Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 1147 of 3212

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Hi Diane,

Snips below (thanks for reminding me about how not
snipping affects daily-digesters).

> I'm the one who was thinking of taking S's one at a
> time...giving up snacks
> first and sweets later (seconds weren't a problem). 

Sorry it didn't work. It was an intriguing idea. 

> Well, when life got
> hectic, particularly with the crisis of a family
> friend getting ill and
> dying suddenly, 

I'm sorry to hear it. There are so many things that
happen in life that make diet seem silly and small.
It's helpful to have your habit firmly in place to
carry you along when these come.

>I wasn't ready to start, but having
> No-S in the back of my
> mind made me much more conscious of what I was
> eating and why. I made two
> discoveries:
> 
> 1. The main time I have trouble with snacking is
> when I'm driving. I live
> 30 minutes from "town" and spend quite a bit of time
> in the car. I get
> bored, and the radio isn't entertaining enough. So
> I have a conditioned
> response to get "hungry" when I drive for any length
> of time. It's not
> hunger, of course; it's boredom. That's what always
> gets me.

This is an important discovery: because you can do
something about it. Condition yourself to do
something else when bored. Grab a mineral water
instead. Listen to books on tape. And whatever you do,
don't bring food in the car.

> 
> 2. Sugar affects me more than I realized. A small
> piece of chocolate with
> my coffee is not a problem, but any larger quantity,
> such as a cookie or
> two, or a small helping of ice cream or dessert,
> sets off a craving for
> more, later, and even more, later... I find myself
> coming back to the
> kitchen within an hour, feeling "munchy" and not
> wanting healthy food, just
> more junk. This can set off a bad cycle!
> 

This is where the "no" part comes in. No sweets, no
sweet induced rampage.

> One of the secrets of slender people is supposedly
> that they don't eat
> unless they are hungry. That was what I was
> experimenting with before I
> decided to do NoS. 

This may be a true observation, but I'm not sure it's
useful. It describes a desirable condition, but not
how to get there. If you've trained yourself to eat
many little meals all day long you'll have a more or
less continuous low level hunger all day long. Train
yourself to eat less often and hunger and satiety will
be easier to distinguish.

> But it's very inconvenient, as I
> usually get hungry at
> any time EXCEPT regular mealtimes. 

This is habit. Don't eat between meals and you'll be
plenty hungry come meal time, believe me.

> I
> recently began to better
> recognize the little signal that says, "STOP eating
> NOW." I have known for
> a long time that I'm generally unaware of my body,
> ignoring its little
> signals. 

I'm not sure I ever get this signal ;-). But the sight
of a single, emptied plate does the trick nicely. I
could always eat more, but when I stop it this point,
get up, and do something else, before I know it I've
forgotten my hunger. There's no "I'm full" signal.
Just the absence of "I'm hungry."

> Sorry for the rabbit trail. I was just trying to
> say that some of my
> previous experiments have been helpful and it all
> should add up (slowly) to
> success. 

Don't apologize. Detailed posts like this are great.
That way others can learn from your experiments too.

> 
> So here I go. For the next three weeks I will do
> NoS--yes, all three at
> once, because I've concluded it's better that way
> after all. I think as
> long as I'm really going to concentrate, I may as
> well do several at once,
> and see if 21 days really does establish a habit. 
> My 39th birthday is
> exactly three weeks from now, so I'll give myself
> some new habits for my
> birthday! =) It doesn't seem like it should be so
> hard, but I know from
> experience that if something seems like it
> "shouldn't be hard"--it will be!

Now that's a milestone. Good luck. It *will* be hard,
but if you're strict, you'll be able to enjoy that
birthday cake with a conscience that's crystal clear,
and look forward to a happier, healthier, easier year
39.

Reinhard