Your Body Has a Savings Account
Stop being so stingy.
“I’m not hungry, but I should eat something so I don’t get hungry later.”
I hear some version of that all the time.
And every time I do, I think...
Why?
When did being hungry become something we needed to prevent?
Think about it.
Your body is saying, “Thanks, Dave. I’m good right now.”
And we respond:
“Yeah, but you might not be good at 11:30, so here’s a granola bar.”
😂
For most of us, ordinary hunger isn’t an emergency.
It’s information.
And if we don’t eat immediately, the human body has a pretty clever backup plan.
It has a savings account.
Body fat is stored energy.
When energy from your last meal isn’t coming in anymore, your body can begin drawing on energy it stored earlier.
That’s one reason it’s there.
You made deposits.
Your body can make withdrawals.
Simple.
Yet somewhere along the way, many of us got used to eating for reasons that had very little to do with hunger.
It’s breakfast time.
Everybody else is eating.
There’s food in the break room.
We’re bored.
We’re watching television.
Or my favorite...
We might get hungry later.
For years now, I’ve eaten once or twice a day most days.
Sometimes I’m hungry early.
Sometimes two in the afternoon rolls around before food sounds interesting.
So I eat at two.
I’m not trying to win a fasting contest.
Nobody gives you a trophy for skipping breakfast.
I simply started paying attention.
That change became especially important after I developed type 2 diabetes in my fifties. I changed what I ate, lost 98 pounds, became far more active, and my health changed dramatically.
But one of the quieter things I learned along the way was this:
My body talks to me.
Hunger is one of the ways it does that.
So is feeling full.
So is energy.
So is feeling lousy after eating something that clearly didn’t agree with me, despite how wonderful it looked on the menu.
The trick isn’t following my eating schedule.
Your body isn’t mine.
Your needs may be completely different, and there are medical situations and medications where going without food can be a bad idea.
The bigger idea is much simpler.
Pay attention.
Before you eat, occasionally ask yourself:
Am I actually hungry?
No judgment.
No rules.
Just notice.
I stopped asking the clock for permission to eat a long time ago.
These days, I ask my body.
Funny thing.
It usually knows.
I just had to get quiet enough to hear it.
And if lunch doesn’t happen until two?
That’s okay.
There’s a little money in the bank.