Overeating is not only common during the holidays – it’s something that many people struggle with all the time. There are two types of overeating:
– eating when there is no physiological need for it;
– Absorbing too much food at one time.
We live in an environment full of nutritional messages, often designed to get us to eat more. Food advertisements, huge portions, colorful packaging in supermarkets are meant to encourage us to buy something, and places where food is sold are everywhere. As a result, we consume food when not hungry, or go far beyond our actual appetite. Plus, the food we buy is often highly processed and contains higher “doses” of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats that can trick our taste buds into wanting it over and over again.
Despite all these temptations and tricks of the food industry, there are strategies to tune in to your own food messages and focus on your own needs, rather than imposed by someone.
- Concentrate on what you eat
Pay attention to the food you are going to put in your mouth. Leave everything when you are eating and just eat. Enjoy your food and satiety. This is the moment when you can relax and recharge.
Research shows that removing visual information about how much you ate during a meal can increase the amount of food you eat. Conscious eating is one of the simplest ways to prevent overeating. Remember, we also eat with our eyes.
Try the following:
- Dine away from any technology. Get out of your desk and take a break from your computer, phone, and tablet. This is not only a great opportunity to reduce the amount of time spent sitting and improve your physical health, but also a chance to give your brain a break to just enjoy your meal.
- When you eat, disengage from work and screens so that you are aware of your feelings of hunger and satiety. You may even find yourself working much more efficiently after lunch than usual.
- Take a few extra minutes at home to prepare meals and set the table. Even if you bought food from the supermarket or ordered delivery, take a real plate instead of a disposable package. Sit down at a table and not watch TV, focusing instead on the food in front of you and how it satiates you.
- Beware of sugar and salt
Sugar and salt give food an intense flavor, making it easy to overeat sweet and salty foods that are more often processed foods. If you reduce your intake of these foods, then over time you will begin to get satisfaction from much less sugar and salt.
Try the following:
- If you’re really into something sweet, grab some of your favorite sweet food and eat very slowly.
- If you eat salty or sugary foods more slowly and mindfully, rather than on the run, you may find that while foods high in sugar and salt cause overeating, they are not actually as flavorful or tasty as real, unprocessed foods. products. Have they fed you or made you even hungrier? Real food should satisfy without provoking hunger after 30-40 minutes.
- For non-sugary snacks, opt for foods that are low in salt, such as lightly toasted unsalted nuts, or dip raw vegetables in hummus. Note that some commercial sauces are high in sodium (salt), so read labels carefully. Better yet, make your own hummus, guacamole, any sauces to control the salt content.
- Change your reaction to food cravings
“Eat when you’re really hungry,” common sense says. But often we eat not only because of hunger, but also, for example, when we are bored, when we feel anxiety, stress or anger. In fact, food should be a means of satisfying real hunger, not a way to calm the senses. To deal with your emotional ups and downs without food, take walks, meditate, chat with loved ones, keep a journal, or listen to music. I wrote about various advertising methods several times.
In a study involving 30 women, scientists investigated how chronic stress affects eating behavior. It found that women with higher stress levels reacted differently to pictures depicting high-calorie foods than women with lower stress levels. In particular, they showed increased activity in areas of the brain associated with reward, motivation and decision-making. On the other hand, activity in the areas of the brain associated with strategic planning and emotion management was, on the contrary, decreased.
These results indicate that exposure to severe stress can alter the brain’s response to food so much that it can lead to poor diet.
Try the following:
- When you are tempted to turn to “comfort food” for emotional reasons, ask yourself if you are really hungry.
- If you’re not hungry but still tempted to grab a snack, wait 10 minutes before eating anything, drink a glass of water, and do something else. Whether you’re at work or at home, take a few minutes to walk or stretch. Sometimes we are on autopilot when stressed, so knowing how to “purposefully pause” can help you become more alert and reduce the impact of stress on your eating habits.
- Gradually increase your pause to 15 minutes, then to 20 minutes, and so on. You may not be able to control the onset of food cravings, but you can change your response to cravings. As you gradually lengthen your reaction time, you will find that your cravings go away on their own.