Wake Up Hungry!

When is the last time you woke up in the morning and actually felt hungry, had hunger pangs in your belly? If this occurs all the time, great! If not, you should probably consider changing up your diet.

You want to wake up hungry because this means you did not over eat the previous night. Basically, you should eat when you expend energy. Understand first that food = calorie = energy. In other words, food is the sort of solid form of energy. When you are moving your body needs energy or food to function optimally. When you are at rest, your body doesn't need many calories so there is little need for food. It's a simple concept, energy in (food), energy out (moving or exercise).

Thus the saying, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper." You need energy or food when you are expending it, working all day, exercising... You don't need much food once you stop at night, for most of us, after dinner.

If you eat too little during the day, skip breakfast and grab a bite for lunch, your body will be deprived of the energy it needs. You will feel sluggish and not be able to perform optimally. If you eat most of your calories at dinner and snack a lot at night, your body will store the excess calories as fat.

In fact, a pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. If you eat 2 oreos every night while sitting around watching TV, and you already ate the calories your body needed to move throughout the day, you will gain 11 pounds in one year!

Your goal should be to nourish your body during the day when you are expending energy so your body can perform optimally and stop eating at night when you are hanging out. If you do this, you are less likely to gain unwanted weight and you will wake up hungry!

Lisa Browning, RD, LDN

Market Manager, Barrington Farmers' Market

PS - Remember, real health comes from real food and real food usually does not come from a box or package. Fresh foods have more vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals than processed foods. Join the "slow food movement" and buy real food which is plentiful at our farmers' market.