Why Am I Hungry?
I receive inquiries at least on a weekly, if not daily, basis about why someone is feeling hungry on Paleo.
A typical email might read like this:
“Nell, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I am 100% Paleo, but for some reason I feel like I’m always starving. Is this normal? “
To which I’d reply, “No, absolutely not, it’s not normal and one should not be walking around feeling starving.” Then, in the event the inquiry came from someone who is interested in further troubleshooting what the issues might be, the first thing I’d ask them to do before our consult would be to keep a food diary.
In the food diary, not only am I looking to see what people are eating, but also when, how much, what ratio and how they feel before, right after and an hour after they eat. Incidentally, often clients detect trends and patterns before I they even submit their food log to me!
Following is a sample day from an anonymous client who fit that bill; he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t losing the ten pounds he wanted to shed nor could he determine why he always felt too hungry.
Keep in mind this client was 6’2″ and weighed 220, with a goal weight of 190. He is in his late 30s. This day he indicated that after his 7 am smoothie, he’d gone to the gym and done an hour on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of weight training.
7am Smoothie (20 oz) made of strawberries, banana, almond milk
10am Hard-boiled egg
12pm Grilled veggies and chicken, about 5 oz each
3pm Apple, handful of almonds
6pm 4 oz grilled wild salmon, salad with lemon juice
So, was he Paleo? Well, yes, he ate Paleo foods, but far too little and not in the proper balance. Since he had a fat loss goal, he could have done his treadmill run fasted. His breakfast lacks protein. The one egg snack at 10 am is a mere sixty calories and all subsequent meals for the rest of the day are also portioned too small.
And that’s just for starters!
Trust me, I leave no stone unturned when I’m working with a Paleo custom counseling client; here is one time where my OCD-ness tends to come in quite handy; and no client has even complained when my nitpicking about their diet resulted in them losing the last few pounds once and for all, clearing up their skin, or no longer having terrible GI Distress.
Interested in doing your own fine- tuning to your own Paleo regime?
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