Living With Hunger

I made a huge mistake yesterday. I let myself get hungry. Anyone who has ever been on a diet of any kind knows that getting hungry is trouble; a gluten-free person who gets hungry is in double trouble. This is when you are going to meet the worst temptations, this is when you'll begin to make compromises you shouldn't.

How did I let myself get hungry? The day before yesterday I had somehow ended up 200 calories below my Calories To Maintain, so I started my day in a deficit. Then I had a snack shortage due to the Black Mission Figs in my pantry being old and crusty. My loving husband packed my bag for the day and had not noticed the condition of the figs. By 2:30pm I was nibbling on what was edible of the figs. By 4:30pm my stomach was doing those embarrassing out loud growls. I was hungry, and I was weak. I was thinking I would skip going to the Gluten Free Gathering at EarthFare at 6:00pm, even though I really look forward to visiting with other gluten free people. I just wanted to go home and eat.

I began to get desperate. I started craving foods I can't have. Nachos with cheese. A sandwich. Candy. Walking by the break room, I smelled a frozen pizza cooking and wanted it. I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. Potato chips. Anything!!! For some reason, when I get to this point I don't crave healthy foods, like an apple or a carrot. There must be some chemical trigger in my brain when I get hungry that says to forget all of the self-discipline and eat exactly what I shouldn't. Actually, my nutritionist told me that people with food sensitivities often crave the foods to which they are sensitive (even before they stop eating them). That's a sick game we play, isn't it?

In case you're wondering, the snack machines in the break room don't have anything in them that I can eat. Some gluten-free folks might be tempted by a snack machine, but not I. In addition to no gluten, I also can't eat corn, potato, lactose or preservatives (the list is longer than that, but that covers most everything you'll find in a snack machine). If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down BIG! Like with a deep dish, extra cheesy pizza, or a tomato sandwich! Aw, I'm getting hungry now!

In the end, my self-discipline won out. I went to the Gluten Free Gathering at EarthFare. I got there in time to buy a Larabar - Cashew Cookie (one of my favorite!) and ate it to stave off the hunger pangs until I could get home. Today, I made sure I packed extra snacks.

Wouldn't you know it that last night EarthFare was having a chocolate tasting? Wonder what they would have thought of some hunger-induced, diet-busting, crazy person cramming handfuls of chocolate in her mouth? Thank God for my strong will-power!