Fear of Hunger

Anyone who has been a yo yo dieter knows the feeling.. 'Im hungry. I might get hungry, Im always hungry.' Lets look at that feeling more closely. When you are on an extremely calorie restricted diet your mind goes into famine mode. It begins to obsess on food. It worries, it is Afraid ! 'Maybe I will never eat again. Maybe I will starve to death. But I cant eat, Im on a 'diet' Well, I can eat. But only what the diet says I can eat. Let's see which diet am I on? Is it low carb? low fat? diet for my blood type(whatever that is' No matter which diet is the diet du jour, the feeling is the same; Im famished, when can I eat that little morsel of food that will be doled out to me?

Finally, I achieve my goal.Horray! Now I will stick to the diet du jour for the rest of my life and I will never be fat again. Then that starving frightened self speaks up, very quietly at first. Then louder and more plaintively. Please please please, can I have that great big hamburger? I have been sooooo good.. Please! just this once? And so it goes. Down the drain with all my good intentions. At last I can EAT again. Then comes the fear. But, what if the food goes away again? What if there is never enough, ever again? I had better hoard, and eat as much as I can, just in case.

The solution in my next entry