Taking a Cue From Dog Food

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Taking a Cue From Dog Food

I know what you're thinking, "Why is she talking about dog food on this blog." Well, stick around, because I'm also going to talk about Las Vegas and England, too.

Have you ever noticed that casinos in Las Vegas don't have any windows or clocks gracing their walls? It's because they want you to keep playing and playing and playing without getting distracted by what time it is.

And speaking of time, have you ever noticed that when you're on a trip—especially where there's been a time change—you tend to lose track of time and only eat when your body is telling you that it needs to refuel? For example, when I was traveling around England last year, my body had no idea what time it was, thanks to the seven hour difference, so I was hungry at really strange hours of the day.

My point is this: When traveling out of time zones, people tend to eat when they're hungry opposed to when it's "time to eat," because our bodies tell us when we're hungry.  Wouldn't it be great if we focused on only eating when we were hungry instead of at specific times of the day?

So what does this have to do with dog food?

It's the same principle, really. I fed my dog a little extra for dinner last night on accident and instead of eating everything in her bowl at one sitting, she left exactly the extra food I gave her. It got me thinking about our bodies and how we should "listen" to our hunger signals more often rather than the hands on our watch.

This week I'm going to try listening to my body and eating only when I'm hungry, not because it's lunch or dinner time.