think of what would probably happen if you do give in. Will it reset your diet plan? Will it make fitting into your dress next to impossible? By focusing on the aftermath, you would be able to persuade yourself to save the munchies for later.

Hydrate. If you’re not particularly hungry, opt to drink water. It will make you feel fuller, and prevent you from going through with your bingeing plans. Besides, you could probably use more fluids anyway.

Eat with your five senses. If you keep rushing through your meals like there’s no tomorrow, you’ll be more likely to give in to your cravings later on. However, if you enjoyed your last meal, you’d feel a lot fuller.

Keep calm and carry on. According to WebMD, cravings kick in especially when we feel stressed or anxious. We may find ourselves craving for carbohydrates because they boost our serotonin levels, which in turn, make us calm. We may also crave for a combination of fat and sugar which supposedly has the same effect on our body.

Set specific limits. If you must give in (meaning you can no longer concentrate on work unless you satisfy your craving), keep your consumption to a minimum. Instead of a whole slice of chocolate cake, eat only half.

Is that all it is? I don’t have control, whereas thin people do? Is it really that simple?

Somehow, I think it’s more than that. I believe that powerful physiological factors are at work, not to mention some psychological ones. Only once we learn how to control THEM can we actually get in control of our hunger, and sadly every human body is a little different. Getting your hunger under control is going to take individual experimentation from every person struggling with this issue, including me. And, sadly, once I find out what works for me, it really will only be the answer for ME.

Images via:

• You make your own choices.  – bikini dreams
• Live Like A Fitness Pro
• Flickr: Lemon Layer Cake
• Partners in Wellness

I have my McDonalds trained well. I can go through the drive-thru and order an Egg McMuffin without the muffin and they will give me an egg, ham and cheese wrapped up without the muffin. They don’t even blink when I order it anymore and they send me through the drive-thru pretty quickly.

I timed it once. From the time I stepped into the garage to the moment I got back home, I was able to get myself a Low Carb Egg McMuffin in only fifteen minutes. That was five minutes driving there. Five minutes driving back and less than five minutes in the line.

For fun, the other day, I threw together one egg, some ham and a slice of cheese. It was the same ingredients I get from McDonalds, but I had to cook them. I thought that it was a big pain in the butt until I timed it.

How long does it take me to cook a Low Carb Egg McMuffin on my own? FOUR minutes.

FOUR MINUTES! I can’t even drive to McDonalds in that amount of time!

So many times, I think that getting “fast” food is easier, but it’s not. By the time I get into the car and drive over there, I could be EATING my homemade version. All I need to do is make sure I have the ingredients in the fridge and I am ahead of the game.

The next time you’re tempted to just grab some fast food, remember that it might just be quicker to make your own.

Photo via: Treadmill Tricks & Drive-Through Shopping

A while back, Raining In Reverse posted a photo with this description:

my mom ordered nothing for dessert so they gave her a plate with “nothing” written in chocolate syrup on it

She has since removed that photo, but you can NEVER fully remove a photo from the Internet, so it’s around and I found it. In honor of her feelings, however, I have cropped her disappointed mother out of the photo.

I absolutely LOVE this photo. It’s sort of liberating. It’s perfectly okay to order NOTHING for dessert. The next time everyone else is ordering chocolate gooey decadence or carmel plastered fry bombs, remember Raining In Reverse’s mom and order NOTHING. It’s so much better in the long run for your body and peace of mind.

Via: Lay Beneath the Stars

This image from I CAN DO IT made me laugh.

It reads:

You should eat your vegetables before they eat you.

There are no carnivorous bell peppers, so you’re probably safe from murderous veggies, but you can never be too safe.

I love this drawing I found on Weight loss and fitness motivation.

It reads:

Water will always be good for you. Drink it!

It is possible to drink too much water and hurt yourself, but most of us fall shy of the eight cups of water a day, so start keeping track and see if it helps you feel full and energized. So many times, when I go to the fridge to find some food, I realize that I’m THIRSTY, not hungry. When I make sure I drink eight cups of water a day, that never happens.

This week on PostSecret, they recognized Eating Disorder Week. They posted a bunch of postcards about eating disorders.

It reads:

Eating make me feel vulnerable. Starving give me strength.

It reads:

My favorite habit is putting red lipstick on after I throw up. Nobody knows I’m bulimic.

It reads:

My friend is bulimic. I’m scared to confront her about it. Instead, I made this postcard for millions of people to see. I am a coward.

It reads:

I was called an elephant in school for being so fat.

It reads:

I became a vegetarian to have a reason for the weight loss caused by the eating disorder.

It reads:

If I were honest about my eating disorder when my mom asked me about it when I was younger, I could have saved myself from 8 years of hell.

It reads:

Even though it made me completely miserable & sickly, I miss my anorexia every day.

The National Eating Disorders Association has a quiz you can give yourself to see if you have disordered eating. They have some support options to help you and refer you to a professional, so if any of these secrets ring true to you, please contact them.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

I saw this picture of Stanley Green, The Protein Man, and it intrigued me.

According to Wikipedia, Stanley Green stood on the streets of London every day, peddling his book, Eight Passion Proteins with Care. If you’d like to read it, here is a PDF:

• Eight Passion Proteins with Care by Stanley Green 1975 Edition

He proselytized that eating protein was bad because it stimulated sexual desire. He wasn’t wrong. Several studies have shown that to be true, with dire warnings to vegetarians to watch their protein levels.

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sex drive warning to vegetarians and elderly

Poor Stanley, however, thought sexual passion was a bad thing and suggested that eating less protein would “increase discretion.”

At some time in our twenties, when the body comes to adult perfection and size, we cease to require protein for body building, and so passion gets a bonus of protein, if we do not eat less of protein, correspondingly.

The book continually refers to a “sexual friend,” who appears to be someone with whom you experiment sexually.

…it might be very hard to be well behaved with a sexual friend, and to be headstrong in one’s lonely bed: HARD to follow a responsible moral-code, in the unmarried years. -Use your unaided will, for as long as you can, to develop your character; but do not let passion defeat you, ALONE, nor with a sexual friend.

It’s more disturbing when I read this paragraph:

Some will not be lucky enough to marry, and others are conditioned AGAINST MARRIAGE; but they would find the essence of happiness, in having gentle passion all the time: free of fleshly longing, particularly at bed-time.

Those who are “conditioned AGAINST MARRIAGE?” Who are they? Is he talking about homosexuals?

He continues to rant about wives needing to eat less protein so their husbands aren’t overwhelmed by their “married-love” duties.

Married-love takes its toll of men as well. And for how many is it the last straw? -Do you find it hard to satisfy your husband, or is it an anxiety for YOUR HUSBAND to know how to keep YOU sweet, with enough married-love?

In World War II, Stanley was appalled by his co-sailors constant talk about their wives and sweethearts and what they wanted to do once they got home. Considering that he never married, I’m beginning to think that he may have been “conditioned AGAINST MARRIAGE.” Perhaps he had been enticed by an encounter with a “sexual friend” only to find shame in his budding homosexuality. Never able to accept it, he chose to deny his nature and suppress his desire, and, in turn, urging others to do the same.

And, once again, there we have it. Dietary advice from a man trying to squelch his natural desires. Just like Kellogg, Graham and Post, poor Stanley Green spent his life railing against healthy sexual desire and blaming an essential nutrient in our food for it.

The next time someone tells you that you should be a vegetarian, remember where this obsession for vegetarianism came from and know that it’s not really a way of eating meant to make you happy or even healthy. It was a Puritan effort to squelch sexual desire in a society that was uncomfortable with it.

Via:

• Stanley Green – The Protein Man – Retronaut
• The Protein Man | John Guy Collick

Last July, I invented one of my favorite breakfast treats, called the Chocolate Cream Cheese Omelet.

• Starling Fitness 07-12-12 » Low Carb Decadence: Chocolate & Cream Cheese Omelet

Every time I make it, it’s uglier than the last, but it tastes like a deliciously chocolate pancake, despite not having a lick of flour in it.

Last Tuesday, I figured out how to make it ever so slightly better. The original recipe had you heating a tablespoon of butter in the pan so the omelet wouldn’t stick. I used a tablespoon of coconut oil instead and the flavor was divine! It adds about twenty calories to the recipe, but the coconut flavor of the oil pairs so well with the chocolate and cream cheese that it’s worth it.

When you eat low carb, it’s really easy to eat too much protein. In fact, the biggest mistake rookie low carb eaters make is eating too much protein. You have to LOOK for ways to add fat to your meals in order to keep your percentages at a level that won’t give you gout. Adding coconut oil to my chocolate cream cheese omelet gives it a boost in flavor and some well-needed calories from fat.

The next time you’re at a loss for what to eat for breakfast, try my chocolate cream cheese omelet and give yourself a treat!

This motivational poster from I CAN DO IT really made me feel better.

It reads:

Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.

I’ve always believed that if you craft a diet that has enough of the proper nutrients, you won’t be tempted to eat poorly. Unfortunately, I have NEVER found a diet that left me completely free from cravings or temptation. Low carb has made me feel like I’m not starving, even though I’m eating few calories, but I’m still tempted to eat things that aren’t healthy for me.

That’s where mental will comes in. Low carb brought me to the point where I’m not fighting my body’s hunger, but I have to fight my eating habits that I have developed over the years. Every time I stop myself from eating a carb-filled treat, it’s like a workout for my mind. Every time I avert my eyes in a store or at a restaurant, I’m building my mental muscles.

The same is true for exercise. The workout itself is building the muscles of my body, but the act of getting out of my bright blue comfy chair builds my mental will. Being disciplined enough to do a workout every single day doesn’t come naturally to anyone. It’s something that every athlete has to develop.

The next time you’re tempted to do something that you know will go against your plans, STOP yourself. Just take a moment to consider that this is your chance for you to build your will power muscles. Make the right decision and you will feel your abilities grow with each good choice.

This comic from Nemi comics by Lise Myhre really brought home the reason to stay away from carbs.

Just one chip can lead to an entire mouthful, an entire day-full or even months trying to get back on track. It’s best to keep your carb intake low and then eating healthy will be much easier.

Comic via: Tastefully Offensive