Sometimes it is good to go back to the basics. Right now, since my life is flipped upside down processing so many things at a much deeper level, I am going to review some of the basics…

How did I live for the two years I released 100 pounds and kept it off? I clearly need to give attention and accountability to some of the “nuts and bolts”–the “mechanics”–of this approach while temptations are at their highest.

There are eight “Keys to Conscious Eating” in the Thin Within program. So, while God is doing a total inside-out remodel job with regard to what makes me tick, I will also return to the basics mechanically.

Today, Key #1 – Eat Only When My Body is Hungry

Sounds simple, right? Try it. I invite you to join me on this journey. Feel free to tell us about it in the comments section. In fact, you can post there that you are going to give this a try. You don’t even need to wait for a new day to start. No matter where you are…right NOW, you can try it! 🙂 –> Can you (can *I*) have an entire day where we eat only when we know, know, KNOW that our stomach is completely, 100% physically empty? It isn’t as easy as it sounds! 🙂 Not only that, but many of us, when we do this, discover that we have been using food as a coping mechanism and all kinds of “interesting things” surface. I will warn you now…take those unresolved emotions to the Lord and give them to him!

What does physical hunger even feel like?

One misconception is that hunger is a sound…a stomach growl. The Hallidays explain that this isn’t the case and remind us that a stomach growl can happen in response to food that is still in the stomach, in fact, just being digested. The most reliable signal for hunger is an emptiness, a slight ache, in the stomach pouch. The stomach is located pretty high compared to what most people think. It is just below where the ribs join in the sternum! Find your “breast bone” and move down to where it isn’t hard any more and in that soft area just below, is your stomach!

Many of us haven’t been hungry in a long time. It might be that physical hunger wasn’t a safe place for us as a kid. We may not like the unpleasant sensation of an empty stomach. We may even panic! But I have found in the past through perseverance (and, again, I need to get back to this basic), that I won’t DIE when I am hungry. In fact, God invites me to enjoy food when I am hungry! I can eat whatever I want to when I am hungry…but I get ahead of myself. Today, I will focus on not eating any meal or “snack” unless I am at what Thin Within calls a “0.” Totally empty, like a fuel gauge on a car. Nothing-in-there sort of hungry. 🙂

So, today, how about it. Will you join me? How about you, how about *I*…wait for physical emptiness in our stomachs? Give it a try and let me know what you think! Let me/us know what you experience!

Lord, I pray that you might help me to return to this simple basic…that of waiting for physical hunger before I eat. I pray for any who may read this blog today or in days to come that may want to try this as well. Please infuse them with your strength and enable them to delight in finding “0.” I pray that we would lean on you to be our strength to resist eating outside of the godly parameters. You promise that you will be our portion. Lord, I know that I tend to gravitate toward food for a million reasons other than hunger. I pray that you will grab my attention should I be tempted to do that today. Thank you for what you are teaching me even now, Lord. In the precious Name of Jesus, Amen.

DISCLAIMER: It is always best to check with a physician before you try anything new. Please do that! 🙂