16 hour daily fast?

[Crankin]

Well, despite the fact I am not total Paleo, I have changed my eating so much that I can't believe that I am still a "carb burner." I never "eat the cookies," so to speak, but I still need to eat very frequently. I have at least 2 snacks a day, because that staves it off mostly. The times I feel hungry are pretty regular. Between 10-11 AM and around 3 PM. Other times I am hungry within 30 minutes after a meal. That is a healthy meal, with no carbs. I can distract myself, but often I have to eat a handful of nuts. I don't eat tiny portions,but it seems like sometimes, if I don't eat even more, I am just super hungry. Obviously, I am not overweight, but I have a hard time maintaining my weight.
So, if you can tell me how to not be cranky when I'm hungry (which occurs very frequently), that would be swell.

[OakLeaf]

Oh geez, it wasn't a moral judgment!!

Sure there are things that we all probably already do, for the most part, that we have a moderate to high degree of control over, like what and when we eat, and how physically active we are in our free time. But obviously there are a WHOLE lot of factors in blood sugar control that we have a lot less control over. Genetics. How much natural sunlight our work and home environment allows us. Many chemical exposures. What we were fed as children. Our history of physical activity. What we ate and exposed ourselves to when we were old enough to choose but too young to know better. External emotional stressors. How physically active we can be at work. And on and on and on.

I'm the last one right now to be suggesting that anyone's health is voluntary, so PLEASE don't interpret what I said that way! I only meant that restricting eating hours didn't sound like a good idea for everyone. In the exact same way that certain exercises, that are generally very beneficial, shouldn't be done by people with poor shoulder stability. Like me, at the moment.



PS - Conference type things are the WORST for me too. Mental alertness takes a HUGE amount of glucose, and there you are enforced into being sedentary under the fluorescents for hours, nothing whatsoever to stimulate your body to turn fat into glucose, so my blood sugar just gets lower and lower. I don't think evolution prepared us for seminars! My blood sugar control is fairly good and way better than it used to be, but I know if I'm going to be sitting and thinking for hours at a stretch, I HAVE to eat something if I want to be able to drive home safely. I can do things to help - making sure I get a morning workout, even if I have to give up an hour of sleep and there's that natural light thing for ya again - and then a high protein high fat meal afterward - but if it goes on long enough, I'll still get the crash. That's just my body, same as your bodies are yours.

[SAMbike]

Hi OakLeaf,

I totally didn't take it as a moral judgement, I sincerely was intrigued by your observation and wanted to find out more about how to control blood-sugar levels. You've provided a lot of insight in your response for me, and I really appreciate it a lot! Will work getting more natural sunlight for sure, I think that plays a huge role, and making sure to get exercise in the morning when I know I'm going to be chair-bound for hours on end at conferences... thank you for your response!

-sam