Learning to Eat "Just Enough"

September 15, 2015 Stephanie

Let’s face it. The name of the game when trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight comes down to not stuffing your face with excess food. In my own experience (and through working with my clients) I’ve come to realize that the main reason it seems so tough to stop eating before we’ve gone too far is because we have NO idea how to listen to our bodies anymore. We literally have no idea how much food our bodies need.

We have been ~~brainwashed~~ trained to eat based on portion sizes put in front of us or suggested to us by restaurants and food companies. “Single serving” bags of chips, individually packaged granola bars and cookies, “100 Calorie Packs”, a “small” serving of fries, a pre-packaged frozen meal, the restaurant’s idea of a “lunch size” burger and fries, etc. No wonder we often eat past satiation, we have no idea what a “normal” portion size looks like for our unique bodies. This is one of the first things I work on with my clients – becoming aware of eating habits and beginning to re-learn how to truly LISTEN to their bodies – because it is so important when it comes to transforming your relationship with food.

Now this takes a lot of time and intentionality, but it could be the single most important thing you vow to do in order to reach your weight loss goals and win balance with food for life. While this can be a tricky road to travel, I have come up with 3 easy and tangible ways you can start the learning process today….here they are:

1. Chew Your Food – Yes, I’m being serious. If you take the time to actually pay attention to your chewing, I promise you’d be shocked. Most Americans like to practically swallow their food whole – 4 maybe 5 chews before swallowing and shoveling another forkful into their mouths. Chewing your food is so, so, SO important! It is where the digestion process starts as well as the action that signals your brain that you are actually eating food. When you don’t take the time to chew, you aren’t processing the meal fully and you are sending huge pieces of food into your stomach, which forces your stomach to do extra work that the saliva in your mouth didn’t have a chance to. This can cause a variety of issues from stomach bloat to feeling like you’re hungry 20 minutes after you’ve finished a meal.

When you consciously chew your food, you are, by fault, eating slower which allows your brain to process your meal and let you know when you’ve had enough before you’ve gone too far. When you are noticing the food you are eating, you are more likely to not crave more food 20 minutes later because your brain is aware of the meal that you just fed it. It also helps you feel better after your meal by allowing your digestive system to work how it’s supposed to. Say goodbye to that afternoon bloat and upset stomach! So what am I proposing? Chew each bite of food 20-25 times before swallowing. Try it for a day and see what happens…

2. Eat Without Distractions – I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when you eat while surfing Facebook or Instagram or reading a magazine or catching up on e-mails, you are doing nothing but a disservice to yourself. How can your brain register what you are eating or how much you are eating if you are forcing it to be actively involved in another issue or topic? In order to start learning how much food your body desires/needs, you need to start mentally paying attention to the food you are putting in your mouth. That means sitting down with nothing but your food and consciously paying attention to it – the texture, sight, smell, flavor profile – as you chew each bite (20-25x, of course) 😉

When you are consciously paying attention to your meal you will absolutely notice when you’re approaching that “enough” state. To further aid this process, about half way through your meal start asking yourself this question: “If someone were to take this away from me right now, would I be upset?” If the answer is yes, and you’ve been chewing your food and paying attention to it, then you are probably still hungry. If the answer is no, notice how much you’ve eaten, put the food away or throw it away and walk away from the meal happy and content.

3. Start With Less Food – This one is easy. Put less food on your plate than you normally would and then use tips 1 and 2 while eating your meal. The key to this one is to tell yourself that you can always go back for more after you’ve finished your plate and to then allow yourself to do so if you in fact want more. This is key because it protects us against deprivation feelings creeping in, which as outlined in this post, do nothing for us. You may be surprised to see that you are happy with much less food than you would normally serve yourself.

So there you have it ….3 simples things to start implementing into your meal time today that will help you re-learn what “just enough” food looks and feels like for your unique body. The whole point to this is to start bringing awareness to your meals. Start noticing how different foods make you feel, what textures you like/dislike, what flavors you crave the most, etc. This is the information you need in order to start changing your relationship with food.

I challenge you to try out these 3 things for one week and see what you notice. I totally want to hear how it goes – so POST BELOW if you are IN for the challenge and let us know how the first meal goes!