Today I wound up going to a work meeting that kept me from lunching until around 2pm, well past my usual 12pm lunchtime (and almost 6 hours past my breakfast). By 2pm I was hungry like the wolf. I know the risks of going hungry – namely, food over-compensation – and I didn’t want to gorge myself. So I made myself a nice big salad and a taco. No big deal, right?
The thing was, I felt absolutely pooped after lunch. I wasn’t exactly stuffed, but I still felt kind unpleasant, tired and lethargic. It made me wonder how my former coworkers at the bank could put off lunch for hours and hours, then gorge themselves on sandwiches and chips and still be productive in the afternoon. And those people who “forget to eat” – what’s that all about?
I believe in my heart and soul that there’s no joy in going hungry. It only makes me tired, grumpy and worst of all, it makes me enjoy food less because by the time I eat it I’m too hungry to enjoy it. And yet, I’ve heard some people say that skipping meals can actually be beneficial to health. I’m not sure that I buy it. What do you think?
Diary for Monday, May 11, 2009
Breakfast
Ricotta and cottage cheese crepes with fresh fruit
Walk
I had a meeting down in Victoria so I walked to and from the tube station, about 1.5 miles each way.
Lunch
Loaded black bean taco
Dinner
Sindh mung dal with Indian-spiced cauliflower
Interesting observation and I have to agree. I eat very regularly everyday, but when something does get in the way and then I can’t eat for an hour or more and get really hungry, what I feel after I eat are abdominal cramps. So I never like going really hungry. I don’t know why this would happen, I tried to reason it out that maybe my intestines got a little “emptier” and then had to kick in and work again LOL, I am just kidding, I really don’t know.
In terms of skipping meals, yes fasting is a good idea to let our systems recover, but we fast every night when we sleep, so I personally do not recommend fasting during the day. During the day in my opinion it is good to supply the body with ample energy and nutrients so it can function at its optimum. While it can be beneficial for some, for the most part it messes up our metabolism, etc.
By the way your breakfast and lunch look amazing, especially the breakfast. I don’t eat any cheese anymore but I can think of other things that I can stuff them with like more fruit 🙂
Skipping meals I think can work for some. I guess some people are not breakfast eaters or maybe don’t have to get up until late, so it may work for them to just eat a big lunch and move on from there. I don’t think anyone can skip dinner though – I know I would die!!
Interesting. I’m not a big fan of skipping meals. From a personal point of view, I get tired and find I can’t concentrate as well if I miss my lunch. The nearest I get to skipping a meal is occasionally to just have a brunch at the weekend rather than breakfast and lunch.
I work giving nutritional advice to people for many different reasons and so often it is the people who are very overweight that are the ones that skip meals regularly (particularly breakfast). I just got the NYTimes wellblog front page when I followed your link so couldn’t read the article but I reckon obesity is more detrimental to health than anything we might be missing out on by not fasting regularly.
Your meals look really delicious, as always. No wonder you don’t forget to eat 🙂
Thanks for all the props on my pictures, everyone. Food might just be my religion, which is one of the reasons why I don’t like skipping meals. But the main reason is that I just feel like garbage when i do so. I, too, find it difficult to concentrate and I’ve also sometimes experienced tummy cramps when I do finally get around to eating. This is why I always pack my https://smarterfitter.com/blog/2008/11/15/food-diary-always-carry-an-emergency-snack/“ rel=”nofollow”>emergency nuts when I go out. I wouldn’t want to risk a grumpy hungry incident.