When it comes to food intake, there is something that can help you massively. It will allow you to stop overeating, help you lose weight, become healthier, and will also let you see if there is a pattern in eating habits that needs some attention.
LISTENÂ TO YOUR BODY
It’s something worth taking some time to master. Your body is constantly providing feedback. But, are you listening?
These 6 simple rules can help you to get in tune with your eating habits:
- If you don’t feel hungry, don’t eat – just because its ‘dinner time’ or ‘breakfast time’ doesn’t mean you have to force food down yourself if you’re not hungry. Be aware of whether you are eating out of physical hunger (because you’re actually hungry) or emotional hunger (e.g., because you’re bored, sad, tired).
- Snack as much as you want, but make it healthy. If you are genuinely hungry, don’t be afraid to eat. Your body is telling you to fuel – so listen up. You wouldn’t drive a car with no petrol…
- Stop when you’re not hungry anymore. If you feel that full feeling – stop. Worried about wasted food? Give yourself small portions, and use tupperware for reusable food.
- Slow down – eat slowly, enjoy it, taste every mouthful. Your brain needs time to catch up with your stomach to allow it to hear when you’re full, so give yourself time to register what is happening and how you feel. This means avoiding watching TV at the same time as eating, or scrolling through Facebook. Keep them separate. Give your eating time the attention it deserves.
- Eat clean – no, this doesn’t mean wash your food, what it does mean, is to eat as much unprocessed food as possible. Eat fresh. Try having nothing man-made, back to how nature intended and the original plant based foods our bodies can understand.
- Eat what you crave. There are so many delicious foods in the world, some not so healthy. Life would be significantly less fun if we never allowed ourselves to enjoy them. The more we make something forbidden, the more desirable it seems. However, it’s important to understand the moderation rule. Your body does not want to process half a cake or an entire multipack bag of crisps, no matter how tasty it is. This is not me giving an excuse to go wild, but if you want a cookie, have a cookie. Occasionally.
