This thought came to me one day when I was cooking for dinner guests. I kept tasting the main dish to check the seasonings. Although I’d made the dish a couple times before and really liked it, on this particular afternoon it just left me unenthused–and a little panicked!

It was with some trepidation that I ate a helping at dinnertime. To my surprise, however, the dish tasted just fine.

Eat Hungry!  That’s when the insight came to me: When I was cooking in the afternoon, I was still full from lunch so nothing really tasted that good. But by dinnertime, my hunger had returned and my taste buds were excited and ready to taste and enjoy food again!

Digestive Health, Too  Letting yourself get hungry is not only a surprising way to make your food taste better. It’s also much better for your digestion. According to nutrition experts, non-stop eating doesn’t give the digestive system time to clear one batch of food before the next one is sent down the chute. Much better to give your system three to five hours between meals so it can deal with just one meal at a time.

“Close the Kitchen!”  Getting hungry is an especially valuable approach when feeding children. If you want them to eat a healthy dinner, “close the kitchen” by late afternoon. Then they have time to work up a good appetite. Hungry children (and adults!) will readily eat good-for-you foods!