21-Day Challenge Update (day 9)

My 21-Day Challengers are just a few days into our journey together and I’m really excited for them. They have chosen a variety of goals, everything from sleep to exercise and meal planning.

I chose to start the challenge 7 days early to get a head start and better plan and guide their experience. Here's what I committed to for 28 days:

• No sugar.

• No processed carbs or high starch foods.

My aim for the challenge is to reset my tastebuds thereby reducing my cravings for the sugary and high carb foods that had snuck back into my diet over time.

I also know from experience that this will even out my blood sugar levels making me less likely to need to snack between meals - making it easier to eat good food. I might even sleep better and feel lighter in my body.

One of the things I’ve been trying to be aware of is eating when I’m hungry (and eating a good meal at that time) instead of snacking all the time.

Here is what I noticed on day 9 (yesterday) which I found fascinating….

I ate a really solid breakfast at 8am and at about 11am I was hungry.

I had planned to work until 11.30am then go for a walk before lunch. I really wanted to see if I could stick to the plan, but the “hunger” feeling was strong.

Note: I am not in any way advocating starving or depriving oneself – it’s not my thing.

However, before heading to the kitchen I decided to do some tapping on my feeling of hunger.

I started tapping:
“Even though I feel hungry in my upper stomach, I still accept myself anyway.”

Almost immediately, I had the thought:
“I really have a low tolerance for feeling hungry”

The thought came out of nowhere, but it rang true. I don’t deal well with being hungry.

I did some more tapping to calm the feeling a little and told myself I would be ok to be hungry for a little bit.

I finished my work then went for my walk.

Halfway through my walk I realised I wasn’t hungry anymore.

This is not surprising, I have “always” found that when I exercise more, I am hungry less – my appetite goes down.

I thought about this some more, what if my feeling of hunger isn’t always true hunger but a response to stress, anxiety, or some other sensation? Maybe I am stressed or anxious about the idea of getting hungry?

This could explain why I feel less hungry when I exercise, as exercise improves mood and reduces stress.

This leaves some room for exploration of these hungry “feelings” – what are they really? Stress, anxiety or worry?

Can I heal the underlying cause of these feelings through EFT tapping?  

I’m certainly going to give it a go.

I will do some tapping on this topic myself, but I might also seek support from a trained EFT tapping practitioner.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts and any experiences you’ve had that are similar, send me an email at heidi@tap-in.com.au.  

Heidi x