Weight Loss Surgery Learning Library

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Featured Article

Hunger is NOT an Emergency
by Kaye Bailey

Just this week I had a breakthrough moment when I read that naturally slender people do not treat hunger as an emergency. “Most of us who struggle with extra pounds tend to view hunger as a condition that needs to be cured – and fast,” writes Judith S. Beck, PhD, author of the Beck Diet Solution. “If you fear hunger, you might routinely overeat and avoid it,” she says adding, “Thin people tolerate hunger because they know hunger pangs always come and go, buying them some time.”

Hunger defined: the painful sensation caused by a lack of food that initiates food-seeking behavior.

Learn More: Understanding Hunger, Appetite and Satiety

Hunger is not an emergency. Interesting, don’t you think? Since publishing the 5 Day Pouch Test I’ve received tremendous feedback. Some people are amazed to not feel hungry, even on those difficult first two days. Others report “climbing the walls” hunger. I believe each of us responds differently to the 5DPT and there are certainly extremes between lack of hunger and ravenous hunger.

Here are some tricks for learning to treat hunger the way slender people do – a condition that comes and goes.

- Drink water or flavored water to curb hunger pangs.
- Ignore the hunger and acknowledge that you will survive.
- Establish a predictable and consistent eating schedule so your body becomes accustomed to when you will eat.
- Eat protein first thing in the morning and again at lunch and dinner.
- Minimize visual cues that trigger hunger pangs (avoid/ignore media advertising, place snack foods in closed cupboards, avoid the office break room, etc.)
- Take a brisk walk before giving in to hunger (this will rev your metabolism).

Finally, just as hunger is not an emergency, it is also not a failure. If you feel hunger during the 5 Day Pouch Test then take one of the steps above to ignore it. And if you are still hungry then eat something from the approved list of foods for the day. Associating hunger with feelings of failure often leads to destructive eating and inappropriate food choices. The 5DPT is a powerful tool and a great step toward building a better relationship with food and your weight loss surgery.

Learn more about the 5 Day Pouch Test and get back your surgical weight loss tool.