I tried it but was not very good at it. Grazing means eating a bit here and there as the mood strikes and needs to be done in handfuls of reasonable amount of calories. If the grazed calories amount to more than your usual caloric intake, it’s called over-eating.
Growing up, exposed to a wide array of questionable cafeterias in elementary, middle and high schools in Fredericksburg and Richmond, Virginia, I literally ate the same thing every day for lunch: a tuna fish sandwich with green peppers, carrots and Hellmann’s real mayonnaise on white bread with Iceberg lettuce and one tomato slice and a navel orange. My mother peeled my orange every morning and wrapped it in foil, which made it taste tinny. When I arrived home from school I ate a piece of American cheese and carrots while my brothers feasted on Mom’s home- baked chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing, German Chocolate three layer cake, or brownies. They were thin, I was fat.
Today I eat a much wider assortment of foods but still enjoy my raw carrots and a slice of real New York sharp or Pepper Jack cheese to hold me over until dinner. It’s a very satisfying snack because of the crunchiness of the carrots and the zesty cheesy protein kick. I enjoy eating three meals a day, yogurt, fruit and nuts in the morning, a vegetarian salad for lunch, and grilled fish and vegetables at dinner, along with one or two snacks.
My thin friend Martha insists grazing is the only way to maintain the correct body weight. She rarely eats meals on a schedule and simply grazes her way through busy days, nibbling at her desk, a cup of cabbage here and a sliced cucumber there. She hasn’t gained an ounce since high school, still fits into her high school prom dress, and insisted that I try her routine. For one week I grazed on a cup of mixed nuts here, a bowl of gluten-free pasta there, a milkshake snack daily, and gained five pounds.
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