We’re down to the last five days of the month. I woke up this morning thinking how easy it is to run out of steam right at the end of a project like this, and wondering what extra effort I might need to put forth to get the rest of the way to the goal, which was to give time and attention to this blog every day in July.

I was also thinking about how I’ve struggled for the last couple of months to get rid of the weight I gained while I recuperated after my eye surgeries. I’m close to that goal, but the last couple of pounds are hanging on tight. I’ve been banging away on my exercise routine as hard as ever, but with a lot going on in my work world, I’ve stumbled in the commitment to eat well. Too much snacking, too many poor choices, too many stray calories. Not enough veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.

So I asked myself, “What can I do with the five remaining days of July?” I have ideas for a few more blog posts. We’ll see if it’s enough to carry me across the finish line. But what else can I do in my sprint toward the end of the month? I decided to turn my focus to the practice I call “eating with intentionality.” For the last five days of July, I plan to pay more careful attention than ever to every bite of food or drop of drink that goes in my mouth. I’ll write it all down, and I’ll take my own advice about making sure that I eat only when I’m hungry. It’s a challenge. But we’re talking about five days. I know that I can do this for five days.

What’s the goal you’re working on? What could you accomplish toward that goal if you gave it everything you’ve got for five days? Ignore all the distractions—it’s only five days, after all—and give your time and attention to the facet of your life that needs them most right now. Five days of eating well, five days of exercising at your full capacity, five days of writing poetry, or making art, or doing yoga, or cooking nutritious meals.

Then come back here to the comments area and share with us what you’ve done.

There’s a flaw in the communication between the stomach and the brain—the gap between full and not hungry. We eat until we’re full, but we still feel the desire to eat. We eat some more, and later, we feel stuffed, overfed. We gain weight.

Maybe it’s not a flaw, so much as a legacy of our evolution. Before proto-humans developed the cognitive ability to plan and predict their next meal, when the food supply was uncertain and had to be chased down with spears and rocks, stockpiling calories was probably a good survival mechanism. Then some of them figured out agriculture, then permanent settlements, then cities, and the next thing you know, there’s a fast-food joint within 500 yards no matter where you go on the planet.

So now we’re wired to keep eating after we’re full. Scientists are hard at work on understanding the biochemistry involved. There’s a lot of research going on about the relationship between physical hunger and psychological hunger. Maybe some day there will be a pill you can take to make you feel like eating just enough, but no more. Until then, attention and intentionality will have to suffice.

You eat good food, and you’re careful about portion sizes. But when your plate is clean, you feel that ancient impulse telling you to forage for something more. You can avoid a lot of surplus calories if you bridge the gap between full and not hungry without more food.

Try this strategy: Get up from the table and take your dishes back to the kitchen. Set the kitchen timer for 25 minutes. Wash your dishes, tidy up, and find something to do for a while. Read, write, watch TV, pay bills, sort the day’s mail—anything but eat. The trick here is that the ticking timer offers some comfort. It says, “You don’t have to hang on until the next meal…just a little while.”

But you might be surprised to find that if you can keep your mind occupied with something else until enough time has passed, the brain–stomach communications will sort themselves out, and your psychological hunger will have subsided.

When the timer goes off, if you find that you’re still hungry, recognize it as a real signal that you might need something more to eat. Go ahead—hunt and gather yourself a wholesome snack.