Have you ever felt like you weren’t hungry yet you find yourself looking in the pantry for something to eat? Maybe you kind of ate junky during the day and know you need some sort of nutritional boost or some ‘real food’ even though you aren’t necessarily all that hungry? Or you feel your metabolism is being kind of sluggish yet you feel the need to eat because you think you should be eating?

This is what I like to call ‘hungry-not-hungry’. And I felt it today. Maybe I’m the only one who gets this feeling every once in awhile, but I have a feeling I’m not. I can’t be certain, but I can take a stab and suggest that maybe your body (at least I feel my body anyway) is basking for some nutrients.. you know, some vitamins and minerals from real, whole, nutrient-dense food. And can you guess where’s a great place to start? Yup, you got it – raw vegetables.

Next time you find yourself in that ‘hungry-not-hungry’ state, don’t reach for more snack food. I know those chipotle black bean chips look oh so crunchy and appealing, but give your body something it will feel satisfied with without shoveling down more calories, which your body probably doesn’t want anyway since you don’t feel hungry. Raw vegetables will not carry the caloric load, but will give you nutrients your body is most likely yearning for.

Next time you get this feeling, try one of these two things:

1. Snack on some raw veggies or make a small salad with a variety of vegetables.

There are plenty of times I used to get home from work late and even though I wasn’t all that hungry, I would make a nice little salad with greens and veggies we had on hand. I felt like my body really wanted it, and it was something I didn’t mind eating even before bed. Start with a variety of greens on the bottom, cut up some veggies and put a small amount of dressing, preferably homemade, on top to jazz it up a little. A little lemon or lime juice with avocado is always nice!

2. Juice, juice, juice away!

That was the answer for today. What was even more perfect is that there were some veggies in the fridge that I needed to eat up – I’ll admit, I just didn’t feel like having a nappa cabbage-broccoli-asparagus salad. Wasn’t in the mood for it. But the minute I thought about juicing I started getting thirsty 🙂 It was perfect; I ended up juicing nappa cabbage, a big broccoli stalk, asparagus ends (I keep the tops to steam), a thumb of ginger, a whole organic lemon and some cantaloupe! Juicing vegetables when feeling ‘hungry-not-hungry’ is such a fantastic way to satisfy your confusing craving – you hydrate yourself while giving your body readily available nutrients to utilize for carrying out its many intricate processes.

Now over to you!! What is your favorite way to satisfy that ‘hungry-not-hungry’ feeling?

With lots ‘o love,