"Are You Really Hungry"
I, who have no authority nor any credentials to back up such a claim, have come up with a theory about hunger in this day and age. I think it is mostly false. In the same way that "false labor" is not actually labor, I think that most of our hunger pains are misdirected urges caused by years of habitual rewiring of the brain. Like Pavlov's dogs, we have so often redirected our urges--thirst, boredom, anxiety--toward food that our brains have decided, "What the hell, I'll make it easy and just call it hunger!" How hungry can I really be when I have been sitting on a plane for five hours doing absolutely nothing physical since the last time I ate? How digested can that food really be? What I really am, midway through the transatlantic staring contest, is bored. But since I have redirected this nagging dullness so many times toward food my whole system actually calls it hunger now and sometimes my stomach will even growl. I can actually go all day when I am truly jazzed by life without eating anything past breakfast, no pangs or grumbles or any sign that my body thinks it needs food, because sedentary as our lives have become, the chances are I actually don't need any. I once saw my mother almost hit by a car and then proclaim moments later, "I could eat an entire cow right now!" Guess what reflex she has been redirecting toward food. But probably the most insidious and life altering of these errant urges is the redirection away from thirst. I truly think that if every time we thought we were hungry we downed a glass of water, we would cut our food consumption in half and double our energy.

So this is what I'm trying: since I'm a "bored eater" each time I think I'm hungry I'm going to drink a glass of water and then go do an activity, anything from sweeping the floor to watching a show to checking off one of my many assignments for my master's program. If at any point later I feel another hunger pang I can eat. But the funny thing is how often that point is hours later or not at all until the next meal. I've lost six pounds already and hopefully am well on my way to some significant rewiring. Pavlov would be proud.