Snack-free Zone

More than once, people have been surprised that I do not snack at all. In a way it is quite surprising, because I certainly eat a lot, but I don't get hungry enough between meals to want to have a snack. Possibly not snacking is useful for controlling my weight, so I thought it might be interesting to run through my typical day's eating pattern, and see where snacks and hunger come into the picture.

When I wake up in the morning (usually about 6.00) I am usually very hungry. I have two mugs of tea in bed, while catching up on emails, then breakfast is about 8.00. Breakfast is a huge bowl of porridge (nothing except oats and water).

I go to my home office around 9.00, and have another two mugs of tea during the morning, but I don't get hungry until midday and, even then, I'm not particularly hungry. Any hunger I do feel I try to think of as the feeling of fat being burned - a great thought, even though it's nonsense! About 12.30 it's lunch. Lunch is nearly always another huge bowlful, but this time of salad. It is not a typical salad, because I like to supplement traditional ingredients like lettuce and tomatoes with all sorts of raw vegetables, such as courgettes, beetroot and carrot. And not forgetting bits of fruit and a few seeds. I aim for at least ten fruit and veg portions at lunchtime.

During the afternoon, I have another three mugs of tea (at least). Then at about 18.00 I have a pint of a low-calorie cold drink, such as Pepsi or tonic water. At about 19.30 I call it a day, and go to prepare dinner. While preparing dinner I usually have another pint of a low-calorie drink, or maybe a beer. We eat dinner at 21.00, but I am not usually particularly hungry even then - I haven't had any hunger worth mentioning since I finished lunch. With dinner I drink another pint of something, and have dessert about 22.00. Dessert is a big bowl of various fruits and a large pot of Alpro yoghurt.

Apart from when I wake up, hunger is not a big part of my life at all - when I'm at home in this normal routine. The problem comes when I'm away from home, and then it goes haywire - if I can't have porridge first thing, a big salad lunch, or dinner late in the evening, I start to get hungry at various times in the day. But rather than having a snack, I just put up with the hunger - it can make me a bit irritable though.

So, in my new eating regime, there is no snacking. Although I have never been much of a snacker anyway - my family never had snacks, although I did used to have the occasional biscuit or bar of chocolate with a cup of tea. As I remember, this was not to satisfy any hunger, but just out of simple greed! Quite why snacks have not been important to me, I'm not sure. Maybe snacking is a generational thing (I'm 63), because it seems very widespread nowadays.