I will not let Hunger control me!

Mindful Eating.

It was safe to say that I was a full blown skeptic. "Mindful" anything seemed kind of like a crock. Except for when I'm out in public surrounded by strangers, where I am particularly mindful of my actions and how they affect others, for my own self it seemed rather... illogical for lack of a better word. I mean, of course I'm mindful of what I'm eating - it's not like don't I know that I'm eating, right?! 

Well, when I finally came to the realization that hunger was controlling me and not the other way around, I knew I had to figure out how to change my habits somehow. I was reading an article, and I forget if I found it in the Greatist blog email or on Myfitnesspal, but she was discussing leptin and ghrelin and the role they play - which I already knew - but then she talked about hunger. She described hunger as a child having a tantrum; and that resonated with me in my dislike of children. I thought: well, I'd never let a 2 year old win a tantrum - why should I let my stomach do the same?

You see, I was giving in almost immediately to even the possibility of a hunger ping. Like I wasn't even sure if was a real feeling of actual hunger before I was jumping up and looking in the fridge for something to eat, and that had to stop. It was almost like a literal switch flipping in my brain. I'm not sure how else to describe it. The only thing I really changed was just employing strategies I already knew - like waiting 20 minutes to gauge if I'm feeling actual hunger before I go to eat. And waiting 20 minutes after I ate before I decided that what I had wasn't enough food. In this way, I am being "mindful". I'm sitting there, asking myself how do I really feel? Is this hunger, or is it boredom? Is it hunger or is it that weird in-between feeling I get sometimes that goes away within a few minutes? 

Using this, plus a couple of tricks to help me along, has allowed me to stay in roughly 1300 calories a day without feeling deprived. I've been doing it for over a week now without changing any of the food I eat on a daily basis (besides drinking less alcohol). I've always known that my downfall has not been what I eat, but how much, because I was letting hunger control me.

The biggest trick that I employ is PYY, or Peptide YY. It is released by your small intestine (normally during digestion) which tells your brain that you are full. Research has shown that coffee, particularly decaf (they know that it has nothing to do with the caffeine) increases PYY production. Unfortunately for you non-coffee drinkers out there, research really hasn't found a substitute; in fact, they don't even know why decaf is more effective at triggering PYY production. And honestly, I'm glad decaf is better for it because using coffee for appetite suppression is not always going to be the best option; especially right before bed.

So trick #1 is Costco, who is my best friend when it comes to large quantities of whole bean coffee, especially decaf, which is hard to find. I use their decaf in both my nespresso machine for a 30 calorie 8oz almond milk latte, and as a cold brew mixed with almond milk and a scoop of Idealshake for a double-whammy punch, usually around 7pm when I'm starting to feel hungry again after dinner.

Recipe for espresso

2 - 2 ounce servings of decaf coffee using an nespresso reusable cup like these:

4 ounces of heated unsweetened almond milk
1 splenda packet
1 tsp of non-dairy creamer
and froth the milk like crazy

Or, you can just make decaf coffee in your drip machine. For me, it generally comes out to about 30-40 calories due to using non-dairy creamer in my 16oz cup (when I make my 16oz cup in the morning with regular coffee, I add a scoop of collagen too, just to get a dose of protein in there.)

For the cold brew, it's very easy to do at home and my method makes it taste exactly like the Starbucks cold brew that you can buy in their bottles, plus as an added bonus you get either 10g of protein with a scoop of idealshake, or you can use vanilla-flavored whey for 24g.

Since I'm not making cold brew for the caffeine, the ratio to coffee/water isn't that strict. I use roughly 150-200g of whole bean coffee (coarsely ground) to a 64oz container (of water) like what you find at Costco with the Mixed Nuts. In fact, the lid is pretty important because you want to shake it a few times during the infusion process. Use filtered cold water, but instead of putting it in the fridge forever, leave it on your counter for 6-10 hours. And that's it. You can filter it any way you see fit. Personally, I have one of these: 

Which makes the process a lot easier.

Cold Brew Recipe:

I use 8oz of cold brew and 8 oz of almond milk, 1 scoop of powder, and 1 splenda packet shaken in Contigo cup. I sometimes also add a bit of water to equal about 20oz. It's freaking delicious. Using the idealshake, it's only 130 calories.

When my stomach is in one of those confused states of "I think I'm hungry but I'm not sure", which happens to me almost consistently after my work lunch, I drink a cup of coffee, and that stops that feeling immediately. It's a pretty cool trick. I also like [light] string cheese as a snack because it's a nice dose of protein and unless you're a crazy person who just bites into it, it kind of forces you to eat it slowly and MINDFULLY (omg).

Anyway, let me know what you guys think of this strategy. Have any of you tried these methods? Have you found that eating mindfully has helped you on your weight loss journey? Let me know in the comments!