Day 3: The Signal to Eat
I had a great childhood privilege of spending school holidays and weekends on my grandmothers farm in South Africa. The house was quite old fashioned by todays standards, one aspect being the kitchen was a stand alone building outside of the house.
Some of my best memories are based around the traditions of eating meals around the old but beautiful dining table.
Every meal was at the table, but lunch was always the main event.
My cousins and I would set the table, and we'd run back and forth along the pathway from the house to the kitchen, anticipating when we'd be told lunch would be ready. When we got the thumbs up, we would take it in turn to sound the gong. The gong was this long piece of hanging metal and we'd use another metal piece to hit against it. This sent the signal to all on the farm that it was lunch time, and time to eat.
When I remembered this, I immediately thought how similar this is to our body's signal to eat: hunger.
Hunger is like sounding the gong to say our bodies are ready to receive food. The hormone Ghrelin lets the brain know the stomach is ready for food - all the preparation is done. We eat until satisfaction and then the brain gets the signal from the hormone Leptin to say it's no longer hungry and we can stop eating.
If we had to practice this principle of waiting for hunger, and stopping when we feel satisfied -not stuffed - we'd re-align our body's natural processes (hormones, enzymes etc etc) to how it should be. Eating then becomes more pleasurable and less stressful and takes a big chunk of mental struggle like emotional or boredom eating.
Grazing or eating many small meals in a day, never allows our body to function optimally because we're bypassing the "gong" which leads to chemical and digestive issues. God created the body systemically and as soon as we can align to these foundational principles, SO many symptoms subside and health improves naturally with less struggle.
Lastly, from an emotional aspect, I know some don't like feeling hungry - I know I was subconsciously afraid of hunger. I was so grateful to have the Lord highlight this to me in my recovery from an eating disorder - YEARS later. It was an unhealthy protective mechanism in my body because my body remembered the trauma of Anorexia. (Sounds weird but remember there is a physical response to every mental/emotional/spiritual event).
Finally, surrender to the Lord the habits and thought patterns that prevent you from feeling hungry. Hunger is good!! It activates purpose and the sense of expecting joy!!
Matt 5:6 Blessed (well off) are they which hunger (work for subsistence) and thirst after righteousness (just right) for they will be filled (satisfied).