Fear of hunger promotes obesity

An unscientific poll conducted in Roanoke, Virginia, indicates that many overweight and obese people have a fear of hunger. Observations locally confirm that a large percentage of obese and overweight people carry food with them to alleviate the first signs of hunger. In a broader sense, Americans are familiar with dire warnings from grandparents: "You need to eat more of that food on your plate or you'll be hungry later!!" Hundreds of diet products and diet plans, including representatives of the Atkins diet, Herbal Life Weight Loss Supplements, One Day Diet Way and even the Full Sense^TM device tout "Weight loss without hunger!"

What's wrong with being hungry? Nutritiondata.com blogger Elaine Murphy says, "The problem is on a somewhat unconscious level. There is this unrealistic and even distorted idea that a little hunger is just too awful to bear and therefore totally unacceptable. This may not be an overt thought but I think it's there although not really talked about much. With a fear of hunger, there goes your food plan and any chance of losing weight." When most people get slightly hungry, they feel a little stomach growling, and when they get extremely hungry, they feel a sense of lightness or euphoria. A day long fast often provides a feeling of internal cleanliness and calm, plus it gives the entire digestive system, including the hard working intestines, a break. Far worse than hunger is the uncomfortable, fatigue-inducing and bloat-causing sensation of eating when not hungry or just slightly hungry. Anthony Robbins offers comments about weight-maintenance that include a focus on grading hunger. He asks, "On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most hungry I can be, how hungry am I?" He maintains a healthy weight by eating only when he's at about a level of seven.

With about 710 restaurants and 136 grocery stores in the Roanoke area, and a definite preponderance of fried, gravy-smothered and sugar- and fat-laden foods, people here find it difficult to get to level seven of hunger. But, in the battle to curb the myriad health problems caused by overweight and obesity, Roanokers may do well to work daily on becoming very hungry. Need more motivation to get hungry right now? Read tomorrow's article at Examiner.com/Roanoke Longevity Examiner.