to think that we are addicted to never feeling hungry?

[Teetik]

Recently, for various reasons, I had to stick to a really limited diet of three small meals a day, no snacks, water for a drink and one glass of wine in the evening with no food to accompany it (that was optional of course). I also did a lot of being outdoors, walked everywhere at the same time.

Usually if I don't eat for say more than a couple of hours, I start to feel a bit shaky. If I don't get a cup of tea, I feel something's missing. For this 5-day period, I felt nothing like that, nothing whatsoever. I managed absolutely fine with a coffee in the morning and NO SNACKS.

It just made me think that perhaps the reason why I'm 2 stone overweight is that I've tricked myself into thinking that if I'm ever even a tiny bit hungry, then something's WRONG and I have to correct it immediately. Cheap food is everywhere and I think we're being massively brainwashed into thinking we need more than we actually do. AIBU?

See, I'm pro-snacking.

People are talking about French people not snacking but look at Thailand. They never stop eating there, everything is little and snacky - a piece of grilled chicken here, a tiny box of salad there, a bag of fruit, a handful of sticky rice, stop off for a crunchy noodle salad or bowl of soup on your shopping trip. They don't eat big meals, they find them vulgar.

I've never been so skinny as when I lived in Thailand - snacking is good, being hungry is bad. High protein, nutritious and tasty snacks though, not doughy crap. They see bread as a dessert in Thailand, not functional food.

oh GOD at the

At work, I don't eat lunch. I snack all day on ham, chicken, nuts, yoghurt, dried fruit, wasabi peas and the like and chocolate. It stops me feeling tired, hungry or weak. If I eat a big carby lunch, I'm exhausted by 3pm.

stripey I can see how that would work. I guess the problem we have is combining largish meals with snacks, not just going for small bites.

Everyone now seems in fear of feeling the slightest bit hungry. It's not a bad thing.

The head spinnyness goes away if you cut down on refined carbs and stick to complex carbs with protein. If you keep feeding the blood sugar low with more sugar, you will end up with Type II diabetes (a nutritionist told me this). You need to break the cycle and eat far less carby/sugary stuff to start with and then you will feel hungry without your head spinning.

I know that shaky feeling. I tend to get it if I eat too much sugary stuff - I reckon my body throws out too much insulin, then throws out a bit of adrenaline to compensate.

I try to be mostly low GI these days - much less stress on the system.

I've been on a hugely restrictive diet since DD2 was born and it has been really enlightening. There are just so many occasions when I would have eaten. Just a lick of the nutella spoon after making DS's sandwiches, or going past the co-op, or a biscuit at toddler group. The list goes on and on. No wonder I was overweight. I have just found I need soo many less calories than I ever thought.

very interesting thread. i didn't see the truth of it till i had gestational diabetes in my last pregnancy; suddenly, being barred from eating it, i saw more clearly what a lot of sugary, fatty, processed, unnecessary crap is thrust upon us when we're out and about these days. I went into town for some stuff one Saturday morning and stopped off in Nero's on the way back as I was feeling exhausted and shaky (massively pregnant + walk up big hill). All I wanted was a cold drink and some kind of healthy snack, but since I refuse to pay £££ for a tiny pot of fruit salad I was left gazing at row after row of cakes, pastries, muffins, chocolates, biscuits...it was like I'd never seen it before.

whoever said it was consumption born of boredom caused by other types of consumption is so right. it really made me re-evaluate my snacking habits, especially since I lost a fair bit of weight and my energy levels and mood were much more stable.

Now that I've had the baby, I am obviously enjoying a bit of sugary crap now and again, but definitely more conscious of what, when and how much I eat.

I think this is absolutely true. For most people, snacking is a habit, not a need. I used to get the same thing, if I missed my usual snack mid-morning I'd feel 'hungry', a bit shaky and panicky. It's just that your body has got used to getting a sugary snack at that time. Once you adjust to not having it, you realise you never really needed it!

Stripey I would be totally pro-snacking if we could get the sort of street food they have in Thailand! It's generally not available though. In the last place I lived there was ONE healthy-food fast take-away place that had snack boxes you could fill with all sorts of really nice (ie not normal) salads, tempeh, bit of fish occasionally, that sort of thing. Queues out the door.

Literally everywhere else was Pret a Manger (good end of spectrum, relatively) or Greggs/Ginsters (bad end). Where i live now, there is NO healthy takeaway. Nothing tempting at all. It's all carb-heavy, savoury and sweet both.

I guess you can do it yourself, snack on what you know to be healthy and then eat minimal meals. My downfall is that minimal meals would not be Acceptable to the family so we end up having more than I would cook for myself.

I don't think snacking per se is a problem. It's snacking on unhealthy, "instant gratification" type snacks, like crisps and muffins, which is the problem.

That said, I don't really snack. It's not because I'm virtuous though. I think it's for two reasons:

• I am a cheapskate. If I am out and feel hungry, I would rather wait till I get home than spend money on something from a cafe or corner shop.

• I am fussy about food quality. I think most snacky foods are less nice than what I can cook or prepare at home. I don't want to waste stomach space on second rate food, so again, I'd rather wait till I get home.

Of course these things only help because I'm out of the house most of the day. If I was at home I'd probably graze all day .

Oh and I think the shaky thing is really your body experiencing a "low" after a sugar or high GI carb "high". I suspect if you eat low GI food you are much less likely to feel shaky/dizzy. You still get hungry of course but not the shaky thing.

YANBU - I often think that in the past people must have been hungry a lot of the time and thought it was completely normal.

I do - now - think snacking is a problem, if combined with normal meals. Healthy or not. It's taking in more calories than you need. I did not think this two weeks ago, I would have said healthy snacks were probably good for you. I would have said I'd be all shaky and sad. When it was tested, I wasn't, and it took no time at all to physically need no snacks between meals.

The disclaimer is that if you don't ALSO eat any of our typically carb-heavy meals, then fair play, you need healthy snacks to get calories into you.

I agree - I think you can either have three 'square' meals a day, OR you can have snacks, but trying to have it both ways, for most of us, is going to lead to weight gain. Obviously if you prefer light meals plus snacks, there's nothing wrong with that.

Also, when I stopped 'feeding' myself every time I felt the slightest sense of not-fullness, and allowed myself to actually get a little bit hungry between meals - I really enjoyed and appreciated those meals a lot more! I guess that's what my mum meant when she used to talk about not 'spoiling' your dinner by snacking. It's not something you hear often now though.