Avoid Overeating – Proven Strategies
on Aug 14, 2016 in Inspiration, Nutrition, Weight Loss
Eating is comforting, satisfying, and necessary. But when food is pleasurable and so plentiful, it can be hard to know when to stop eating.
How do you communicate to your stomach that you’re done?
Try these tips:
- Eat mindfully. After each bite, chew slowly and savor all the flavors. Slow down and really enjoy your food. People who just mindlessly gobble their food do not feel satisfied and eat more calories than people who slow down and really take the time to enjoy their food.
- Eat pleasure-fully. Plan a pleasurable activity post-meal. Give yourself a reason to want to get up and away from the food. Sometimes you don’t want a meal or snack to end because it may be the first rest or fun you’ve had all day. Planning in time for recreation, rest, and relaxation is as important as brushing your teeth. Make it a daily habit.
- Eat flavor-fully. Infusing flavors into your dishes satisfies more senses than just your taste buds. Your body craves deliciousness, so give it what it wants. Savory aromas and piquancy provided by additions — such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and fresh rosemary, mint, or basil — create a dining experience that treats the wandering taste bud.
- Eat experience-fully. Sit at a table and when you can, make the location you eat a peaceful, beautiful environment. Use a cloth napkin, a place-mat or cloth, or a pretty glass. Add a sprinkle of parsley or mint to your food as a garnish. When researchers served the exact same product to people, (a store bought sponge cake); one on a plain dish unadorned and one on a decorative glass dish sprinkled with powdered sugar and two raspberries, people rated the powdered sugar version with raspberries as more filling and satisfying.
- Eat fat-fully. Eating healthy fats can make you feel fuller, longer. Stick to reasonable portions of heart-healthy unsaturated fats, such as those found in avocados, olives, walnuts, and almonds.
- Eat Bean-fully. Try adding a quarter to half cup of beans to each of your meals. Beans slow gastric emptying and regulates blood sugar levels in a way that greatly enhances your feeling of fullness. The greater satiety effect is not only in the meal you eat beans , but also in your next meal. It’s called the “second meal effect.”
Satisfy your taste buds today.
