“Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full.”
It makes so much sense, doesn’t it?
Except there’s one problem: You don’t know what it means.
- You know what starved feels like. That’s when you’ve skipped the most number of meals ever in one stretch.
- You know what stuffed feels like. That’s after Thanksgiving dinner.
- But that middle part between starved and stuffed? That’s when you find yourself saying, “Am I full yet? Do I stop now?”.
You’re neither hungry nor full. So you can’t tell. And here’s why…
“Your stomach can’t count.”
Brian Wansink, PhD, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
If your stomach can’t tell, then what can?
Restaurant diners and rigged soup bowls
2 groups of diners were asked by Wansink and his team of researchers to eat half a bowl of soup in 20 mins.
But there’s a catch. And neither group knew about it.
- Group 1 ate out of a normal soup bowl, 9 oz of soup, which was half a bowl.
- Group 2 ate out of a rigged soup bowl. It had a hole at the bottom, and unbeknownst to them, the bowl continued to fill halfway full while they ate.
Guess what? Group 2 ate an average of 73% more soup! 15 oz. That’s equivalent to 1 can plus another half can of a regular sized Campbell’s soup.
Did they realize they ate more from the bottomless bowl? No, they didn’t.
They didn’t comment about being full, and rated themselves equally satiated as the others who ate out of normal bowls – even though they ate 73% more.
In fact, most of the rigged soup bowl diners were still eating when the researchers stopped them at 20 mins. Others ate even more – more than a quart (that’s more than half a gallon of soup).
They thought they were only half full when they saw themselves eat half a bowl (or so they thought).
MBA Students, a Super Bowl, and Chicken Bones
A group of MBA students were served a free buffet of chicken wings at a Super Bowl party.
What’s the catch?
The servers were in cahoots with Wansink and his team. The servers only bussed half of all the tables
- In the bussed tables, there were no chicken bones to see as the students ate.
- In the tables that were not bussed, the chicken bones kept piling up for the students to see as they ate.
Guess who ate more?
Those who did not see chicken bone evidence while they partied ate 28% more. Those who saw the chicken bone head count ate 2 fewer chicken wings (around 18 grams less protein).
3 steps to use visual cues to avoid overeating
1. Plate your entire meal before you start eating instead of plating small portions and going back for seconds or thirds.
- Fill your entire plate with a low carb, high fat meal before you eat. Set your visual target as the empty plate, so you don’t have to rely on “Am I full yet?” to figure out when to stop.
- A full plate sends a visual cue that you ought to be completely full with this amount (as opposed to only half full) if you were to just fill the plate halfway. Don’t use a ginormous plate. Use fibrous veggies or leafy greens to fill your plate.
- Don’t eat nuts out of the bag. Take a handful and put them in individual Ziploc snack bags. Leave out the empty snack bags so you can see how much you’ve eaten, instead of relying on “Am I still hungry?” to figure out if you’ve had enough.
2. Take a photo of your entire meal before you start eating.
You won’t always have chicken bones to help with visual cues. But you’ll likely have your smartphone. If you don’t, take a mental picture of the entire meal before you start.
3. Find yourself wondering if you should eat more even after an empty plate?
Look at the photo or remind yourself of the mental picture. Let the visual cue kick in. Then decide.
An effective and easy-to-use tool
If you’re struggling with using hunger cues to a) tell you when you’re full, or b) to tell you when you’ve had enough to eat, try using visual cues.
“Our eyes are not typically bigger than our stomach. In fact, they’re often better than our stomach at telling us when we’re full.”
Brian Wansink, PhD, Chair of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab Research Facility
What’s great about visual cues is that they’re straightforward, easy to do, and most importantly they work.
It’s a great addition to your fat loss toolkit because it helps you avoid overeating.
All you have to do is take your next meal, apply the 3 simple steps, and see the difference.
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Sometimes you don’t know you’re overeating until it’s too late — especially around the holidays when family and friends and scrumptious foods distract you from your body’s natural cues cries for help. While overeating one day a year probably won’t kill you, it can make you feel uncomfortably full and slightly ill. Instead of letting things go too far, look out for these signs of overeating, and stop while you’re ahead.
1. You feel 100 percent satisfied — but you’re still eating. To avoid such situations, the best time to put your fork down is when you feel approximately 80 percent full, says registered dietitian Keri Gans, MS, author of The Small Change Diet. So if you’re already 100 percent there, you might want to take a breather. Of course, that’s easier said than done when you’re up against your favorite holiday dessert. (Just remember you can take home leftovers.) Keep filling up your fork, though, and you’ll end up overeating.
2. You’ve officially stopped appreciating every mouthful. Experts believe that the first few bites of a food provide the most pleasure. After that, you start to mindlessly shovel that food into your mouth and lose sight of your actual appetite. When you stop freaking out over how good your food tastes, consider calling it a meal. Otherwise you will overeat.
3. You physically need to take a break. When you subconsciously drop your fork or take a deep sigh, it could mean your body has eaten enough. “You also might gaze down at your plate and realize you really should leave some of the food behind, since you’re starting to feel full,” Gans says.
4. You get a mid-meal hot flash. Digestion increases your body’s temperature — if you stoke the fire with too much food, you might overheat. (Spicy food can have the same effect.) So if you get the sweats mid-meal, you’re probably overdoing it.
5. Your pants become alarmingly tight. Your jeans fit this morning. But now? Not so much. When you eat too much food, your stomach can get distended pretty immediately, Gans says. If think you’re past the point of return, you’re either wearing the wrong thing or you ate much too much.
6. You think you will actually die if you do not remove yourself from the table and recline immediately. It sounds obvious, but you really shouldn’t feel extremely stuffed (or near death) after a meal. If you do, you definitely overate, Gans says. Either way, resist the urge to faceplant on the nearest couch after a meal. It could set you up for heart burn and indigestion, which you can easily avoid by sitting upright.
7. You go back for seconds and thirds. Chances are, your first full plate of food already served up more than one standard portion of each dish. If you house that entire plate of food and your stomach is literally still growling for more? Fine, refill until the grumbles go away. But this time, fill your plate with veggies, the only food you should really double up on, Gans says.
8. You’re the last one to put your fork down. Everyone overeats on Thanksgiving. Unless you are a slow and laborious eater, if you’re the last one standing at the buffet, simple logic suggests you’re probably overeating.
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In light of the growing concern over obesity, many people are suggesting ways in which people might reduce their caloric intake and maintain healthy weight and eating patterns. A consistent problem has been that many people don’t realize when they are overeating, and frequently underestimate both the amount and calorie content of the foods they eat. It’s a good idea, even if you’re not struggling with weight issues to figure out if you are overeating, and this can be accomplished in a very simple way.
Feeling overfull after eating is a sign of overeating.
The easiest way to track how much you’re eating, and whether you’re overeating, is to keep a food journal or food diary for one to two weeks. The diary should be portable enough to take with you, since most people don’t just consume food at home. It should also have enough space to write not only what you eat, but to record portions.
For instance if you demolish a whole bag of chips, you shouldn’t just record that you ate chips, you should also record, as based on the back of the bag, the number of servings of chips you ate. If possible, you should notate the total calories each serving has so you can compute this information later. During your week or two of recording you should not attempt to change your eating habits, but merely record them.
Once your week/s of recording is up, you assess the journal to count for calories. Typically, average calorie intake for an adult woman is between 1800-2000 calories a day, and for men it is about 2300. You can look at many online calculators to find specific calorie recommendations for your age, height, level of activity and present weight.
Sometimes you don’t even need to count calories to see that you are overeating, or a food journal may point to the fact that your problem isn’t so much how much you eat, but what foods you choose to eat. For instance if all your calories come from simple carbohydrates and fats, your protein intake is way too low, which can mean you’ll gain weight easily. Following guidelines provided by organizations like the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) can help you decide if you’re overeating in certain food groups, and undereating in others, or if you’re simply overeating in all areas.
There are some other basic questions you can ask yourself if you don’t want to maintain a food journal. You can first decide when you are eating. If you eat in front of the TV, or even while reading, you may be overeating. Studies show you eat less if you pay attention to the actual process of consuming food, as perhaps during a family meal. If you eat late at night before bedtime, you may be providing your body with too much fuel when you don’t need it. If you always feel overfull when you’re finished eating, you also might be overeating, though this may occur too if you’re very thin.
Determining if you overeat is an important step in maintaining a healthy life style, particularly as we have over time become a much more sedentary species than we were in the past. As it turns out, paying attention to what, when and how much you eat may be of vital concern, and finding out now if you eat too much may help you add years to your life, avoid certain forms of disease, and fight the battle of the bulge by adjusting eating patterns.
Maintaining a food journal is a great way to track your eating habits.
I’m writing this post in response to comments I’ve been receiving on a blog post I wrote almost a year ago titled 6 Reasons to Stop Counting Calories & 11 Things To Do Instead.
It’s one of my most popular posts on my website. For many people, this article gave them permission ditch restrictive dieting habits and quit the numbers game around food.
However, I get a fair number of comments where people ask how to do this.
How do they learn to listen to their body when for so many years they’ve been listening to labels instead?
How do they cut through the fear that if they abandon calorie counts they’ll gain weight?
Can they really trust their body to do this when they are already struggling with their weight?
My answer is to tune into their hunger and fullness cues, but many people don’t know how to do this. How do they know if they are truly hungry?
As one commenter put it:
“It’s driving me nuts. I just want to eat healthily 6 days a week and have a meal out once a week without gaining weight. Sounds easy right? My brain makes it incredibly difficult because I don’t know how much is a healthy amount to eat without counting.”
And another:
“So, question is, why couldn’t I trust it to let me know what it needed in regards to hunger? When to eat and when not? What it really needed when a craving hit? This article has given me a new lease on life– we always hear to love our bodies… but what’s love without trust?”
Before I delve into how to know if you’re truly hungry, we need to talk about the difference between hunger and appetite.
Hunger and appetite both encourage you to eat, but with a distinction.
Hunger is an inborn instinct. It’s the physiological drive to eat that we feel “below the neck”; that mild gnawing in your stomach that usually sets in a few hours after eating a meal. It’s that slight decline in energy that signals you it’s time to refuel. True hunger dissipates after eating when your body’s demand for more energy has been met.
Appetite, on the other hand, is a learned response to food. It’s the psychological drive to eat that we feel “above the neck”; that feeling of wanting more regardless of how much we’ve had to eat. It doesn’t always go away after eating. Isn’t necessarily influenced by the time you last ate.
Hunger is the physical drive to eat while appetite is the mental drive to eat.
Eating a large meal can affect your sleep, your weight and your organs over the short and long term. Find out what really happens to your body when you overeat.
BY Kellie Bramlet Blackburn
Sometimes it’s taste, sometimes it’s habit, or maybe it’s stress. But chances are, at some point, you have over-eaten.
“It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to send a signal to the stomach to let you know that you’re full. Overeating occurs when you continue to eat beyond this point of fullness,” says Erma Levy, a research dietitian at MD Anderson.
Overeating can lead to unwanted weight gain, and carrying excess weight can increase your cancer risk.
But it’s not just about the unwanted calories. Overeating affects your body in a variety of ways. We spoke to Levy to learn more about the effects of overeating. Here’s what she had to say.
So, what happens to your body when you overeat?
- Overeating causes the stomach to expand beyond its normal size to adjust to the large amount of food. The expanded stomach pushes against other organs, making you uncomfortable. This discomfort can take the form of feeling tired, sluggish or drowsy. Your clothes also may feel tight, too.
- Eating too much food requires your organs to work harder. They secrete extra hormones and enzymes to break the food down.
- To break down food, the stomach produces hydrochloric acid. If you overeat, this acid may back up into the esophagus resulting in heartburn. Consuming too much food that is high in fat, like pizza and cheeseburgers, may make you more susceptible to heartburn.
- Your stomach may also produce gas, leaving you with an uncomfortable full feeling.
- Your metabolism may speed up as it tries to burn off those extra calories. You may experience a temporary feeling of being hot, sweaty or even dizzy.
What are the long-term effects of overeating?
When you eat, your body uses some of the calories you consume for energy. The rest are stored as fat. Consuming more calories than you burn may cause you to become overweight or obese. This increases your risk for cancer and other chronic health problems.
Overeating — especially unhealthy foods — can take its toll on your digestive system. Digestive enzymes are only available in limited quantity, so the larger the amount of food you eat, the longer it takes to digest. If you overeat frequently, over time, this slowed digestive process means the food you eat will remain in the stomach for a longer period of time and be more likely to turn into fat.
Overeating can even impact your sleep. Your circadian clock, which controls your sleep cycles, causes your sleep and hunger hormone levels to rise and fall throughout the day. Overeating can upset this rhythm, making it hard for you to sleep through the night.
What are some ways to stop overeating?
A nutritionist suggests 5 healthy work-from-home eating tips.
Working from home is one of the most important ways to help flatten the curve and get the coronavirus pandemic under control. But being out of your usual routine, having constant access to food, and being this stressed out can lead to some serious overindulging. If your eating has been a bit erratic, here are five strategies to help create some balance and consistency.
Develop a set eating schedule
In addition to preventing mindless eating, settling into a consistent routine will help regulate blood sugar and insulin levels, hunger hormones, mental and physical energy, digestive health, and even your sleep cycle. Try to eat breakfast within about an hour of waking up, and aim for either three meals a day, or three meals and one snack, spaced about four to five hours apart.
For example, aim for breakfast at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, a snack at 4 p.m., and dinner at 8 p.m., or breakfast at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m., and dinner at 6 p.m. Just try not to let over five hours go by without eating, and set your cell phone alarm as a reminder, at least until you settle into the routine. Without a schedule, you’re more likely to eat mindlessly throughout the day, or wait too long—and then rebound overeat.
Make sure your meals are nutritionally balanced
Rather than grabbing foods randomly, think strategically about the components of your meals. In every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, include some type of produce, along with lean protein and good fat as the foundation. These foods supply the nutrients needed to support a healthy metabolism and immune system.
For mental and physical fuel, incorporate a smaller portion of healthful carbs as an add-on. For example, instead of a big bowl of cereal and juice, opt for a smoothie made with a handful of frozen or fresh greens, plant protein powder, a few tablespoons of nut butter for good fat, and a cup of frozen fruit for healthful carbs.
Another example: a cup of fresh or frozen veggies sautéed with chickpeas or eggs for protein, extra virgin olive oil for good fat, and a small portion of brown rice or potato for healthful carbs. Being purposeful about what you include in each meals creates a better macro and micronutrient intake, and this healthy balance can help prevent weight gain.
Rethink what you drink
Keep a water bottle or cup next to you, and sip on it throughout the day. Avoid sugar drinks or products made with artificial sweeteners. Excess sugar can weaken immunity, and artificial sweeteners have been shown to throw off natural appetite regulation and stoke a sweet tooth.
If you drink alcohol, try to stick with moderate amounts (one to two drinks per day), and reduce the need to use alcohol by trying out other coping mechanisms, such as calling friends and family, engaging in at-home workouts, playing video games, or enjoying other healthy mini escapes.
Don’t forget about the calories in alcohol, and that being tipsy can increase appetite, and lower inhibitions. This can lead to overeating, and noshing on foods you probably wouldn’t eat when sober.
Know the difference between physical and emotional hunger
During a stressful time, it can be difficult to tell if you’re truly hungry—meaning your body needs nourishment—or if your mind is attracted to food to express or disconnect from your feelings. One helpful tactic is to tune into your body. Physical hunger has physical symptoms, like a slightly growling tummy.
If you’ve eaten a balanced meal and your stomach is full, yet you still feel hungry, you may be experiencing anxiety or loneliness. If you can stop and make the distinction, address your emotions in ways that don’t involve eating. And when you do eat, do so without distractions (no TV, computer, reading, phone, etc.), put down the food or your utensil between bites, and listen to your body’s cues. Stop eating when you feel full, but not overly full, and store the rest for another meal.
Splurge purposefully
It’s not realistic to swear off goodies completely, and it’s not necessary. Enjoy your favorite can’t-live-without treats, but indulge mindfully rather than spontaneously. For example, if you want a cookie or two after lunch, reduce the portion of carbs in that meal to make room for the carbs in the cookies.
This isn’t at all about restriction; it’s about balance, and it feels good (unlike having zero treats or overindulging, which can leave you feeling stuffed and sluggish). Savor every bite, and move on with your day. Now more than ever, balance and consistency are key—not all or nothings.
Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is Health‘s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a private practice performance nutritionist who has consulted for five professional sports teams.
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It is very easy to know if you overeat but finding the reasons of overeating is more difficult. There are very visible indicators of overeating: your clothes get tighter on your body, your weight increases on the scale and you have developed atrocious eating habits. Given below are some of the things that indicate that you have an overeating disorder:
- You stand at the door of the refrigerator shoving food in your mouth in a thoughtless manner.
- You eat even after your hunger has been satisfied.
- When you are under stress, you eat a lot of fried food, sweets and similar items packed with high amount of carbohydrates. You want to eat these in ever more quantity.
- When you are bored, the only thing that is in your mind is food. You try to make your life interesting by eating and eating more.
- When you are sad or frustrated, you again head to overeat. Ironically, you end up eating more under the guilt that you have become obese from overeating.
- It might sound strange but you also tend to overeat when dieting. You are likely to indulge in intense binge eating sessions because of the feelings of deprivation from dieting. And when you do so, guilt gets the upper hand and you overeat even more.
- You withdraw from social activities to stay home alone so that you can eat in isolation. Or when you do not go out because you do not like your overweight body, then again overeating is your problem.
- Those who overeat tend to grab food and eat it mindlessly with triggers like loneliness, reading something or watching television.
Certain more serious conditions are also associated with overeating. One such condition is called Bulimia in which you first overeat and then do a forced vomit to get rid of the extra calories you ate. You might be exercising too much and hiding from other the dilemma you are going through.
Another condition called anorexia is also a serious one and results from food obsession and how it affects your body. Anorexics stay away from food mostly and then indulge in binge eating when they are alone. Anorexics often see themselves in the mirror and consider themselves too fat and in undesirable shape.
There may be some other bad habits too which might be associated with overeating. When you do not know if you overeat, you may not be aware of the fact that you have gained weight and the feelings of guilt and inadequacy are driven by overeating. So you need to be aware of when and how you overeat so that you may then try to understand the reasons of overeating.
There is a recurring question that I always seem to receive centering around how to know if you’re overeating? Do you ever wonder why? Here are a few likely reasons:
1. Habit: Whether you realize it or not, you eat in a learned pattern, rather than out of need. You clean your plate because that’s what your mother taught. You eat what is served without stopping to check if you are full. You butter two pieces of toast for breakfast rather than questioning if one piece would do the job.
2. Absentminded: You forget to pay attention when you eat. Mindless munching while watching a movie, snacking while driving, or picking at food while cooking – these absentminded calories really add up.
3. Something Deeper: Sometimes you use food for recreation or to change your mood. These calories may lend you a temporary sense of comfort or pleasure, but ultimately your body suffers from the indulgence.
Here are 3 Steps To overcome Overeating – read these, and apply them to your life.
Step #1: Pay Attention
Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.
To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.
Step #2: Practice Balance
Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.
This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.
Step #3: Be Tuned In
Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.
An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).
By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.
Want to speed up your weight loss, make it permanent, and shape your body at the same time? I’ve got what it takes to get you there! No guesswork, no fad diets, and no super long workouts.
Let’s face it, the extra pounds you’re carrying around are due to overeating – plain and simple. Why do you overeat? Here are a few likely reasons:
1. Habit: Whether you realize it or not, you eat in a learned pattern, rather than out of need. You clean your plate because that’s what your mother taught. You eat what is served without stopping to check if you are full. You butter two pieces of toast for breakfast rather than questioning if one piece would do the job.
2. Absentminded: You forget to pay attention when you eat. Mindless munching while watching a movie, snacking while driving, or picking at food while cooking – these absentminded calories really add up and lead to overeating.
3. Something Deeper: Sometimes you use food for recreation or to change your mood. These calories may lend you a temporary sense of comfort or pleasure, but ultimately your body suffers from the indulgence.
Here are 3 Steps To overcome Overeating – read these, and apply them to your life.
Step #1: Pay Attention
Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept for overeating will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.
To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.
Step #2: Practice Balance
Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.
This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.
Step #3: Be Tuned In
Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.
An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).
By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.
Small Group Training for Women
Let’s face it, the extra pounds you’re carrying around are due to overeating – plain and simple. Why do you overeat? Here are a few likely reasons:
1. Habit: Whether you realize it or not, you eat in a learned pattern, rather than out of need. You clean your plate because that’s what your mother taught. You eat what is served without stopping to check if you are full. You butter two pieces of toast for breakfast rather than questioning if one piece would do the job.
2. Absentminded: You forget to pay attention when you eat. Mindless munching while watching a movie, snacking while driving, or picking at food while cooking – these absentminded calories really add up.
3. Something Deeper: Sometimes you use food for recreation or to change your mood. These calories may lend you a temporary sense of comfort or pleasure, but ultimately your body suffers from the indulgence.
Here are 3 Steps To overcome Overeating – read these, and apply them to your life.
Step #1: Pay Attention
Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.
To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.
Step #2: Practice Balance
Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.
This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.
Step #3: Be Tuned In
Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.
An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).
By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.
Want to speed up your weight loss, make it permanent, and shape your body at the same time? I’ve got what it takes to get you there! No guesswork, no fad diets, and no super long workouts.
Call or email or Contact us today to start one of my fitness and fat loss programs that will quickly change your life.
Let’s talk Food, Places and Books
I love to eat.
I like to try new food as much as I enjoy old favourites. The problem is, I like food too much for my own good.
Working from home has its benefits. But one bad thing is that it can lead to overeating. Ask me; I know. I mean, the kitchen’s right there!
Here are 5 simple ways that helps me to avoid overeating:
Doing what I love.
1. Have a cup of tea. Or coffee! I often find myself wanting a snack after lunch and before dinner. Instead of reaching for the bread, I make a cup of tea. It usually ties me over till the next meal.
2. Keep busy . For me, this is one of the best ways to avoid overeating. Sometimes, I write a blog post. Other times, I create a task that’ll keep me busy until the next meal. Clean the mirrors. Repack my bookshelf. Take the dogs for a walk. Doing so means you’ve accomplished something and can reward yourself with a homecooked meal.
3. Snack healthy. If you’re gonna snack, make sure it’s healthy. It’s not easy to know how to eat healthy. And when we’re stressed (like most of us are during the COVID-19 pandemic), our bodies crave sweet and fatty foods. Don’t give in to this desire. Try sunflower seeds, popcorn, biltong, nuts, peanut butter balls, or even dark chocolate. Better yet, speak to your doctor about the best healthy foods for you.
Eat Less Crap by Sam Pease
4. Control your portions. How? Take a small bowl of snacks to the couch. Or to your work desk. I actually got this tip from a book I bought a while ago called Eat Less Crap Lose That Fat by Sam Pease. In it, the author says instead of taking a big bag of chips (or sweets, or anything) to the couch, she puts some in a small bowl. That way, she finishes what’s in the bowl, then stops. Much better than inhaling the big bag of treats at once. Don’t you think?
5. Exercise. It makes sense, right? Because while you’re moving around, you’re not stuffing your face! Do a YouTube yoga class, throw the ball around with your (grand)kids or go for a run around the block. A walk is good too! Just get up from the couch and do something.
I hope you found these tips useful. This is not medical advice, simply a list of things that work for me. Remember, there are many causes of overeating. If you continue to struggle, consult your doctor.
Follow me on Instagram for more: abbey_abby_abi/
How to know if you’re overeating
Let’s face it, the extra pounds you’re carrying around are due to overeating – plain and simple. Why do you overeat? Here are a few likely reasons:
1. Habit: Whether you realize it or not, you eat in a learned pattern, rather than out of need. You clean your plate because that’s what your mother taught. You eat what is served without stopping to check if you are full. You butter two pieces of toast for breakfast rather than questioning if one piece would do the job.
2. Absentminded: You forget to pay attention when you eat. Mindless munching while watching a movie, snacking while driving, or picking at food while cooking – these absentminded calories really add up.
3. Something Deeper: Sometimes you use food for recreation or to change your mood. These calories may lend you a temporary sense of comfort or pleasure, but ultimately your body suffers from the indulgence.
Here are 3 Steps To overcome Overeating – read these, and apply them to your life.
Step #1: Pay Attention
Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.
To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.
Step #2: Practice Balance
Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.
This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.
Step #3: Be Tuned In
Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.
An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).
By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.
True or false: You can’t stop eating badly if you don’t care? (False!)
Posted Jun 22, 2019
Did you ever get so emotional that you just didn’t care about your diet anymore? Perhaps you got so angry, sad, lonely, anxious, happy, and/or tired that you said to yourself, “Screw it, who cares about my stupid diet? I’ll just start again tomorrow!”
Most people think the only way to beat this is to enhance their motivation. That’s not a bad idea, it’s just not the only thing that works. There’s a dramatic shift in mindset that I’ve found is much more important in helping hundreds of clients stop overeating, but I have to warn you, you may recoil from it at first. I encourage you to consider it anyway.
See, right now you probably think you have to care or else you can’t stick to your diet.
But what if you challenged that assumption? Why do you have to care? Why can’t there be some things you do regardless of whether you feel like it or not?
The deep, dark secret of the dieting world is that we do not have to fall in love with our feelings; we are perfectly capable of eating healthy in spite of them. In fact, this is almost a necessity for everyone who wants to lose weight and keep it off. There are some things we all will have to do to take care of ourselves which we are just never going to feel like doing.
I’ll give you an example. Personally, I don’t care to floss my teeth. In fact, I utterly hate it. If this weren’t a professional blog post in a well-respected online magazine, there’d be several curse words in that last sentence to underscore how much I dislike the experience. There’s no amount of motivational enhancement which could make me want to do it. I just don’t care!
But you know what? I floss anyway, because I don’t care.
I know that flossing is critically important. I know what happens if I don’t. I’m not interested in periodontal work (and the associated bills). I also know overall health is highly correlated with dental health. But because these benefits are all contained in my intellect, I’ve learned I can’t rely on my emotions to drive my flossing decisions. So I leave the floss open on the sink where I’ll see it first thing in the morning when I wake up and last thing at night before I go to bed. In my head, when I see the floss sitting there, I think, “Oh crap, here we go again, I really don’t feel like flossing. Who cares!”
Now, I’m a seasoned psychologist, intimately familiar with cognitive re-framing and motivational techniques. But no matter what I’ve tried, I still hate flossing. The above thoughts and feelings go through my head each and every day, but I’ve trained myself to use them as my cue to floss ASAP. I recognize the unpleasant emotion and choose to do the right thing because of it. I don’t wait until I want to do it, because that moment will never come.
I floss because I don’t care!
You can do the same thing with food. Let’s say you know that when you get home in the evening, the last thing you’re going to want to do is to eat a healthy meal with a salad, etc. “Screw it, let’s get takeout or go through the drive-through,” that voice in your head may say. That’s your cue to make a big salad, because you don’t feel like it. Or, better yet, set up your evening food first thing in the morning and lay it out in Tupperware so you’ll know it’s sitting there waiting for you when you get home. (It’s much easier to make good food decisions in the morning when you’re fresh.)
See, the lie in the thought “I don’t care at all right now, therefore, I must overeat” is in the “therefore” part. There will be times you don’t care. It’s inevitable. Indifference is a natural part of recovering from overeating. But that’s OK, you don’t have to care; you only have to do what’s right. In fact, you can use your indifference and/or negative feelings about caring for yourself as the catalyst to do the right thing.
Food for thought, no?
I’ve got one more important point about motivation: If you really didn’t care about eating healthy, you wouldn’t have read this far. The truth is, you care deeply, but at the moment of temptation, your reptilian brain is activated and misdirects your survival drive to some less-than-good-for-you treat. Learning to ignore these impulses is a trainable skill. Click here to read more about how to stop overeating by separating these misdirected thoughts from your personal, human identity.
Overeating. We’ve all done it. Eating until you feel absolutely stuffed is normal every once in a while, but regularly eating too much in one sitting can be a tough habit to break. Over time, eating too much food will cause you to gain weight.
But don’t stress. Here, we’ll talk about some things you can do to stop overeating, to help you kick the habit and feel your very best you.
What can cause overeating?
Everyone is different, and there are loads of reasons why someone might overeat. It could be that your friends all eat loads, you’re dehydrated, you’re eating too quickly, you’re stressed, or even something as simple as you’re distracted during the meal. Whatever your reasons for eating too much, we’ve got you covered. Read on to discover our top tips to combat overeating.
Tips on how to stop overeating
Looking for help to minimise overeating? Take a look at our top tips:
Try to reduce your stress levels
A 2014 study showed that increased stress drives up levels of the appetite-increasing hormone, cortisol. 1 This can lead to increased levels of hunger, as well as overeating and even binge eating and weight gain.
But how can you reduce your stress levels? Everybody is different, but if you feel stressed out, try doing something you enjoy, like listening to music, exercising, or gardening. Meditation can also be a great way to help with stress, and you’ll find there are a number of relaxing meditation apps to choose from.
Remove any distractions
We all like to eat our meals in front of the TV once in a while, but did you know that watching something whilst having dinner can cause us to overeat? Studies show that people who are distracted during a meal tend to consume more calories than those who aren’t. 2
So, turn of the TV, leave your phone in a different room, put that book down and simply focus on enjoying your meal. Delicious!
Dine with friends who have good eating habits
If your friends eat until they feel stuffed, chances are you will too. That’s according to a recent study, which found that people tend to gorge on portions of a similar size to the people they’re dining with. 3
If you have friends who always go large, tell them you’ll meet them after the meal and instead, dine with people who eat healthier foods in sensible portions.
Don’t eat too quickly
Sometimes it’s all too tempting to practically inhale a plate of delicious food as soon as it’s put in front of you. But did you know this can cause overeating and, over time, weight gain? A study found that eating at a slower pace means you’ll feel fuller quicker, therefore stopping you from eating more than you need to. 4
If you’re a fast eater, try focusing on your chewing. Make sure you’re chewing food thoroughly before you swallow, and you should find that you slow down a bit.
If you’re concerned about overeating, you could try an appetite suppressant? Our appetite suppressants are packed with ingredients to help you feel fuller for longer and beat those snack cravings.
Let’s face it, the extra pounds you’re carrying around are due to overeating – plain and simple. Why do you overeat? Here are a few likely reasons:
1. Habit:
Whether you realize it or not, you eat in a learned pattern, rather than out of need. You clean your plate because that’s what your mother taught. You eat what is served without stopping to check if you are full. You butter two pieces of toast for breakfast rather than questioning if one piece would do the job.
2. Absentminded:
You forget to pay attention when you eat. Mindless munching while watching a movie, snacking while driving, or picking at food while cooking – these absentminded calories really add up.
3. Something Deeper:
Sometimes you use food for recreation or to change your mood. These calories may lend you a temporary sense of comfort or pleasure, but ultimately your body suffers from the indulgence.
Here are 3 Steps To overcome Overeating – read these, and apply them to your life.
Step #1: Pay Attention
Be aware of what and how much you eat. This simple concept will save you from hundreds upon hundreds of calories each week.
To apply this rule, don’t eat while your attention is distracted by another activity. Only put food in your mouth when you are hungry and conscious of it. This means turn off the T.V., get out of your car, and no matter what you do, don’t graze in the kitchen while cooking.
Step #2: Practice Balance
Be aware of the types of food that you eat during each meal, and make sure that it’s balanced. When you eat a balanced diet filled with lean protein, whole grains, lots of veggies, a few daily servings of fruit and limited fat and sweets, your body will be satisfied and you’ll lose the urge to overeat.
This means you shouldn’t always eat carb-based meals, and you also shouldn’t always eat high-fat meals. Make a mental checklist of the food groups that you’ve eaten each day. Did you eat lean protein? Did you have plenty of vegetables? Did you refrain from eating more than one or two primarily carb-based meals? This mental checklist will save you from making food decisions that you’d later regret.
Step #3: Be Tuned In
Your body will always tell you when its hunger has been satisfied – you’ve just gotten so good at ignoring the signs that you barrel through your meal only to feel like you’ve been hit by a ton of bricks once all that food hits your stomach. It’s time to take a deep breath and listen to your body.
An important part of being tuned in is to eat slowly. Once you start to pay attention you’ll notice a point when each bite becomes less and less satisfying. That is your body’s way of letting you know that you’ve had enough and that each continued bite is simply overkill (yes, even if you’re only halfway through that plate of pasta).
By learning how to control your eating habits, you’ll find weight loss to come simply and naturally.
Want to speed up your weight loss, make it permanent, and shape your body at the same time? I’ve got what it takes to get you there! No guesswork, no fad diets, and no super long workouts.
Call or email today to start one of my fitness and fat loss programs that will quickly change your life.
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Get Beach Ready in 1-2-3
It’s time to get beach ready!
Here’s what you need to know in 3 simple steps:
Step One: Cut out the junk.
The best way to do this is to start by purging your kitchen. Get rid of sugary, processed and fat-filled foods. Once the junk has been cleared out don’t buy any more of it. Remember that your beach ready abs depend on what you eat – don’t eat junk!
Step Two: Focus on whole foods.
Replace the junk food in your life with plenty of the following: cooked and raw vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains, moderate amounts of seeds and nuts, lean meats and low fat dairy. Clean eating really is that simple.
Step Three: Come train with me.
This is the most obvious step. You’re ready to get into great shape and I’m in a unique position to make that happen for you. Call or reply to this email to get started on an exercise plan that will make you look great on the beach, and all year round.
Working from home is one of the most important ways to help flatten the curve and get the coronavirus pandemic under control. But being out of your usual routine, having constant access to food, and being this stressed out can lead to some serious overindulging. If your eating has been a bit erratic, here are five strategies to help create some balance and consistency.
How to Prevent Overeating When You’re Working From Home
2 Simple Ways to Boost Weight Loss
Develop a set eating schedule
In addition to preventing mindless eating, settling into a consistent routine will help regulate blood sugar and insulin levels, hunger hormones, mental and physical energy, digestive health, and even your sleep cycle. Try to eat breakfast within about an hour of waking up, and aim for either three meals a day, or three meals and one snack, spaced about four to five hours apart.
For example, aim for breakfast at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, a snack at 4 p.m., and dinner at 8 p.m., or breakfast at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m., and dinner at 6 p.m. Just try not to let over five hours go by without eating, and set your cell phone alarm as a reminder, at least until you settle into the routine. Without a schedule, you’re more likely to eat mindlessly throughout the day, or wait too long—and then rebound overeat.
Make sure your meals are nutritionally balanced
Rather than grabbing foods randomly, think strategically about the components of your meals. In every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, include some type of produce, along with lean protein and good fat as the foundation. These foods supply the nutrients needed to support a healthy metabolism and immune system.
For mental and physical fuel, incorporate a smaller portion of healthful carbs as an add-on. For example, instead of a big bowl of cereal and juice, opt for a smoothie made with a handful of frozen or fresh greens, plant protein powder, a few tablespoons of nut butter for good fat, and a cup of frozen fruit for healthful carbs.
Another example: a cup of fresh or frozen veggies sautéed with chickpeas or eggs for protein, extra virgin olive oil for good fat, and a small portion of brown rice or potato for healthful carbs. Being purposeful about what you include in each meals creates a better macro and micronutrient intake, and this healthy balance can help prevent weight gain.
Rethink what you drink
Keep a water bottle or cup next to you, and sip on it throughout the day. Avoid sugar drinks or products made with artificial sweeteners. Excess sugar can weaken immunity, and artificial sweeteners have been shown to throw off natural appetite regulation and stoke a sweet tooth.
If you drink alcohol, try to stick with moderate amounts (one to two drinks per day), and reduce the need to use alcohol by trying out other coping mechanisms, such as calling friends and family, engaging in at-home workouts, playing video games, or enjoying other healthy mini escapes.
Don’t forget about the calories in alcohol, and that being tipsy can increase appetite, and lower inhibitions. This can lead to overeating, and noshing on foods you probably wouldn’t eat when sober.
Know the difference between physical and emotional hunger
During a stressful time, it can be difficult to tell if you’re truly hungry—meaning your body needs nourishment—or if your mind is attracted to food to express or disconnect from your feelings. One helpful tactic is to tune into your body. Physical hunger has physical symptoms, like a slightly growling tummy.
If you’ve eaten a balanced meal and your stomach is full, yet you still feel hungry, you may be experiencing anxiety or loneliness. If you can stop and make the distinction, address your emotions in ways that don’t involve eating. And when you do eat, do so without distractions (no TV, computer, reading, phone, etc.), put down the food or your utensil between bites, and listen to your body’s cues. Stop eating when you feel full, but not overly full, and store the rest for another meal.
Splurge purposefully
It’s not realistic to swear off goodies completely, and it’s not necessary. Enjoy your favorite can’t-live-without treats, but indulge mindfully rather than spontaneously. For example, if you want a cookie or two after lunch, reduce the portion of carbs in that meal to make room for the carbs in the cookies.
This isn’t at all about restriction; it’s about balance, and it feels good (unlike having zero treats or overindulging, which can leave you feeling stuffed and sluggish). Savor every bite, and move on with your day. Now more than ever, balance and consistency are key—not all or nothings.
Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, is Health‘s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a private practice performance nutritionist who has consulted for five professional sports teams.
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Plus 8 Science Backed Tips to Stop Overeating for Good
(And one not from the scientists but that’s really the most important)
You know how it goes: too much of a good thing can be dangerous.
Now, I might argue that too much vacation could never be dangerous – but you can always play devils advocate.
But too much food can definitely be dangerous for our waistlines.
Some people will argue that overeating is a natural biological protector – that we are programmed to over eat so we always have a surplus of energy to use when we need it.
But I disagree. I think when our bodies are operating as the prime specimens they were designed to – with our hormones balanced nicely, getting enough rest, hydration, the works – we shouldn’t have a need to over eat.
Our bodies should tell us when we’re hungry and when we’re full.
But sadly, for most of us – this just isn’t the case.
Overeating is a constant battle.
Sometimes it’s a battle because are our hormones are wonky.
When you’re already overweight, your leptin and ghrelin hormones, the ones that tell your brain when you’re hungry and when you’re full, just don’t work well. Ghrelin sends super strong signals, making you think you’re always hungry.
While leptin sends pretty darn weak ones – making you think you’re never full.
Now the super downside of this situation is this: the most efficient way to get those hormones back in control and signaling normally is by losing fat. Sounds like a rock and hard a place, right?
You have to stop overeating to lose that fat, but you have to lose that fat to stop overeating?
Well luckily, there are a few science back tips and tricks to help you stop over eating.
Even the researchers agree these can work. And since your next meal might be coming up soon, I’m going to give you the need to know basics so you can start using them instantly.
The 8 Science Backed Tips to Stop Overeating:
1. Slow Down: We’ve all heard that it takes our brain a little bit to realize we’re full. So some researchers had men and women eat slower and see if it changed how much they ate. Worked for the men, but not the women. But weirdly – what did work for both genders is this: start your meal at your normal rate, but once you eat half the amount of food, slow down your eating.
2. Make it Skinny: And no, I don’t mean order the “skinny” versions of foods. Order your drinks is tall, skinny glasses. This helps people drink much less than if they had short, fat or just overall giant glasses.
3. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: It’s the M&M study. If the candy was in clear bowls or sitting on the counter, aka visible, people at them way more often. If they were in dark bowls or tucked in a drawer, they hardly got touched.
4. Shrink Your Dinnerware: People who ate off smaller dinner plates consumed less food but ended the meal feeling more satisfied. So cash in your dinner plates for lunch sized ones. And crazy enough, this goes for your utensils as well.
5. Write it Down: Most of us have probably created a food tracking system at one point. But it’s true, writing down every bite you eat forces you to become more aware. And the more aware people are, the more satisfied they are off less food.
6. Keep it at the Table: People eating in front of the TV, computer or in the middle of a meeting will eat more food. Being distracted can make it hard to realize how much you’ve eaten. Always eat your meals at a table and focus on your food.
7. Mirror, Mirror on the Fridge: This is a weird study, but it works. People who put a mirror on their fridge had less occasions of overeating. The study folks think that every time they saw their reflection, it reminded them of their goals to lose weight. And that soon-to-be-fridge-grazer had to rethink their decision – were they really hungry or just filling a void?
8. Skip the Diet Packs: Yep, it’s true. People who nosh on diet foods actually eat way more servings, calories, and fat than folks that choose the regular stuff. So skip the diet “serving sizes” because chances are, you’ll eat way more than just one.
Now – those science backed tips might be super helpful. But I’d argue that there’s something that works even better than sticking to those things.
(No pun intended).
Here’s the real solution, answer this and I know you’ll be golden.
Why are you over eating in the first place?
Yes – a lot of people overeat because their hormones are a bit wonky. But even when we know our hormones are crazy, why can’t we just ignore the silly signals from the leptin and ghrelin? Stop when we know we should? Forget the cravings? Walk away from the fridge?
It’s because we’ve made an emotional attachment to food.
We open that fridge looking for that “something” that’s going to fill us.
When you know it’s not real physical hunger, what are you trying to fill. And I wish I could give you the magic way to solve that problem – but that answer is going to be different for each of us.
It takes some self exploration, some deep dives into your frustrations, angers, sadness, depressions or yes, even happiness. All can be tied to your food, your cravings and your constant overeating.
So do a little thinking, find out what you’re trying to fill. And then look for new ways to fill it. Ways that don’t involve food.
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Monica Beyer
The holidays (from Thanksgiving all the way through Super Bowl Sunday) are the best, right? Friends, family, warmth, happiness — and, of course, food. That last part, though, can be a bit of a problem, especially when you overdo your meals and wind up feeling sluggish and decidedly not great because you’ve overeaten.
While we all know moderation is the key to happiness and comfort (as far as our tummies go), it can be far too easy to get carried away and be a major glutton at a holiday shindig. While it’s totally fine to do you and indulge when you want to, sometimes your eyes are way bigger than your stomach and you overdo it — bringing on a sluggish and sleepy afternoon that can bleed into the next few days. Here’s what you should do if it’s happens to you.
What happens when you overeat?
You know how overeating feels, right? You feel bloated and uncomfortable and you spend the rest of the day hoping your digestion skills are up for the task ahead. SheKnows spoke with Dr. Susan Besser, a family physician with Mercy Personal Physicians in Baltimore, Maryland, who is also a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. We wanted to find out exactly what is going on in the belly when we’ve stuffed ourselves too full of ham and dessert.
“On a purely mechanical level, your stomach is distended (swollen) when you overeat,” she said. “There is a limited amount of room in there, and it doesn’t like being stretched beyond its normal capacity.”
Of course, your stomach tries to rectify the problem by moving food along ASAP, which can result in further discomfort. In some people (especially those with reflux issues), the stomach may try to push its contents back up the esophagus, which can feel awful. Your stomach can also try to push it out the other way (out the back door), and quickly, which can result in diarrhea and cramping.
What’s the first line of defense for overeating?
Whatever you do, says Besser, don’t lie down flat on your back. That can further exacerbate any reflux issues you may be having. So instead, consider a recliner if you’re too miserable to move. Brisk exercise is also a no-no.
“Exercise signals the body to focus on the muscles and not on the intestines, so the intestinal activity will slow down, leaving all that food sitting in there causing cramping,” she explains.
What you can do, however, is take a leisurely walk. Don’t overdo it, of course, but moving around can boost your metabolism a bit and can help you digest your gigantic meal, which is the ultimate goal after you’ve eaten too much.
What should you eat or drink after overeating?
It may be obvious, but listen to your body as you eat. Even if the holidays feel like they’re all about the food on your plate, go at your own pace, if you’re worried about feeling discomfort. Don’t continue to eat once you feel like you’re at-capacity and not feeling hungry anymore. “Basically, just eat lightly the rest of the day — if at all. You will need to drink water later in the day, so you don’t get dehydrated,” Besser notes. “But probably, you can skip eating for the rest of the day.”
After all, you want your stomach to work on digestion — and you don’t want to add more to its workload.
You’ll probably be feeling better by the next day, which is great. But definitely take the time to remember try to learn what feels satisfying and what has you feeling bad. Also, keep hydrating, because water is life.
Can you take medication for overeating?
In a word, no, not really. Besser says some OTC medications, such as antacids or anti-gas drugs, may help, but sometimes all you can do is wait it out. Unfortunately, a quick fix isn’t in the cards
“There really isn’t any great medication to counteract the overeating blues,” she says. Instead, she says it’s better to try to approach big food-centric holidays slowly so you can enjoy the most out of your meal without risking upsetting your stomach.
“You can still enjoy your favorites,” Besser explains. “Just understand mostly you are eating for craving, not nutrition. Craving relief only requires a few bites — eat slowly and savor.”
But if you’ve pounded back tons of cheesecake and cheesy potatoes and do not feel fantastic, just keep in mind your discomfort is temporary. Keep drinking water and enjoy your food at the right pace for you body.
A version of this story was published in December 2017.
Image: Holly Harris/Getty Images. Design: Ashley Britton/SheKnows.
Weight watchers will be aware of how healthy eating and daily physical workout can help to shed extra kilos and maintain a healthy weight. There are several techniques as well for weight management such as calorie deficit, intermittent fasting and HIIT training among others. Speaking of calorie deficit, it is not easy at all, to keep a check of all that you eat throughout the day. I have once tried to count calories of each food I had, trust me it is exhausting.
And recently I learned about a hack that can prevent you from overeating and help you to know the right portion sizes that you need. Your hand can actually help you to determine the same. In an interview with Thesun.co.uk, a London-based nutritionist Jo Travers, author of The Low-Fad Diet revealed that hands are one of the best measuring tools as you can use them anytime. If you are big that means you will have bigger hands which in turn means that you need giant portions. In short, with the help of just fist, palm, cupped hand, and thumb, you can avoid the headache of calorie counting.
Meal size
For men, their meal size should not be bigger than the size of 2 palms. And for women, their meal size should not be bigger than the size of one palm.
Protein- A palm
For protein-rich foods such as chicken breasts, fish, eggs, paneer, soya products and greek yogurt, you should consider a palm-sized serving. We think proteins are cornerstones of diet and tend to overeat, but in reality, we don’t need more than a palm.
Carbohydrates- A punch
Carbs which are found in bread, cereal, rice, potatoes, quinoa, or bulgur should be limited to the size of a fist. Also, carbs should make up over a third of the food we eat.
Cheese- 2 fingers
The right portion of cheese is just 2 fingers. Yes, we eat more than this often!
Fats- A tip of finger
The tip of your finger is the maximum amount of fats we need daily. Again, we eat more than this measure for sure. If you are drinking smoothies and juices, then go for 150 ml per day.
Fruits and veggies- 1 or 2 handful
Fruits and vegetables are what you should eat the most and that’s why their portion size should be one hand when cupped for women and 2 for men. One should eat at least five portions of fruit and veg per day,
Desserts – Closed fist
Desserts such as ice cream, cake and tarts among others should be limited. While having your favorite dessert make sure to not have more than the size of your closed fist.
Authors
PhD Candidate, Department for Health, University of Bath
Senior Lecturer in Nutrition, Metabolism and Statistics, University of Bath
PhD Candidate, Health, University of Bath
Disclosure statement
James Betts receives funding funding from GlaxoSmithKline, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Kellogg’s, Nestlé and PepsiCo
Aaron Hengist and Rob Edinburgh do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Whether it’s a summer barbecue with friends, your favourite fast food takeaway, or Christmas dinner, we can probably all recall times when we’ve eaten more food in one sitting than we needed to. Plenty of research has looked at the long-term health effects of overeating calories – which include increased fat storage, impaired endocrine (hormone) control and changes to our skeletal muscle and fat tissue. Yet little is known about how our body copes with these one-off occasions of overindulgence, and whether they have any effect on our overall health – which is what our latest study aimed to find out.
Humans have a huge capacity to overeat over an extended period of time. For example, members of the Massa tribe participate in Guru Walla, the traditional fattening festival where they attempt to gain as much weight as possible by eating as much as they can. Many members gain 11 kilograms of fat in just two months by eating roughly 8700 calories per day – more than three times what most adults are advised to eat in a day.
While this is an extreme example, it shows us that our bodies are readily capable of over-eating – which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Even as little as 24 hours of overfeeding can have some negative consequences for our health, including elevating blood sugar concentrations.
In our latest study, we wanted to understand how much humans can eat when they push past the point of fullness. We also wanted to know what effect this has on the body, by measuring how overeating affects metabolism in the hours after the meal.
We looked at a group of 14 healthy men between 22 and 37 years old. In one trial, we asked them to eat as much pizza as they could until they felt full. They ate roughly 1500 calories on average – just under one large pizza.
On a separate day, we then asked them to eat until they couldn’t anymore, going beyond the normal feeling of fullness. Remarkably, they managed to eat almost double – around 3,000 calories on average, though some were able to eat the equivalent of nearly two and a half large pizzas (4,800 calories). This suggested that when you feel full, you’re probably only half full.
Blood samples were taken at regular intervals for four hours after the beginning of the meal to see how the body was coping. Surprisingly, despite eating twice as much food, there was only a small increase in blood sugar and blood fat levels. Being able to keep blood sugar and fat in a normal range indicates how healthy a person’s metabolism is. It can also show the risk for developing diseases, including type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
In these physically active and healthy people, the body is able to control the sugar and fat in the blood after a big meal by working a bit harder than usual to control metabolism. We saw that hormones released from the gut and pancreas (including insulin), helped the body to regulate blood sugar levels. Heart rate was also elevated after the meal, confirming that the body was working harder to keep things under control.
We also measured how people felt during the post-meal period, by looking at fullness, sleepiness, and cravings for certain types of foods. While we often feel like we have room for dessert, our study’s participants had little desire to eat anything (even sweet foods) when they ate past the point of feeling comfortably full – even four hours after the meal. We also found that people felt sleepier and less energetic after eating too much.
We only measured up to four hours after the meal to get a snapshot of how the participants were coping with overeating. If we measured a longer period – six or eight hours, for example – we may have seen some more differences, especially because blood fat concentrations remain elevated for longer. However, our results tell us that one meal of overeating doesn’t cause much harm for your health – although 24 hours of overeating does seem to have an effect. So the focus of further research may be to understand how our bodies cope with the next meal after a binge.
Frequent occasions of overeating could lead to serious diseases. Syda Productions/ Shutterstock
Understanding how the body copes so easily with occasions of extreme calorie intake helps us understand what goes wrong in the long-term. Healthy humans rely on the body’s ability to work harder in times of need (by increasing insulin, gut hormones and heart rate) to maintain metabolic control. When we repeatedly eat too many calories at each meal, metabolic syndrome (a combination of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity) will ensue and the body becomes unable to react to these situations.
Before starting the study, we were expecting the body to struggle with the huge calorie surplus of overeating. Our results show the body’s remarkable capacity to cope with the stress of eating too much food, by tightly regulating blood sugar concentrations and blood pressure. Throughout history, the human body has had to cope with periods of famine and abundance – this study is another demonstration of that evolutionary adaptation.
Though we focused on young, healthy participants, it will be important to now look at how the body copes with overeating in people who are overweight or at risk of disease, such as type 2 diabetes. But while overeating sometimes may be normal – and doesn’t pose too much of a risk to our health – it’s important to stress that eating more than we need on a regular basis isn’t healthy. This is partly because eating more calories than are required over a long period of time will lead to weight gain, and could lead to metabolic disease.
November 21, 2018
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Portion control is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. But you might wonder how to put the idea into practice. What is overeating? How can you stop?
To maintain a healthy diet, it’s important to recognize signs you’ve eaten too much and learn to limit portion sizes.
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What Is Overeating?
Overeating refers to eating more calories than your body uses for energy. People sometimes overeat for emotional or psychological reasons, such as boredom, anxiety, depression, or stress.
To figure out whether you’re eating too much, first review the correct amount of daily calories needed for your weight, age, metabolism, physical activity level, and gender. For instance, a 150-pound woman who works out regularly needs more calories than a woman of the same size who rarely exercises. You can learn the right amount for you by checking out the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Overeating can lead to a host of health problems, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. That’s why it’s important to get your food portions under control.
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Signs You’ve Eaten Too Much
Ask yourself how you feel after eating. Are you uncomfortable and bloated? Stomach discomfort — feeling gassy and/or swollen — is a major sign of overeating. Also, if you overeat, you may feel embarrassed or distressed after finishing a meal. People who overeat may feel that they lack control over what and how much they consume. A history of failed diets could also indicate that you struggle with overeating.
Frequent overeating may indicate binge eating disorder (BED). Common signs of BED include eating faster than normal, eating until you’re uncomfortably full, eating alone often, or consuming large amounts of food when you’re not hungry.
If you regularly notice signs you’ve eaten too much, it may help to work with your doctor or dietitian to make healthier meal plan.
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How to Stop Overeating
Now that you’ve answered the “am I overeating?” question, it’s time to take action. An initial step is keeping track of what you eat. Record you meals and snacks — including when, why, and how much you eat — to help control your food portions. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD) recommends reading food labels to check calories per serving, along with creating a food tracker. This tracker can be kept on your phone, as part of an online calendar, or in a notebook. It will help you discover the details of your eating habits and note your progress.
The NIDDKD offers these tips for managing portions at home:
- Eat one serving, according to the food label or recipe
- Eat your food slowly to let your brain get the message that your stomach is full
- Exchange large plates and glasses for smaller ones to help you eat and drink less
- Fill your plate with mostly low-calorie foods and foods low in saturated fat
- Eat your meals at the same times every day — eating at different times or skipping meals may lead to overeating later in the day
Also watch your portions at restaurants, which tend to serve more food than you need. Share a meal with a friend, avoid buffets, skip the bread and chips, or simply choose healthier, lighter food options on the menu.
Am I Overeating Without Thinking?
Experts say it’s easy to overeat while watching a TV show or a movie because you’re distracted. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends putting a serving of food or snacks in a container before you start watching to make sure you don’t consume more than you planned. Avoid snacking straight out of a bag or package.
About UPMC Bariatric Services
UPMC Bariatric Services is here to help if you’re struggling with obesity and want to lose weight. We offer both surgical and non-surgical weight loss plans and can help you find the right path for a weight loss journey. We offer our services at UPMC locations throughout western Pennsylvania and New York. We hold accreditation from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, the highest standard in the country.
It’s easy to sit down on the couch with a large portion of [insert your favorite food here] and without realizing it, eat every last bite. Or maybe you’re bored at work or feel a little awkward at a networking event and find yourself snacking on whatever is within reach when you’re not even that hungry to begin with.
“As active individuals, we eat to fuel our bodies, but as unique humans, we eat for so many other reasons,” says Claire Shorenstein, NYC-based registered dietitian at Find Your Trainer. But determining how much to eat can be tricky—especially if you work out on the reg. “You’re expending all this energy, may experience changes in appetite and may also be juggling performance or weight-related goals.”
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer since your nutrition needs vary based on size, gender, age, metabolism and other factors, it is important to recognize the telling signs that you’re consuming too many calories.
Worried that you’re overdoing it, but don’t know for sure? Check out these indicators:
You continue eating even after you feel satisfied
Sometimes it really is #nomtastic, but it’s important to listen to your body. In fact, your stomach knows when you’ve had just the right amount or way too much. You shouldn’t feel like you’re bursting from the seams, but instead, no longer feel hungry.
“This is something most of us do from time to time and a lot of it has to do with habits around eating, for example, eating too quickly and being distracted while we eat,” says Isabel Smith, R.D., a New York City-based celebrity dietitian and fitness expert. “It takes about 20 minutes for your brain and stomach to communicate that you’re full, so if you’re shoveling food down too quickly, this can contribute to overeating.”
The best approach is to practice mindful eating. “This means, pay attention to your hunger and fullness and stop eating once you reach the point of satisfaction, but not to the point of being uncomfortable,” says Pam Bonney, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., and founder of Tried and True Nutrition, Inc.
You feel so full you actually need to take a breather before your next bite
We’ve all been there before—whether it’s a late-night pizza binge or a giant rice bowl from Chipotle. But if you find yourself stopping before continuing to finish your meal because you’re getting too full, take this as a sign you’re overdoing it.
“This isn’t always easy to do, but taking a pause when we’re already feeling full can help us feel more satisfied more quickly without additional food,” says Smith. “When you take your pause, get up and do something else—don’t just sit at the table—as this will certainly cause you to eat more and make it harder to push the food away.” If you’re at a restaurant and can’t just go for a walk or leave the room, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom—any little sign that you’re telling yourself you’ve had enough will help your body realize it.
You barely pay attention to the meal in front of you
This might not be a surefire sign of overeating, but it can definitely lead you down the path towards overindulging. “Your body needs a bit of time to produce leptin, a hormone that signals satiety to your brain,” says Kayleen St. John, R.D., M.S., nutritional and culinary advisor for Euphebe. “If you’re eating quickly and not paying attention to your meal, you can overeat before your satiety hormone even signals to your brain that you’re full.”
Word to the wise eater: Try to focus during mealtimes by really tasting your food—aim for 15 to 30 minutes when possible. And don’t just munch while multitasking. That means shutting off the electronics, putting away the phone and turning off other means of distraction, says Smith.
The thought of having a big appetite gives you anxiety
“If you’re afraid of having an appetite, it might be because you tend to eat too much at each meal, or you think that having an appetite will make you eat too much and therefore gain weight,” says Bonney.
More food for thought: Most of us have been fortunate enough to never experience true hunger. And because it’s a foreign feeling, we might have a fear of having a true appetite or being truly hungry. “A reminder I give clients is that if you’re truly hungry, you would be excited to eat a plate of boiled broccoli and beans (no seasoning or salt),” says St. John. “If that meal sounds appealing to you, you’re likely to be truly hungry and not eating out of boredom or habit.”
Another way to overcome this feeling is to try and make mealtimes more positive experiences by spreading out your meals so you end up eating less at each meal, or inviting a friend to join you to make the time more enjoyable.
You feel heavy or weighed down after you finish a meal
If you have that post-Thanksgiving-dinner feeling on the reg, you definitely need to rethink portions. “This is a sign you may be choosing heavier foods or eating too much at one sitting,” says Smith. “Try lightening up on your choices, for example, by choosing lighter, salad- and protein-based foods instead of high-starch, high-fat items.” Not only are they lower in calories, but they’re also higher in fiber, so you feel full faster than lower-fiber foods. Think whole grains, legumes and tons of veggies!
You usually eat alone to avoid feelings of guilt or shame
If you live alone or work from home, you’re definitely going to be consuming the majority of your meals solo. But if you’re constantly dodging group lunches and always eating meals at your desk, it may be because you’re eating certain things you wouldn’t normally eat in front of others or eating behaviors you wouldn’t normally do (like eating with our hands or right out of the bag instead of putting something on a plate and eating with a fork). “This eating behavior can tend to make us feel guilty or shameful for choices we’ve made,” says Bonney. “Choosing a healthy, nutritious meal usually helps us feel more positive, confident and virtuous about our choices.”
You can’t keep your favorite food in the house without eating it all in one sitting
This definitely varies for everyone. For you it might be a box of Oreos and for your friend it might be a family-sized bag of Cheetos. But regardless of what your ‘trigger food’ is, you shouldn’t have a love-hate relationships with it or feel unable to stop eating once you start. “Trigger foods do just that—they trigger us to eat too much,” says Bonney. “Become aware and recognize what your trigger foods are, and keep them out of the house until you’re able to enjoy them more slowly over a longer period of time.”
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Jenn Sinrich is an editor in New York City, a self-proclaimed foodie always looking for the healthier version of all recipes, a passionate lover of all things cheese, a friendly New Yorker, Bostonian at heart and proud Red Sox fan. Love cats? Cheese? Mac n’ Cheese? Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Compulsive overeating is a serious eating disorder that is distinguished by an obsessive or compulsive relationship to food. Common signs of compulsive overeating are:
* Binge eating, or not being able to control eating even when not hungry.
* Eating faster than normal.
* Eating alone due to shame, embarrassment, and fear.
* Symptoms such as depression, mood swings, fatigue, insomnia.
* History of weight fluctuations due to chronic dieting.
* Secretive eating patterns, including hiding food in strange places so that it’s convenient to eat at a later time.
* Feeling extreme guilt and torment after binging.
What is compulsive overeating?
Compulsive overeating is the act of eating large amounts of food while feeling out of control and unable to stop. Unlike bulimia, it does not involve purging to rid one’s body of food and thus inevitably results in weight gain. With that said, it should not be confused with obesity. Just because someone is overweight does not mean they are a compulsive overeater. Compulsive overeating is an eating disorder that stems from emotional issues and requires treatment to overcome. If left untreated, compulsive overeating can lead to serious medical conditions, including high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, kidney disease, arthritis, stroke, and depression.
Understanding the compulsive overeater
Compulsive overeaters use food to cope with stress, depression, low self-esteem and other hidden issues. They typically learn their behavior early on as children when they turn to food for comfort and realize they can sooth themselves with food. Compulsive overeating is also common among people who suffer emotional, physical or sexual trauma.
Compulsive overeaters will demonstrate their obsession by spending excessive amounts of time thinking about food and secretly planning or fantasizing about eating alone, and will compulsively eat even when they aren’t hungry. Compulsive overeaters will go through frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating until they are uncomfortably full, or will engage in grazing behavior by eating all day. A compulsive overeater can consume as much as 5,000 to 60,000 calories a day.
A compulsive overeater cannot control their eating and will often feel overwhelmed with guilt, shame and self-loathing over their behavior. They will often eat to manage stress or will have certain triggers that cause them to overeat, including emotional and external triggers (sometimes just walking into the kitchen will trigger an episode). During the overeating episode, some individuals report feeling numb, distracted or in a trance-like state.
It’s a common misconception that overeaters are lazy or don’t care about their appearance. This is completely untrue. Compulsive overeaters are constantly worried about their weight and are obsessed with how they look. Dieting is a way of life for compulsive overeaters but they often fail. Diets may help them lose some weight for a short period of time, but if they haven’t learned how to deal with their addiction to food they will inevitably relapse back to excessive overeating. Until the root causes of the disorder are addressed, a compulsive overeater will never succeed on a diet. A serious consequence of overeating is obesity, which can lead to numerous medical complications.
A registered dietitian shares tips to help you identify emotional triggers to overeating.
If you respond to any emotional situation—happy or sad—by overeating, and you want to stop, there are solutions. But you’re not going to find them in your refrigerator, on a pastry cart, or in a restaurant. You’ll have to look deeper. First step: Learn to recognize and acknowledge emotional overeating for what it is so you can start eating to satisfy real hunger, and not give in to a habit of using food to distract yourself from dealing with feelings.
Look at the Way You Eat
How you eat can be more important than what you eat. The total amount of food you eat, your attitude toward food, how you balance your meals and snacks, and your personal eating habits can play a much bigger role in emotional overeating than the specific foods you choose to eat. Take time to analyze your eating patterns, learn more about normal eating vs. emotional overeating, and develop new self-help strategies to address both your emotional and physical relationships with food. Practice saying “no,” not only to unhealthy foods, but also to emotionally-charged situations that sabotage your efforts to develop better eating habits. (Photo: Unsplash, Ella Olsson)
This information is not designed to replace a physician’s independent judgment about the appropriateness or risks of a procedure for a given patient. Always consult your doctor about your medical conditions. Remedy Health Media & PsyCom do not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Use of this website is conditional upon your acceptance of our User Agreement.
You’re good about eating healthy during the week, but on the weekends? Well, that’s another story.
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“The week often brings stress and a strict diet mentality. Then the weekend signals relaxation. People often associate eating and food with stress relief,” says registered dietitian Lauren Sullivan, RD.
But she has the antidote to weekend binge eating. Follow her tips for healthy eating all week long.
Why do I eat so much on the weekends?
There are many reasons people eat and drink too much on weekends. And interestingly, Sullivan says that diet culture is often to blame.
“People get so in tune with being regimented about how they eat during the week that it gives them perceived freedom on the weekends to eat whatever the heck they want to,” she says. “Some people call them ‘cheat days.’ Others say, ‘It’s my day off, so I shouldn’t have to think about it.’ It takes the pressure off.”
Six ways to stop weekend overeating
Sullivan says it’s a myth that you have to eat like a bird to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight. Instead, adopt these six habits to transform into a weekend eating warrior.
1. Just say no to cheat meals
No cheat meals? Say it ’aint so. But before you close your browser window, Sullivan says it’s more about eating consistently than banning certain foods.
“Cheat meals are not good for your body. They can lead to weekend binge eating and overeating, which is not healthy. People who overeat can become physically bloated and feel sick. They can also develop eating disorders,” Sullivan explains. “When you get compulsive about being strict during the week, it sets you up for a free-for-all, which is not healthy for your body or mental state.”
It’s also hard for your body to process too many calories at once. Instead, the body stores them. “So you go from these periods of your body getting what it needs and having a consistent metabolism to storage mode, which is how people gain weight.”
The solution? Have a small treat when you want to throughout the week. Then, you’ll be less likely to go overboard on weekends.
2. Practice mindful eating
Mindful eating means not scarfing your food as fast as possible but, rather, slowing down and enjoying the good vibes that your food gives you.
“Your mouth waters because you smell something that takes you back to your childhood, or you eat something that has a wonderful mouthfeel. Savoring flavors and making an event of eating allows you to recognize fullness and stop eating when your body has had enough,” Sullivan says.
“So have that piece of cheesecake. When you truly enjoy those first few bites, you may find you don’t need to eat the whole thing.”
Mindful eating also means planning ahead. “If you know you’re going to have a more extravagant dinner, maybe have a lighter lunch or increase your activity throughout the day. Or look at the menu before you go to a restaurant to figure out what you want. Being mindful about your choices means getting an extra 300 calories in a day won’t make or break your diet.”
3. Be consistent
When it comes to weight gain, it’s not just what you eat, but how consistently you eat. “People tend to save all their calories for nighttime, so they don’t eat anything throughout the day. Then, by the time dinner rolls around, they’re famished. But the body can’t mindfully eat because it just needs food,” says Sullivan. “You’re so physically hungry that you overeat the food you didn’t allow yourself to eat throughout the day.”
Instead, start your day with a well-balanced breakfast and don’t skip meals. Being consistent gives you more self-control in your food choices and the moment.
4. Start a food journal
Don’t underestimate the power of a visual. “I had a client who gained weight over the last year, and swore they were eating everything the same. When they started logging their food, we saw that they had added a new nighttime snack routine. If you can see it, then you can change it.”
5. Adopt healthy habits
Sullivan recommends incorporating healthy habits into your life. “One study compared parents who drank sugar-laden drinks and those who didn’t. The parents who drank sugary beverages had a much higher incidence of obesity, as did their elementary school-aged kids. And about 70 or 80% of people who are obese as kids will have obesity in adulthood,” she reports. “One major way to prevent this is to avoid extra calories from sugar.”
A great healthy habit for snacks and meals, Sullivan says, is to include 5 portions of vegetables and/or fruits per day. That can help you feel full on bulky, low-calorie items.
Exercise is another healthy habit that will help. “But don’t do it to burn off the calories you ate. Do it to keep a healthy body.”
6. Slow down
When you eat, your brain and stomach are having a conversation — but it can take a while. “It takes 20 to 25 minutes for your brain to give you that satiety feeling and your stomach to distend. When you eat too quickly, you don’t recognize fullness before you overeat.”
To see this process in action, look no further than Thanksgiving. “People eat a whole plate of food in 10 minutes and then have a second helping because they don’t feel full yet. Then they eat a piece of pie, and suddenly, the food coma hits.”
Ultimately, Sullivan says it’s important to liberate yourself from old-fashioned food rules. There are no “bad” foods, so eat them in moderation when the mood strikes — even on weekdays. Food can be both fuel and fun, and staying consistent with your eating habits throughout the week is key.
Food freedom gives you more choices — and fewer reasons to weekend binge eat. “If you still feel an urgency or compulsion to eat, you may have a binge eating disorder that a behavioral psychologist or doctor could help you with. But often, it’s a matter of setting yourself up to be healthy and not go overboard. Nothing’s off limits if you’re mindful about what you’re doing.”
If you’ve prepared for isolation you may well have full cupboards and a fridge or freezer that now call out to you all hours of the day
- 07:00, 5 APR 2020
Life as we know it has changed dramatically following the global Covid-19 outbreak.
Everyone has a different way of handling things, and a situation like this can lead some people to stress eat.
While there are plenty of jokes about over eating during quarantine, for many it is a difficult issue.
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Between home working, homeschooling, anxiety over the threat of coronavirus and the uncertainty of isolation, we are all super stressed.
April is Stress Awareness Month, and one of the ways our stress can often manifest is through eating. Many turn to food when we’re busy, bothered and bewildered by the amount we have to do right now.
If you’ve prepared for isolation you may well have full cupboards and a fridge or freezer that now call out to you all hours of the day. From the biscuit tin to the bread bin via the stocks of crisps and snacks, the temptation to turn to food when things are getting on top of us has arguably never been greater.
Registered nutritionist Saadia Noorani says: “When you are feeling stressed your body sends out cortisol known as the stress hormone. Cortisol can increase your appetite and may make you crave sugary, salty and fatty food because your brain thinks it need fuel to fight whatever threat is causing the stress.
Nutrition expert, Jenny Tschiesche, adds: “Stress eaters tend to eat mindlessly, that is to say without thought for why they’re eating. Significantly, they also tend to crave sweet foods and unhealthy, processed foods when stressed. Essentially, stress can lead to the brain telling us to seek pleasure from food that is high in fat and sugar.
“It has been shown that if stress is experienced again and again our body simply ramps up the production of cortisol.
“This escalating production of cortisol sends signals to the brain to seek pleasurable foods high in fat and sugar and then sends excess calories to the abdomen which is why stress eaters often carry their weight around their belly as opposed to their whole body.”
Stress eating vs comfort eating
Many people “comfort eat” and for some it isn’t a huge problem, reveals transformational coach Katherine Baldwin who has worked with clients who experience stress eating .
“It’s momentary. The problem is when comfort eating turns into binge eating, which can lead to weight gain, or when we become mentally obsessed with what we’re eating, how much we’ve eaten or how much weight we’ve gained.
“Stress eating can be overlooked. We can rationalise it. Many people eat more than they need on occasion. In some cases, it doesn’t impact our weight or our mental health.
“But the problem is when it turns into a mental obsession, impacts our health or derails other areas of our life, such as our relationships. By eating on stress, we disconnect from ourselves and our true feelings. This disconnection from self makes it very difficult to have healthy relationships with others.”
Managing the emotions not the food
Stress eating is also sometimes called “mindless eating” so one of the first things to do is try and be aware of your triggers, says Tschiesche. “One way to check in with yourself is to maintain a food journal, either in physical journal form or on an app.”
Baldwin agrees that a food diary is a simple way to keep track of things when the world is in chaos around you. “A relaxed food diary will help us to see whether it’s time to eat, whether we’re actually hungry, and to pinpoint the times when we’re reaching for food to mask our emotions.
“It will also help us to identify the triggers that lead to overeating so that we can avoid those triggers,” she says.
So how can we try to find balance, especially in a world where we are faced with ‘all the food’ at home in isolation?
Getting your body moving is a great way to get your endorphins flowing, and can provide a distraction by simply taking up the time that you might otherwise be snacking or mindless eating.
“Eating a healthy and balanced diet is key to helping our bodies manage the physiological changes caused by stress,” says Noorani.
“Choose wholegrains, pulses fruit and vegetables. Wholegrain cereals, pulses, lentils, nuts, fruit and vegetables are rich in a range of vitamins and minerals that our body needs to function properly. They are also digested slowly helping to control our blood sugar levels.”
Also include oily fish in your diet if you can, she says. “It is recommended to eat at least two portions of fish a week, of which one should be oily. Currently we aren’t meeting this recommendation in the UK. Oily fish include salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring. A portion is 140g.”
Making careful swaps
Some, but not all, stress-based eaters find that simply swapping in healthier alternatives can help, says Tschiesche.
“Those who crave chocolate for example can find a couple of squares of dark chocolate in place of copious amounts of milk chocolate or some San Pellegrino water with fruit juice in place of fizzy drinks can help for example.”
And drink lots of water! Noorani says: “Aim to drink at least six to eight glasses of non-caffeinated drinks during the day as even slight dehydration can affect your mood.”
Lose weight when excessive stress may sometimes stimulate overeating. It is a stage of your mind that you are not aware that you are eating too much. Often tension of examinations for students and work stress, unknowingly they start eating more, maybe at small intervals. Unaware, that the intake of calories has increased accordingly their body weight.
Stress can occur due to any change in the situation or atmosphere. An effect on the mental health of the people, different ages has distinctive reasons to feel stressed. Did you know that a kid can be facing a stressful environment? The mind can undergo under the condition of pressure with build-up confusions and pressure halt. Thinking about how to do it? What to do? And, how can we do?
Now while we are in the lock down phase most of us are feeling stressed, it may be for any reason or maybe no reason. Hereby these ways or ideas can help to overcome stress:
Exercise :
One of the best ways to overcome miserable thoughts that forces you to overeat is to perform the exercises. Situations may come when regular and on-time exercise cannot be possible, as your mind does not want. So, do when you like or you want but you should try to exercise or meditate regularly to revive freshness and improvise mental health.
Meditation and yoga are traditional ways to gain relief against mental illness. Yoga poses such as Ananda Balasana, Uttanasana, Balasana, and Paschimottanasana that can be performed daily to remove stress.
Discuss, if you are stressed : Often the best medicine to fight with your mental illness is to speak your heart out. It can be your parents or your friends, even husband and wife should speak about the reason they are feeling stressed.
Instead of overeating and gaining weight, it is best to talk to someone. It will help to lose weight as you are sure not to eat excessively.
Drink and Stay Hydrated : Often you lose weight by maintaining a strong diet chart, it is important to concentrate while you are eating. You should always be aware of the time you are eating, more than three to four times of large appetite bites is not normal of hunger. Being conscious of when you are feeling are hungry and when you are feeling like eating. Drinking fruit juices with ice cubes can make you feel better. Above all, you will stay hydrated at home.
Stay busy, do your daily work and activities : While you are stressed it does not mean that all the work you have to do is excused. All your regular tasks and work are necessary to complete and sitting idle with intense value to stress will no longer help to fight mental illness.
Lose weight with effective control of diet and maintaining healthy practices. Encourage yourself to eat nutritious food with control of frequent bites. Know and understand your weakness if you are in stress. All of us do not eat too much while they are in stress but no interest in work or activity are signs of stress and only food intake will defy your normal weight. Developing a healthy mind to take control of yourself and lead instead of your mind controlling you.
It’s easy to go overboard this time of year.
When celebrations revolve around delicious food and drink, it’s easy to go overboard. And what’s better than eating your favorite dishes and clinking glasses with a cocktail?
That is, until you cross the line from satisfied to overstuffed. But it happens—and usually only takes one too many cookies to get there.
So, in that spirit, here are some expert tips below to feel better after overeating and also avoid overdoing it too much this season.
Acknowledge how you feel.
“Overeating, is eating past comfortable fullness or satiety,” echoes registered dietician Taylor Wolfram. “This could be an uncomfortable physical feeling of fullness in the stomach or acid reflux. Everyone feels their hunger and fullness in unique ways and it’s important to be mindful while eating to learn what your individual cues feel like.”
Some signs you overate might include feeling so full you can’t move well, stomach pain, headache, exhaustion, gas pains, bloating, and fatigue, says Aaptiv trainer Jaime McFaden. You may also experience a sense of being “foggy” or even slightly down in the dumps.
But don’t rush to judge yourself for grabbing an extra helping or the last slice of pie. Simply note how you feel and ask yourself if you’re truly still hungry. If not, put down the fork to give yourself some time to digest.
Move your body—within reason.
You may feel inclined to zone out on the couch after a big meal, but try to keep moving. It’ll help reduce pressure on your stomach and minimize heartburn. However, that doesn’t mean you should immediately head outside for a run or grab the weights.
Too much exercise after a big meal can put additional stress on your body by increasing cortisol and adrenal levels, which could negatively impact your metabolism altogether, says McFaden.
Wolfram agrees, “Exercise should not be used as a tool to ‘make up for’ food choices or to ‘erase’ overindulgence.” She adds, “Exercise should be about moving our bodies in ways that make us feel good, no matter our eating habits.”
Aaptiv trainer Candice Cunningham encourages people to be consistent with exercise without trying to use it to “solve” overeating. “If you consistently work out, then keep doing it. You don’t have to overdo it just because you ate a little too much yesterday.”
Don’t restrict foods.
We’ve all been there: after eating five breadsticks, you swear you’ll never touch them again. Then, you skip dinner and put yourself on a salad diet for next 48 hours. Most experts agree this approach will likely backfire.
“Many people overeat because they’ve been restricting,” says Wolfram. “If you label a food ‘bad’ and tell yourself you shouldn’t have it, you’re more likely to overeat it. When we give ourselves unconditional permission to eat, we’re less likely to obsess about certain foods or find ourselves overeating them,” she says.
Rather, aim for balance by sticking to a nutritional meal plan most of the time. Take your time while enjoying a meal, and sit down to eat without distraction, whenever possible. Also, use simple tools and tricks to hold yourself accountable. McFaden employs what she calls the “apple theory,” which works like this: when you think you’re hungry, ask yourself if you’d eat an apple right then. If the answer is no, you might be eating due to habit or a mental craving. And Cunningham uses the 80/20 rule—“if you’re eating decent portions of nutrient-dense food 80% of the time,” she says, “you can have splurges here and there. Consistency is key, and you’ll feel and look better, too.”
Ask for help.
A pattern of overeating or frequently exercising to cancel out certain foods may indicate a deeper issue at stake, which should be discussed with a professional.
“The National Eating Disorders Association defines a binge as ‘eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances,” says Wolfram. “Overeating is eating past comfortable fullness (see the hunger/fullness scale). Anyone who is struggling with their relationship with food should consider working with a registered dietitian.”
Developing a positive relationship with food is critical, says McFaden. She recommends learning the basics of nutrition and what your body needs. This way you can make better decisions at the grocery store and while meal planning. The same is true for exercise: view your workouts as a tool to help you feel your best, be strong, increase energy levels, ward off disease, and achieve fitness goals—not an activity that rules your schedule, nor an excuse to eat whatever you want.
“When exercise is used to compensate for food choices, it becomes unhealthy,” states Wolfram. “If someone is chronically overeating, they should work with a registered dietitian nutritionist to help understand what is at the root of the behavior, and develop strategies to achieve a healthier relationship with food.”
Let Aaptiv help with your fitness routines. We have the classes and workouts you’re sure to love. Check out a bunch of workout samples here.
Let it go.
Once you know you’ve overeaten, do your best to move on and set yourself up for future success—minus the guilt trip or shame talk along the way. Also, read the research on boosting your metabolism.
“It isn’t about being 100% perfect,” shares Cunningham. “Start with aiming to get eight glasses of water in and eating three meals. Then the next day, eat no refined carbs in the mix, then the next day the same deal. Use positive reinforcement to get back on track,” she concludes.
“When it comes to having a healthy relationship with food, what happened in the past shouldn’t dictate what happens in the future,” adds Wolfram. “Just because someone overeats doesn’t mean they need to skip a meal or go on a diet. Listening to internal hunger and fullness cues and eating mindfully are what matters most.”
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