America is a fast-paced society that thrives on two attitudes. The first of which is bigger is better, we love our SUV’s, our big screen TV’s, and of course our big portions of food. We also love getting the job done as quickly as possible and patience isn’t one of our virtues, we hate to wait in line, we hate waiting in traffic and of course we hate waiting for our food and we even hate the time it takes to chew our food. So most people just gobble their big portions of food down in huge bites until we’re stuffed.
And of course this is why so many Americans are overweight, we eat too much and we eat too fast. If you looking to lose some weight, maintain your existing weight, or you just want to feel healthier read on for how to eat less in a world where portions are out of control.
Don’t Pile the Food On Your Plate
Most plates in resturants and even at your home are larger in diameter than they used to be 20 and 30 years ago. So the first step in controlling your portions is as simple as not filling up your entire plate, or just eating on a saucer or a small bowl.
If you know that you usually eat massive portions and you’re consuming a lot more food than you really need, you can lose weight by simply removing 1/4 or 1/2 of what you normally eat. Instead of eating the whole double cheeseburger, just cut it in half and save the rest for later.
Be Conscious
Most Americans multi-task even when they’re doing really important tasks, so of course it’s done when they’re doing something as ordinary as eating. If you want to eat less to lose weight or maintain the one you have you first have to be conscious when you eat instead of zoning out. So it’s important to eat in a well lit room, away from the TV so that you can really concentrate on enjoying your food.
Slow Down – No One’s Going to Take Your Plate Away From You
If you’re rushing through your food you will miss the pleasure of eating a great meal, and so when all your food is gone, you still won’t feel satisfied which will only make you want to go back for seconds or thirds in order to feel satiated.
Before you sit down to eat, make a decision to yourself to take your time to really savor your food. Remind yourself that there’s no rush. Pick up smaller amounts of food with your spoon or fork, once the food is in your mouth put the spoon or fork down.
If it’s your first instinct to chew the food for a couple of times before swallowing, pause and just slow down your chewing.
Get Back In Touch With Yourself
Back when you were a child, you were able to take your sweet little time when you ate, you ate when you were hungry and when you were full you stopped. It was as simple as that, when you were done you were done. You didn’t continue to cram food into your mouth until your stomach was so full that you couldn’t move, felt sick or needed a nap.
So get back in touch with yourself again or for the very first time. Listen to your body before you eat and it will tell you what it wants, . By slowing down and becoming more aware, your body will tell you when it truly wants to eat, not when you want it to, what it wants to eat (if you scarf down your food quickly you might not even realize that the food your eating doesn’t even taste good or that it doesn’t make you feel good) and how much it wants to eat.
Deal With Hunger Pains
If you’re used to eating your food quickly you’re probably not going to be able to get in touch with your body on your first try at slowing down. Your mind is so used to eating rapidly that you’ll feel the urge to eat more and to eat faster.
You’re going to feel hungry for a few days, and as long as you know you’re eating normal portions, remind yourself that you’re not. You’ll only feel hungry because your stomach is a muscle, and it’s been so stretched out because your portions have been so large. Give it a few days to a week to shrink back down to it’s normal size. Keep resisting the mental urge to eat until you’re totally stuffed so that your body and mind is able to get in sync again. If you always feel the compulsion to eat more, drink a glass of water while you’re eating.
When your stomach is able to return to it’s normal size you will then be able to eat a normal portion of food and feel completely full as long as you slow down when you’re eating.
Keep using the tips above, and when you feel full don’t keep eating to stuff yourself or clean your plate, throw small scraps of food away (yes there are children starving around the world, but is eating everything on your plate going to feed them?) If there’s enough left for left-overs save the un-eaten food for later.
Bear in mind that the process requires patience and dedication and its not for the impatient ones who want to see results now with little effort from their side.
