Thursday, October 06, 2005

hungry, hungry, shakedust

The longer I live with Golden the more I compare why we do certain things. There are a lot of things that we do very much the same. In fact most of the personality quirks that one of us has the other one does as well, just to a slightly different degree. One thing that we are completely different in, though, is our motivation for eating food.

My eating habits are controlled by one thing. I ask myself whether I am hungry. If I am, I eat enough so that I am no longer hungry. At that point I usually stop.

Golden's eating habits appear similar, so it took me a little while to determine the key difference (ok, it's because I am slow). I finally figured out that she eats food for the experience of the food rather than to get rid of hunger. The fact that she is no longer hungry (if that is actually the case) is secondary.

Here are some of the things that I consider a decent snack:
  • Two or three bowls of cereal
  • Two or three sandwiches
  • A bowl of ramen plus a sandwich
  • Mac and cheese plus a sandwich
  • A box of Cheez-its
  • The leftovers that are planned for tomorrow's lunch (actually, it was my Dad who used to do this)
Here are some of the things that Golden considers a decent snack:
  • A handful of M&M's
  • A few grapes (lately, frozen grapes)
  • Two or three Cheez-its
  • Half a bowl of cereal
  • Peanut butter spread over a single slice of bread
  • Two spoonfuls of my ramen
  • Two spoonfuls of my mac and cheese

14 comments:

GoldenSunrise said...

You forgot to mention my banana that I have for my evening snack. I threw the peel away immediately and didn't leave it for you to smell on your tray. :)

shakedust said...

I guess I forgot it because I didn't smell it. :)

f o r r e s t said...

If your eating habits are only controlled by hunger, then why do you feel the need to snack. Usually snacking comes from a craving or a comfort and is not necessary done out of hunger.

Also, I am pretty sure that tastes also affects your eating habits or else you would be sharing goldens bananas. :)

f o r r e s t said...

Is not hunger a craving?

Maybe at times, but in general I think a lot of craving leads to snacking.

I am not hungry now, but our Admin has a jar full of snickers, twix, and milkyways and I would really like one because I am craving the chocolate and they taste good.

But I think I have eating issues, as in I eat more than I need to and I snack on things because they taste good and I feel good doing it. Those are my problems.

So, maybe in Dust case he only eats when the hunger button is on and stops when he is no longer hungry. But he went on about snacks, and I want to know the motivation behind the snacks.

Dust, can you clarify?

shakedust said...

I am sure there are times that I crave something when I am not really hungry, but it is not too frequently. Typically, if I am not hungry at all then smelling good food will not really entice me to eat.

I think I can put it a better way, though. When I crave something it is not just the taste that I am craving. I am craving the feeling of a full stomach. I don't typically crave stuff like candy or fruit because, even though I may like the flavor, my stomach is still empty, so I am unsatisfied by the food.

f o r r e s t said...

That is why you are skinny!

I wish I wouldn't be enticed by food when I am not hungry.

My mouth will salivate at the mention of hot wings...

Anonymous said...

In discussing your skinniness, perhaps the story of the jeans mix-up should be told? :o)

BTW, your title made me think of playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos when we were kids.

f o r r e s t said...

Dust,
Did you wear your sisters jeans?
Was it one of your most embarrassing moments ever?

shakedust said...

I was actually thinking of hungry, hungry hippos when I typed the title.

OK, here's the story of the jeans.

Around the time I was in my second year of college and back visiting my family (either at Christmas or in the summer) I pulled a pair of jeans out of my dresser on a Sunday morning and wore them to church. Throughout the day I was a little confused due to the fact that I didn't remember having any flare legged jeans. They were comfortable, though.

About 4 or 5 that afternoon I was commenting about how I didn't remember having jeans like those and miss carisma noted that she was missing a pair of jeans. I found out that day that while I was in college I was a size 5 so long as the jeans were wide-legged.

Neither my sister nor myself were big by any stretch of the word, but the fact that I was three years older than her and could wear her jeans came as kind of a blow. I wasn't too bothered about it.

For the record, I was about 35 pounds lighter and 3 inches around the waist thinner at the time than I am now.

Anonymous said...

It was a hard moment in life. Some girls have to go through therapy when they find out their brothers are wearing their clothes. Somehow I managed to heal without going to such lengths.

Anonymous said...

OK Dust you are so awesome. I never thought I would find someone else in the world who feels the same way about eating as I do. Have you ever just forgotten to eat dinner. I have. Sometimes I try to force myself to eat because I know I probably should eat something even if I'm not hungry. To me eating is somewhat of a hassle. Something that is necessary to sustain life. I cant really say that it brings me much enjoyment. I guess sometimes it does. I hear people talk about what they ate for dinner last night and how moist and tender the roast was and I'm like 'are you serious'. I dont know. I guess thats just me. Probably explains why I'm so skinny. One time I put on a pair of Stephanies short shorts that didnt fit her anymore. She was mad.

shakedust said...

When I am hungry I certainly enjoy eating. It is never the highlight of my day, though. Going to a restaurant doesn't count as entertainment. I view it as something you have to do too.

Golden will attest that there have been times when I was busy enough at work that I forgot to eat lunch. That is mostly because I spend most of my lunchtime doing things other than eating (video games, hacky sack, reading blogs, etc).

f o r r e s t said...

Dust,
Did you have that so-called big butt problem when you were wearing your sister jeans or did that work in your advantage since women usually have a butt and men don't?

shakedust said...

Yeah, womens' jeans generally have a butt. Mens' often don't.