Hunger triggers feelings of hunger and prepares the stomach to accept food. You must be able to recognize if your stomach is hungry, sometimes you can mistake the feeling of hunger for thirst. Try drinking a glass of warm water next time you are hungry…but you don’t think you should be, maybe you have eaten a short while ago. A glass of water 15 minutes before you eat can also lead to eating less. Hunger will make you uncomfortable if it is not properly managed. It could lead to a mild form of binge eating, as you are so hungry and have built up anticipation of the food. This could lead to a cycle of overeating.

Here are ways to help you keep hunger in control and avoid the chance of becoming a compulsive eater.

Measure and delay hunger
Hunger has different intensities. Every time you feel hungry, mark the intensity of the hunger in your mind; 1 as a little hungry and 5 as very hungry. Delay hunger if you can. You overcome the hunger, and eating is postponed. Do you feel good? Relish your success!

Eat small portions
Hunger prepares the stomach for food. Eat small portions, the food will taste better, and the digestive systems will not be overworked. Eating this way will give you a blast of energy better than that of coffee.

Decide how much to eat
Eat predetermined quantities, and decide how much is enough. Chew your food well. Slow down and relax. Feel content as you eat. Enjoy your food and savor every bite. Relish each moment as if it was the last meal.

Drink at the end of the meal
Herbal tea is relaxing; it is a nice drink after a meal and will help you move out of the mode of overeating. This will give your stomach the feeling of contentment. You feel the satisfaction now? Be thankful that you are satisfied.

The next time you are hungry, face it and be at peace. Hunger can cause feelings of being deprived. Ignore it. Hunger stir uncomfortable emotions. Again, ignore it. You can do it!

This is a 30-day program to fight obsessive eating. This program is called the raw food diet.

We recommend 30 days on raw fruits and vegetables. Raw food is used by sanitariums in the healing of disease because it is similar to a juice fast in detoxifying the body. The process is slower, but the effect is the same; you will be revitalized. If you stick to this program, you will experience an exhilaration that you have never known. You will feel vitally alive. As your blood clears of all addictive substances, you will feel great. Any health conditions will be noticeably improved or even healed. Your sinuses will clear of mucus and you will be able to smell even the faintest of scents. You will be able to breathe deeply, feeling each breath enter the lungs. The mental fog will lift and your mind will become more alert. Your skin will soften and feel sleek. You will feel 10 years younger and look like it.

Raw food is loaded with enzymes, vitamins and minerals. For the first time in your life, your body is functioning free of heavy proteins, milk fats, animal fats, cholesterol, mucus forming starches, trans fatty acids, food additives and high doses of salt and sugar. You have given your body a time of rest and healing.

The first week will be the hardest, especially the first few days, for that is the time when the body undergoes the most intense cleansing. As the weeks progress, you will feel better and better.

Although juice fasting is superior in its healing effect, the challenge of a raw food diet is better than juice fasting at developing the skills to control food intake. When a compulsive eater juice fasts, he feels free from food addiction, but as soon as he starts to eat, hunger triggers all the compulsive desires and distorted thinking patterns that were never dealt with. The result is a binge. The benefit of a 30-day fast can be lost in three weeks of indulgence.

Juice fasting has more amazing benefits than a raw food diet, but first you must develop the skills to combat compulsive eating. By occasionally replacing meals with fresh-made juice, you are gaining the benefits of juice fasting while battling compulsive eating. For this reason, juice is an important component of the raw food program. Try to have freshly made juice each day.

In our book, God’s Banquet Table, you will find juice recipes, fruit recipes, blender recipes and raw vegetable recipes that will make your thirty days a pleasurable experience. The book also includes raw nut recipes, grain recipes and bean recipes and, although these are healthy in moderation, wait until the thirty days are over before adding them to the raw fruit and vegetable diet.

Thirty days of raw food is a challenge that will powerfully affect your life. These diet restrictions are difficult to face, but in doing so; you will bring about healthy changes that will benefit your body and mind. Healthy changes are an investment in your future.

The raw food diet includes:
1. Raw fruits and vegetables
2. Fruit and vegetable juices
3. Herbal teas
4. Honey and natural sweeteners
5. Frozen juice concentrates
6. Frozen fruit

People should follow a proper course of action in their eating habits.

Eating habit is usually done unconsciously. It is a behavioral pattern that often occurs automatically. Your daily routine existence, living weary lives, going nowhere and never having enough time to get there. The rat race needs to lose a rat. Get off the rat treadmill and design your own. Design it for increasing challenge. Work towards having a great routine. Take some time to write out your present routine, then write out your ultimate routine. See yourself living it; feel the and the joy of the accomplishment.

The secret of life is that there is no secret. It’s all learning. No magic pill will change your life. You have to do it one step at a time, one day at a time, one moment at a time. You are rebuilding a life on a new foundation. Investing the time, work and energy to reshape your thinking and life will become much less painful. You will come to see life as a gift from God, an opportunity to experience, and a challenge to grow. Your soul will rise up as though on the wings of an eagle.

Now, let’s look at some overeating patterns and some easy changes that will have a big effect. shapes your life. For most of us, we are running like rats on the treadmill of pleasure.

Overeating Has a Pattern

It is grocery shopping day for Susan. She buys a few treats telling herself “I won’t overeat.” When she gets home, she’s in the grocery bag for her favorite delicacy—warm cinnamon buns. She should have had one, but she had three. She eats a light dinner watching TV and makes endless raids on the refrigerator. By the end of the night, she is completely stuffed.

A week later Susan is on a backpacking trip to the mountains. She feels free of food addiction. She is eating sensibly and feels that she has overcome the problem. But she is disappointed when she returns to her usual surroundings.

A drug addict will feel no desire to use drugs when in the hospital or in prison, only to experience the full power of addiction on returning to the streets. Entering their familiar environment, they quickly slide into their old routine. In the same way, compulsive eaters in the home because they have established triggers through years of repeated behaviors: chocolate for depression, potato chips for loneliness, pizza for entertainment, cookies for boredom, ice cream for hopelessness, coffee tiredness. When our routine is controlled by a series of triggers, we feel out of control, no longer master of our life, but a slave of the stomach god. Like a cruel dictator, it growls and we jump to serve its every whim with quiet submission. Time for a rebellion.