You hear these bizarre stories about supermodels losing weight and “surviving” on chili water with honey and an apple a day.
Me, I ate an orange, 4 square bars of chocolate, and a quarter tub of yoghurt in the morning around 8 a.m., with lots of water
Then.. I just forgot to eat.
(Partly because I assumed BF would cook, as he had the rice cooker going, but alas, the rice was for tomorrow‘s meal, and not today’s.)
But by 3 p.m., I was feeling faint and dizzy. I wanted to throw up. Or crawl into a bed and sleep, while waiting for the room to stop spinning.
There would have been no way for me to be able to stand up for even 10 minutes to make a meal, not that I even had an appetite to eat it!
I didn’t want to even think about food.
It was as though I had been stuck in a small car and spun in a circle for hours to activate my nasty motion sickness.
So knowing that my body was giving me some serious “you must eat something” signals, I drank some water, and then slowly forced another orange down my throat, with another quarter tub of yoghurt before I felt “okay” enough to stand up and make myself a (quick) real meal — ramen with eggs and vegetables.
And even after eating that, I felt “okay”, but still weak.
So how the heck do these girls survive on an apple a day? Or a salad a day without fainting? Especially collapsing on the runway in a heap?
They’re a good foot taller than I am in most cases, and way lighter!!!
That being said, perhaps it’s just my body.
I’ve watched BF (the Food Camel) go a whole day with just a bowl of oatmeal in the morning and a 600 gram tub of yoghurt, feeling perfectly spry and fine.
What he ate, is what I’d consider to be snacks in between meals!
Maybe my body is more sensitive to not having food in it than most…
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Very interesting discussion! What Emma says about protein is true, food with protein (compared to other food with the same calorie intake) will take longer to digest. I also have to eat every 4 hours -except for late at night- or else I will feel dizzy or even faint, not to mention how cranky I'll become. My hubby on the other side can go for longer without food.
I feel like I should eat quinoa and more beans in my diet to substitute out the meat 🙂
I have to eat every 3 hours at least. I eat small meals. But I can't just eat a lot and then wait for hours on end. I think small meals often keeps your metabolism going also. well, I like to think so 🙂
>> How the heck do supermodels do it?
They get lipo. 😀
hehe. seriously though, it's in the genes and their metabolism. although some really do starve themselves. which is really unhealthy. personally, i rather eat and be merry than be a slave to a fashion industry.
Agreed. Eat and be merry…!!!
We do it every year for Yom Kippur. No water, even.
It's not a fun day (26 hours actually) by any means, but it's doable. I find the caffeine withdrawal headache way worse than anything else.
I don’t even drink much caffeine… I understand doing it in principle, but I’d definitely be sick and out of it for the whole week.
I start getting titchy and easily irritable if I do become hungry. However I can do a day's walking and exploring with just breakfast so I guess it might depend if you have something to keep your mind off being hungry?
Mind over matter, eh?
I think that worked for the first 2 hours, and then I realized I was heading into crisis mode.
I get bitchy or really sluggish when I don't eat, so I definitely can't go for long periods of time without eating. That being said, you definitely get used to eating patterns over a period of time….I'm assuming they "wean" themselves off of food over a longer period of time, to where they end up eating very little or not eating at all. I'm assuming this makes their metabolism slow WAY down….keeping them from getting too bitchy after 4 hrs without eating. lol. Yeah, that's not gonna work for me….
Maybe that’s where the rumours come from about their personalities. Not that I believe them!
There has been much written about the abuses that models put their bodies through including the abuse of Insulin. Instead of eating, they inject themselves with insulin to bring up low blood sugar. Crazy eh. It's a 'trick' that has been around the modeling business for decades.
THAT is a new one for me. Injecting insulin is something I hadn’t heard of. I heard about eating cotton balls…
I have to eat every 3-4 hours or my stomach will eat itself. Maybe it's because I work out a lot…I don't know. But i've also wondered about those models. Maybe that is why they look so unhappy and unhealthy. Sad world. On Huffington Post alone i've read about at least 4 models committing suicide the past few months. Not sure if it's related to their lack of food intake, but I can imagine it contributes to it.
I wish we didn’t put such a huge deal on super skinny, tall women in the modeling industry. Being healthy should be the priority 🙁
It depends on my mental health. If I get REALLY depressed, I can go forever without eating. I probably survived for two months on cigarettes and diet coke. I went from a size 16 to 13, and then eventually to an 11.
Goodness. It’s really mind over matter for you then. I couldn’t go without eating for more than 4 hours.
Erm.. unless I’m sleeping. But then I wake up cranky and I need food ASAP.
There's a documentary called "Why thin people are not fat" that looks into this, among other things. Basically they say that a lot of our eating habits is based in our genetic codes. You should look it up if you're interested, it's surprising stuff.
I will definitely check it out. I’m intrigued about how my body can’t handle more than 6 hours of not eating, or maybe it’s just a mental thing for me. Thanks for the recommendation.
I need to eat every 3 to 4 hours- crackers, cookies, yogurt, energy bar to get me between breakfast, lunch and dinner. could it be a guy thing? the BF is like a food camel too. while I'm cranky and dizzy from lack of food – he's just A-OK.
I'm like you too. I can never go without food for more than 4 hours. Being hungry makes me feel faint and dizzy :/ My bf can go without food for most of the day sometimes if he's gaming…don't know how!
I can forget about food if I am really busy with something. But when I stop working on it, or if I take a break, I start to realize I’m really hungry and about to collapse.
It’s why I have to force myself to eat all the time in little bites, to stave off that faint feeling, that will go into nausea, dizziness and then put me on my back for 4 days from feeling sick
I think some of the models do it with drugs. They have drugs that suppress their appetite and the rest is in their head. Then you go long enough with bare minimum of food and get used to it. But I like to eat every 4 hours.
Someone said that they inject insulin!!! I hate needles, so I’d rather be fat than inject myself with anything.
Apparently cocaine is another drug that keeps them from eating.
It may be possible to train your body to eat less, the key word being train, eating a little less for set intervals.
Food camel FTW!! I certainly don't need to eat at set intervals. My close female friends always shake their head, more so because they think it's unhealthy…maybe it is. Interestingly, what I found is that if you go on a fast long enough, there's kind of a "runner's high" point. There are some holidays that require complete fasting – no food, or water – for 24 hours, and what I found is that after about the 16 hour point (including sleep), my body actually starts feeling really energetic and light. So much so that when it's time to break the fast, I actually don't want to because I really do feel light in spirit and body.
Yeah. FOOD CAMEL. I don’t know how he does it. He must eat on the side, secretly.
I’m interested in this runner’s high thing.. I MAY .. MAY have experienced it once in college when I was working on 78 hour projects, but I always, always crash.
I'm cyclical – I usually eat 4 snacks a day and maybe one full meal (usually lunch) but sometimes I'll go through phases (usually extreme stress or depression) where I can go literally all day without eating. After about 3 days – a week of that behavior and I become RAVENOUS and eat anything and everything in my path, including small animals and children :}
AWesome article. Funny I was just having a conversation about this very topic the other day.
I am also a frequent eater. I need to eat every few hours. If I don't I start feeling dizzy and sick too. I usually keep a granola bar in my purse for emergencies too. I eat first thing in the morning (usually oatmeal, cereal or toast), sometimes even before I shower. I eat two snacks in the morning if I come into work early, then lunch, another snack (usually fruit) in the afternoon and a light dinner in the evening. I find I am ok not to eat as much at night if I am home but if I get the munchies I usually pop some popcorn.
I honestly don't know how these models eat one apple and probably smoke cigarettes all day to stop the hunger. I'd definitely pass out if I had to do that.
Some people think eating all day is bad, but it's very good. It supposedly increases your metabolism. I pretty much eat all day (though mostly very healthy foods) and I am a size 5-6. Skipping meals is actually a lot worse for your body!
I’m a size 6.. varying down to a size 4 at times (although not often, because I have larger shoulders/ribcage)
I just like eating. A lot. And for me to think about starving myself, makes me very unhappy.
I'm the same way–if I don't eat regularly I feel INCREDIBLY weak and awful–I have no idea how celebs/supermodels etc. manage to not eat.
I get REALLY grumpy if I don't eat. When I was younger, I also used to get sick to my stomach. That doesn't happen anymore, but I do feel a general sense of yuck/tiredness.
I'm the same as you – have to eat every few hours or bad stuff happens. Dizzy, sick, shaky…
I think it has something to do with values alignment. To a model, being thin is more important and valuable than, say, being healthy or eating for pleasure/sustenance. To us, food is love, and life, and more….
I'm with you-every 3-4 hours or I get lightheaded, queasy, and quite cranky. DH will eat once a day and not complain. In terms of the supermodels, I think once you do it for a while (not that I'm recommending this-it's totally disordered eating) your body stops expecting food regularly, and therefore stops reacting in this extreme fashion. I'm just guessing…can't speak from experience here!
I never could go without food for very long, unless I was going through a really stressful time or was sick. I get shaky, get a headache, and get very crabby if I don't eat fairly regularly. It's not a pretty sight!
When I get hungry, I get awful cranky. So I usually keep a few squares of chocolate or an apple at hand for emergencies. It's not for my own sake, you understand, just don't want to chew the heads off any innocent bystanders!
My husband forgets to eat and doesn't even need to eat breakfast. I on the other hand need a breakfast, and a lunch and a small dinner – and a snack in there somewhere or I get dizzy and sick. I think I am slightly hypoglycemic though. So my blood sugar drops and makes me really sick.
I'm like you. I need to eat regularly or I am completely useless.
For breakfast I had a tortilla wrapped around a banana and peanut butter. Mid-morning I had a handful of trail mix. Lunch was a Lean Cuisine chicken/noodle dish and a pudding. And I've got an apple here for later this afternoon…plus I have coffee and tea and lots of water.
I pretty much need to eat every four hours. Or at least pretty often. I can't skip meals, or I get sick feeling like you. I think those that do it all the time – like supermodels – just get used to it. They aren't treating their bodies well but the body goes into survival mode and makes it work.
I eat 3 meals a day. I can skip a meal now and then, but usually it's something like brunch plus dinner. I don't make a habit of it because I get headaches when I don't eat for too long.
I figure the models are making it on A) caffeine and B) nicotine. Also, C) they get paid to be very very skinny.
I think it has a lot to do with ambition. Imagine if you were getting paid to be skinny? I think those girls want to eat, but they know they are going to take a paycut or be out of work if they do. Since you aren't being paid to be a particular size, I think you should just keep eating. Mmm…chocolate.
I am a frequent eater, unless I've had a large meal, and then I can go a little longer. However, if I don't eat, I'll start feeling sick – my stomach starts cramping, I'll feel like puking, I might get a headache, I'm certainly grouchy and little things will set me off. I will then get really lethargic and just want to lay down and not move, and when I do eventually make something (i.e. eggs and a piece of toast), I'll stare at the plate, since the thought of eating makes me feel more ill.
Thus I try to eat consistently, and more so, try to ensure that I have a good meal planned out.
That is SO me!
Then throw in that I spend the next 3 days feeling nauseous and it makes me want to eat like crazy to avoid that again.
I hear ya there. When I had mono, I had no appetit, naturally. So when I got up from bed one afternoon and almost collapsed from dizziness, I realized I hadn't eaten in a day. I wonder if it's something that passes once you get used to it. As a freshmen in college, I lived off vending machines. I literally would eat maybe a candybar and a bag of chips every day because it's all I could afford and I didn't have time to worry about food anyway. But I never felt sick.
Nowadays, if I go 4-6 hours without food, I'm starving. Today, I was planning on going without food until 5 p.m. when I have my dress fitting. It's only been four hours since I woke up and already I'm feeling light-headed. Guess I'll be having breakfast after all!
i get the same exact way as you are! i need to EAT all the time or else i will feel really faint. i know how you feel when you haven't eaten and then you're really hungry but then everything makes you nauseous!
but i have quite a fast metabolism and am trying to gain 20 lbs.. i eat 4 meals a day AND snack constantly. the curses of fast metabolism.. 🙁
I'm similar to you FB, if I don't eat every three to four hours, I get hunger headaches and my energy level dips pretty low. I've never gotten lightheaded, but I definitely feel the effects of going without food. I never eat very much at one time, but I MUST eat every few hours. I don't know if size has anything to do with it, I think you probably have a faster metabolism, so you burn off the food quickly.
I get the EXACT same way if I don't eat at regular intervals. I call it "the shakes". I have often wondered the same thing about anorexics. I could never be anorexic because I would be passed out everyday.
it sort of depends. If I'm really engrossed in doing something I can easily forget to have lunch, but I rarely deprive myself of food in the name of losing weight. I'm far more likely to tell myself to have another helping if I'm still hungry, just of something low calorie like salad, which I love. I suspect that really skinny people don't get dizzy / faint as easily because they are already extra thin and it takes less calories to maintain their low body weight. I'm not going to be that thin no matter what, I'm just interested in keeping well within the healthy range.
If I don't eat every 3-4 hours, I get super cranky. Two more hours and I become light-headed and dizzy. Make me go 8 hours without food, and I have been known to break down into tears. Yeah, I'm not kidding!
Every 2-3 hours, I eat something, a small snack or the equivalent. it sounds strange, but I'm doing it to lose weight and it's working. I do eat "meals" : yogurt (b-fast) w/ nuts & fruit, salad w/ chicken (lunch), meat w/ veg (dinner).
I am exactly the same way! I need to eat at least every 4 hours and sometimes it can be only 3 hours. However, my symptoms are a little different if I don't eat. I get cranky, irritable, sensitive, my head begins to ache a little, I can't think straight or at all, my stomach feels empty (I actually feel as if there was a hole in my stomach) my body weakens and I feel tired in general. As soon as I eat anything, particularly if sugar was involved, my body goes right back to normal! So I have learned to eat every 4 hours, otherwise I snap at everyone, hate everything, get angry and upset very easily, and basically see the world through very distorted, hungry eyes.
Once your body gets used to it, it's not as much of a problem. Basically if that's all their eating, it my understanding that their metabolism is really horridly slow. Or they ingest a lot of caffeine, nicotine, or blow. All will suppress appetite.
I typically eat every 4 hours and have something little, but I can fight my way through basically days of what BF eats if needed.
I have often wondered that myself. I had to do a Glucose Tolerance test for Gestational Diabetes (I am pregnant and have risk factors) This involved going a total of 13 hours with only water and the nasty syrup drink they give you. I binged on protein right before the cut off and found I was fine. Since then I have eaten mostly protein with lots of salad or veg and find I can go longer between meals with out dying but would never be able to exist on maple syrup water and carrot sticks.
For me, I need a lot of carbs I think. Rice, pasta or bread with protein or vegs.
Definitely an every 4-5 hour eater here! I TOTALLY start to get crabby and mean if I start to get hungry, even if I don't realize I'm hungry. The Beau on the other hand can go all day and not eat, and not realize it… maybe it's a male/female thing?
Could be. I’m slightly annoyed at how much more I eat than my tall, much bigger BF.
It costs more to keep me happy and in my special place 😛
I fast on Ash Wednesday most years (usually a juice-only fast). It's not easy, but it's possible.
I think it's a man thing. Bob will eat dinner only most days. I have to eat every 4 hours, although some days I do forget to eat more often.
I eat when I am hungry. But sometimes my brain takes over & my stomach gets so interested in what is going on that they both forget to warn me to eat 😛