Satiety!! I Need More of it in my Life.

 You can eat all you want and all you think you need, and somehow, within an hour or so you feel hungry again! Has this ever happened to you? Oh my gosh, it's the worst. Have you ever been really sick, and as you're healing you feel as if you can't eat enough to stay full? It's non-stop carb throwing, and you (I) just can't stuff enough food into my head for whatever reason. I think it's my body saying it needs it, but my body really has no idea how big it has gotten over the past few months...AGAIN!  

    I used to hear people, and I probably still do, say that they have struggled with their weight all of their lives. That's only half true with me, well, now it's a bit longer than half. I didn't have a weight problem as such until I had my third child! Then, oh yes, I had a real issue. I gained a bunch of weight with the last one, and it never really came off the way it did with the others. I only had three, thank you Jesus, but at the same time, my weight went up with the first, grew steadily with the second, and then exploded with the last. I went from being 134 when I got pregnant in 1985 with Reuben, to weighing over 190 pounds after giving birth to Caity. That's 56 pounds, and after Caity, I just sort of stopped working out as much, and eventually, over the next 25 years, I gained another 25 pounds!!

    In August 2020, I remember clearly, that I must have passed by a window or something with a reflection. I saw myself, and I was just shocked. I was upset. I remember thinking "That's the reason you feel badly, Jude. That's also the reason you fell off your horse again! You're fat!"  Now, in our society today, we're not supposed to fat-shame, or body-shame, or whatever, but the hard cold facts are the hard cold facts. At just under 5'7" tall, I weighed 216 pounds and I had NO REASON to be that large. It was both unhealthy and made me unhappy. You can't be comfortable in your own skin if you don't like the way you look in it. I was (and do) avoid mirrors. I don't want to see it, I don't want to remind myself that it's still there.  I've lost down to a reasonable size by all accounts of what our society accepts, but I am NOT where I want to be. I am the one I want to impress, no one else.

    Satiety is the feeling you get inside your gut when you're full. It helps you to stop eating and to feel satisfied with whatever it is inside of you. You can achieve it without eating all the empty calories and I'm going to tell you how you can do that. I'm not making something up that I created or conjured on my own. I'm not that smart. I went to the source; Google! I owe all of my intelligence on diets and exercise to the experts who have posted and written articles about it. I don't have to see that the author is a licensed physician either. If a person (like me) has had great experiences and they have achieved their goals, then I read what they had to say and I take it without a grain of salt since it worked for them. If they are trying to sell me something, I usually find another article.

    Years ago I went to a doctor about my gut being too big, and this doctor was both unhelpful and unprofessional in my opinion. Due to the type of insurance, I had at the time, and the fact that there really wasn't a Google to help me out on this matter, nothing really changed. The doctor told me to diet and exercise, and the diet he gave me was nothing like a doctor should have given me. It was full of the wrong types of foods really, and he said nothing about obtaining satiety so that I would eat less. Facts are facts; if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories than you take in, you'll lose weight. It is what it is. I also want to tone and do some shaping as I go, so yeah, I wanted expert help. I found it. 

    Today starts another round of me being more aware of what I am eating, how I am eating, and why I am eating it. I remember being really full and happy when I was eating more of the homemade trail mix that I made. It has calories for sure, but it also keeps me from eating empty calories. I need more fiber-rich foods in my body, more proteins, and fewer things that turn into (or are made of) sugar. I don't really do straight sugar anymore. I don't have diabetes, but I don't want to get it either. I am eating as if I am pre-diabetic I guess, so I can be more aware of what my health is all about, and I can be prepared to be a partner for someone who may have it. Why put someone through agony as they have to watch me eating something made of sugar? No. I don't need it, and if I ever have a partner or friend that is diabetic, I want to be the one who supports them, not discourages them. That's just me. I think that way.

    There are ways to obtain satiety that are really simple, and you may already know most of them. Here's a cool article about it too: https://draxe.com/health/satiety/

    Just as a tip or two you can do the following to feel fuller:

• drink a full glass of water before you eat
• eat protein-rich foods, fiber-rich foods (chicken, grass-fed beef, eggs, nuts)
• eat more greens (dark greens)
• change up your snacks from wheat-based to fruit or veggie based
• potatoes are not your friend; if you must, try sweet potatoes
• use a smaller plate so you feel as if you've eaten more
• spice it up a little. Some spices actually boost metabolism

There are just so many ways to do this. You can use little hacks all day to keep the ball rolling so that you don't feel as hungry. Stay busy. Don't find excuses to go into the kitchen so you can stare into the cabinets or refrigerator.  Here's a thought, and I had t really work on this one, when you're at the store remember YOU are the one buying the groceries! You are the one who determines what will go into the cabinets and the refrigerator and therefore, into your mouth. When I had kids to feed I used them as an excuse for why I ate so poorly. I'm so very happy my own daughter doesn't do that. She won't allow my grandkids to eat stupid things, and I really am so thankful to her for that. I've told her so, too. I feel as if I could have been a better mom in that sense, but again, the role models and the resources I was left with weren't the same as they are today.

    We're all in this you know. We have to be more of who we should be so that we can be useful, needed, helpful, and be there for others as long as and as strong as we need to be.  There are excuses to be had, but why do that? We can also decide for ourselves that we're going to be the change we want to see in ourselves. I'm still not where I need to be, or where I want to be, but I will be. It will happen. It's a matter of effort, time, and willpower. I think it's worth giving it another shot. Remember, it's not failing if you don't quit. NEVER quit on yourself. You're worth too much.

Photo Credit:  Musclehack.com