5-Day Mindful Eating Solution: Lesson 2 - HUNGER

I have long believed that one of the reasons we seem to reach for the snacks mindlessly throughout the day...

...is because we're hungry.

I'm completely serious. I've helped cure stress/boredom/emotional/mindless eating by just helping folks go through life more well-fed.

Your hunger comes from your cells. Not your stomach or your brain. It certainly doesn't come from boredom!

The cells request nourishment in a few forms:

Fuel: These are your "calories" and they provide the fuel for the cells to make energy for your body and brain.

Building blocks: These are your amino acids and essential fatty acids, so your body can continue to build and repair itself and remain strong and epic.

Information: These are your minerals, vitamins, cholesterol, prebiotic fibres, etc., that have small, unsexy but incredibly important and nuanced roles in bodily function.

When the cells ask for food, it's to satisfy all of these needs. If you fall short on any one of them, you can call that being "undernourished." Undernourished cells call out for more nourishment.

Every tiny cell in your body is working every single day with the singular task of keeping the lights on. You can't phone that in with "a black coffee and a low fat yogurt" for breakfast and hope that it's going to come close to giving the cells what they need.

There is an easy solution. There is a way to give the body the available calories, building blocks, and information that it needs.

The solution is protein.

Eat more protein.

How much more? MORE.

Protein foods are incredibly high in minerals and amino acids, two of the most important factors that the cells are crying out for. If you eat more protein, you will feel less hungry.

I can tell you from experience that walking around feeling less hungry is a miracle cure for mindless snacking.