No, I’m not starving myself (actually I’ve not been working hard on this goal at all recently – stress). And I’m well aware of the need to keep my blood sugar at a reasonable level. However…I’m starting to realize that a) I don’t need to eat something every single time I have a twinge of hunger and b) there is a difference between eating to keep up my energy and eating to fill my stomach. In fact, I appreciate my meals a lot more when I give myself a chance to get hungry for them. The trick is feeling hungry without feeling like I’m gonna die of hunger (for a borderline hypoglycemic impulse eater like me, this is really important).

The biggest challenge for me is the stretch between lunch and dinner (I eat lunch about noon, but with work and cooking, sometimes don’t get to eat my meal until 7:30 or 8 p.m.) Something I’ve found that works amazingly well for keeping my energy up is raw almonds. I don’t even need to eat very many of them at a time – a few every half-hour is enough. They keep me going enough that I can cook dinner without cutting off a finger or settling for a bowl of ice cream…and they’re easy, neat, and discrete to take to work.