The interesting thing the authors point out is that our bodies are not able to distinguish dieting from starvation. If your body thinks you’re starving it, the basic defense mechanisms kick in. There’s nothing you can do about it. Your body and your mind will try to do whatever is in their power to get you fed. “Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant” says the summary of the principle.

For me, this is very clear. If I’m too hungry, I find it very, very difficult to eat slowly, mindfully, and feel my fullness. And apparently, this is what a study of healthy young men back in the forties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment) has confirmed. Subjects have shown obsession with food, had episodes of over-eating, would broke diet rules… Sounds familiar?

And it’s not just about avoiding these symptoms. Keeping our bodies well fed, with all the nutrients that it requires (including carbs – glucose is the exclusive source of energy for our brain, nervous system and red blood cells) – is essential for our health.

The basic message here is: eat when you are hungry. Just writing it here makes me smile inside. Why do we need a book to tell us this simple logical truth? Yet, dieters around the world are trying to ignore their hunger, to numb it with diet sodas, even feel guilty when they still feel hungry after eating a prescribed amount of food (which simply wasn’t enough to feed their starving bodies).

Without honoring your hunger, there is no way to learn how to stop when you are full. I liked the metaphor of stray vs. domestic well fed cats. Poor stray cats will use any opportunity to gulp down any amount of food that’s given to them. Domestic cat will eat as much as it feels like at the moment, and once satisfied, will just lift its tail and walk away.

So how do we become like these fine cats? I'll share with you my plan for adoption of the second intuitive eating principle in a next post.