Saying Goodbye to Snacking: Two Clients’ Transformations

Digestion is a complex process, beginning the moment food enters the mouth with the creation of enzymes and concluding with the excretion of bowel movements. Contrary to popular belief, digestion is not associated with hunger or cravings. These feelings, in fact, happen to come from the nervous system.

From the first bite, 32 intricate steps guide various bodily functions to occur within the body. These include either the purging or creation of fat, the level of energy you'll experience tomorrow, and the extent to which your muscles will be fueled. All of these steps (and so much more) occur when we consume food.  

The final 6 steps of digestion clean out anything that doesn’t belong in the body, including inflammation, toxicities, bad foods, viruses, bacteria, fat, and even emotion. So when the digestion process is interrupted by a single calorie, these steps – and the important clean-out associated with them– will not occur.

As discussed in our first blog, when snacking ceases, significant changes occur in the body.

I have two regular clients, one in her early 60s and the other in her early 70s, who decided to try eliminating eating between meals as an experiment. Prior to this, both women had reported afternoon fatigue, a general feeling of sluggishness, and a lack of mental motivation - all of which involve the nervous system.

 Before taking part in this experiment, they had also complained that they were always hungry between lunch and dinner. 

They began the experiment on a Monday and I started receiving texts from both of them on Thursday.

“Each day just gets better and better!” one of them exclaimed. It was exciting to read about how they were feeling just a few short days in. 

The week after, I received a text from one stating that she felt like the energizer bunny with so much energy and mental clarity.

The following week, they both reported significantly reduced hunger and cravings.

Recognizing that hunger and cravings stem from nervous system responses that can often be linked to dehydration, I advised them to reframe these sensations as thirst before considering food. When these feelings arise, they were to tell their bodies they were thirsty and then drink a glass of water. Both reported excellent outcomes once this technique was employed.

Our research and growing client cases support our hypothesis that eating between meals disrupts the nervous system’s natural homeostasis, leading to hunger fluctuations and cravings. (“Fake” hunger, as I like to call it.)

To promote overall well-being, both mental and physical, one of the most effective strategies is to avoid snacking. Consider gently communicating with your nervous system, as these two clients now do, as it plays a crucial role in these processes.