My One Unbreakable Rule

I have a list of things I aim to do with my new way of eating/living, such as:

• keep within keto guidelines (maximum of 30g of carbs per day)
• drink more green tea
• cap calories at 1,200 (not counting what's burned in intense exercise)
• eat more fibre
• eat more cinnamon
• get more sleep
• drink more water
• meditate
• walk more
• take on physical challenges (hills, long flights of stairs, etc)
• do more planks
• fast in varying periods

Just to be clear, these are guidelines that I've come up with for myself and are not intended to be understood as instructions for anyone else. I'm generally quite good at keeping them, far better than I ever imagined I might be! However, all of these rules are allowed to get broken. I only have one rule which I refuse to break, and that is:

Don't eat when you're not hungry!!!

As I've said in my post on hunger, the feeling of hunger is produced by a hormone, not by your stomach's actual level of fullness or emptiness. Here are questions to ask before eating something:

• am I just thirsty? (Many people misidentify thirst as hunger, and North Americans are typically under-hydrated!)
• am I just bored?
• am I just tired? (Being deprived of sleep often results in feeling extra hungry!)
• is this just a time when I'm accustomed to eating? (Meal times are entirely negotiable...) 
• do I just like this food? 
• do I genuinely need sustenance right now? (And before you answer that one, keep in mind that the world record for fasting is 388 days!) 

Hunger reduces significantly when you stop eating carbs/sugars, and just because it may be your usual eating time doesn't mean that you need to eat then. Listen to your body, but really listen well and ask yourself if you're correctly identifying your perceived need. The bottom line is very simple, though: if you're not hungry, don't eat.