Getting hungry.

Wow.  I’m really excited right now.  My stomach is rumbling, and a little bit sore.  I’m hungry.

Why am I excited about something so seemingly mundane?  I haven’t been truly hungry in two and a half years.

The last time I can remember being truly hungry, I was in college.  I didn’t have any food, nor any money, and couldn’t eat.  My stomach hurt, and gave me some sort of memory of what it’s like to be hungry.  On my 19th birthday, I had a pretty severe case of food poisoning.  Severe, meaning I had to go to the hospital.  Since that fateful July 7th, I haven’t had any sort of hunger or appetite.  At all.  I literally could go for days without eating, and then I’d start to realize other symptoms, like diminished thought function (spare me your easy “so you haven’t eaten in a while?” jokes.) among other health hazards.  Why did I eat before?  I conciously had to remember to eat.  If it was afternoon, I thought, “I should probably eat right now.”  Sometimes I’d count the time since I ate last and determine whether I really needed to eat. Fortunately for me now, I’ve broken some function of my brain and am now hungry.  I ate breakfast, lunch, and I’m planning on eating dinner later today.  Why is that important?  Well, I’ve been told that eating at a more reliable schedule will keep your metabolism sped up, resulting in numerous health gains.  Now that I’ve got some sort of hunger that triggers my mind to eat, I’m really stoked.