But where do you PUT all that food?!

It's a question that I hear often- though mostly in the winter, when I've been pretty physically active. I may be tiny, but I've found that there have been many occasions when I easily out-eat my dining companions. Depending upon my activity level and the weather, my food needs run from paltry to shockingly large. There are times when with but a little nibble here or there through the day, coupled with a small meal at some point, and I'm set. Other times, I have to eat two very sizable meals every day, and graze heavily throughout the day to keep up with what my body wants.

With the recent shift to colder weather, my caloric needs have shot way the heck up. Since arriving in DC a few days ago, I've been devouring PB&J and pasta like none other. It's not easy keeping a scrawny thing like me heated, and my body somehow manages to be especially inept at that whole homeostasis thing. The shift is especially humorous and obvious when, in the dead of winter, I travel someplace warm and I find myself very abruptly eating about half as much food as I had been but a few days before.

My body tells me what it needs, and it's pretty good at being clear in its communication to me. I stay responsive to what it tells me, and it keeps running like I want it, and need it to. If I start eating because I'm bored, or because I'm using it as therapy, tummyaches are almost certainly close behind. If my body is running low on fuel and I ignore the rumbling, things turn ugly fast- the grouchiness sets in, and things will not improve until I have been fed.

So here I am, a bit after midnight, having just polished off a late-night snack of PB&J. My tummy is happy, the rest of me is happy, and all is well in this little corner of the world.