My grandson graduated high school this week. And unlike me at his age, it seems he has his future all planned out: he’s going to school to become a certified diesel mechanic, a trade for which I’m sure there will be great continuing demand.
I wish I had had my life together at his age, because at mine—72 years as of this writing—I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up. Although I’ve heard a rumor lately that if you haven’t grown up by the time you’re 60, you don’t have to.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today, no matter how proud I am of Zack. No, I’ve come to ask you all a question, the answer to which I recently discovered. OK, so maybe not recently; more like a few months ago. But I’ve tried it, and it works. So I thought I’d pass it on to you.
Here’s the question: Do you know the difference between hunger and thirst?
I stumbled across a study on the National Institutes of Health website that stated:
Although hunger and thirst serve some parallel purposes, sharp distinctions are also present with health implications. Of particular note are the observations that thirst ratings are higher and more stable over the day compared to hunger and thirst may be more motivating to drink than hunger is to eat. [Mates, 1]
I won’t go into the details, but if you’re interested, I’ve posted the link to the study above.
Intrigued, I decided to conduct my own unofficial experiment: over the course of several weeks, whenever I felt hungry, I drank a glass of something. Since I’m insulin-dependent, the something was either plain water or sugar-free lemonade mix. Sometimes I would alternate with either tea or coffee, but always with unsweetened creamer and non-caloric sugar substitute.
The result? My weight, which had slowly been increasing, stayed the same because I wasn’t as hungry as I had been. Drinking liquids frequently satisfied what I previously had thought was hunger, thus enabling me to go longer between cravings for food.
If you have a problem with cravings between meals, take a look at the study. If it makes sense to you, I strongly urge you to give it a try—after consulting your healthcare provider, of course.
SOURCE:
Richard D. Mattes, MPH, PhD, RD
