Welcome to My Zoo!

I have a plethora of dogs in my life right now.  First there’s Dixie, who is the best hostess ever, welcoming other guest dogs with grace and love.  Then there’s Missy, my parent’s miniature Schnauzer.  Missy is old as dirt, profoundly deaf, and can’t see in the dark.  (She’ll just stand rock still until someone shines some light.)  Finally, Stratton’s dog Abby is spending her Spring Break at Mo’s.  (That’s me.)  Abby is a blue heeler who looks a LOT like a wolf with big ears and large teeth.  But she is the sweetest wolf-looking dog you ever met, and is the most active 3 year old dog in the world.

Now that you know the cast, I’m going to talk about hunger.  

Dixie is the very definition of a compulsive eater.  Once she gets the smell or taste of food in her mouth, she is frantic.  She’ll eat all the dry food, she’ll lick clean Rudy’s bowl (Rudy’s the large cat who deserves his own blog,) she’ll beg without shame for scraps from the kitchen while I”m cooking, then follow us to the table to beg for more, she’ll bug the dog out of me for a treat.  This dog has NO idea how to gauge hunger.  Period.

Then there’s Missy.  She only eats a few bites at a time, and never in front of the other dogs.  She’ll take her mouthful of food into dad’s bedroom and chew.  Then she’ll come out for another bite and go away to eat it.  I can only assume she does this gnoshing all day long, because she is plenty sturdy.  

And finally, there’s my Abby girl, who plays and runs and barks and chases and jumps ALL DAY LONG.  There’s no telling how many calories that dog burns, but she clearly doesn’t feel hunger.  She has to be called in for breakfast, but as soon as she’s eaten, she tears outside to bite that darn tree limb.  

Let’s talk about hunger.  Hunger shows up in people differently.  My adorable blogging daughter (www.tworecipes.blogspot.com) takes after her mama.  If we wait too long we get nauseated.  I don’t get the hunger pains first...I just get sick to my stomach.  Others get headache-y.  I have a friend who gets shaky but doesn’t know what a growling stomach feels like.  Another gets grumpier than all get out.   

My question to you is this:  how does hunger manifest in you?  Maybe I should start with another one....when was the last time you actually felt hunger?  

Do you take after Dixie?  Does the smell, sight or mere thought of food make you frantic?  Do you stop when you are full or do you eat till there’s no mo? 

Are you more like Missy?  Eating a little bit all day long so you don’t take the chance that you will feel hunger?  (leaving alone the behavior part for now---but did it strike a chord in you because you too might be a “closet eater?”)  

Or do you go all day long and run on fumes like Abby?   Have you ignored your hunger signals so long that your body no longer bothers to signal that it needs some fuel?

Want to know the simple fix?  Eat by the clock.  Set the time for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Then stick to it for 2 weeks.  I guarantee by the end of these 2 weeks, you will have trained that metabolism of yours to burn your fuel efficiently, then signal to you when it’s time for more.    

Tomorrow’s blog is going to talk about the second part of this equation:  stopping when you’re full.  For now, it’s time for lunch!