Who's Overeating!?
Overeating is very easy to do. I have been doing it for most of my life. In the past I probably would have denied overeating if asked, but now I know that I really don’t NEED as much food as I WANT to eat most of the time.
Through learning about nutrition and fitness, I have come to realize that we can eat highly nutritious and delicious foods and also have our health and good looks to boot.
In the photo above I am enjoying some of the finest food on the planet at one of our favorite restaurants in Tokyo. It’s called the New York Grill and it gets Northstar’s Five Star Rating. It’s where we like to celebrate! What you see before me was highly rewarding and satisfying. In fact it was amazing! And it was also just enough food to fill me up without overfilling me.
The Big 5
1. Get Sufficient Sleep
On average, we need about 7.5 hours of good sleep per night. Very few of my clients get anything near 7.5 hours. On average, they go to bed around 1 or 2am and get about 5-6 hours of sleep. A lack of sleep is directly linked to overeating as much as 300 more calories per day, according to SleepFoundation.org. Please make sure to make sleep a priority as good sleep can positively affect every area of your life.
2. Eat on Smaller Plates
When is the last time you ordered a pizza and ate the whole thing? Or opened a medium or large-sized Haagen Dazs and hit bottom before you knew it? If you have, join the club!
The point here is that most of us will eat what we are served – what is in front of us.
Personally, I have the most power and stamina when I eat about 4 solid meals per day. Usually, it’s a mixture of some protein (meat, fish, and dairy), carbs (veggies, fruit, oats, rice, sweet potatoes and potatoes) and fats (eggs, nuts, seeds, and MCT oil). I don’t mix fruit and fish in general:-) All jokes aside, each of the 4 meals I eat usually will fit in this seemingly small bowl (I have big hands:-).
Although this bowl is just a reference, using it to gauge my food intake , makes me realize how much I used to overeat.
I challenge you to look at your plate sizes and how much you eat when you are home. Especially take note when you eat at a restaurant that serves very large portions or when you go to a buffet. When we eat on one plate and then go for seconds and thirds, it can end up being 3,000-4,000 calories in one sitting. Unless your goal is to wrestle this gentleman below, do your best to stick to one plate most of the time.
I highly recommend that you decide the amount of food you are going to eat before you eat, rather than having a little more of this and a little more of that. That is why potato chips are in colorful bags. We can’t see the food until it’s near our mouth and then before we know it, the bag is empty.
If after any meal, you feel like this cute little fellow below, you have definitely overeaten.
3. Increase Your Fiber Intake
Oh yes, the carb that most people don’t even think of!
At the very least if you are a woman, you need to be eating over 25 grams of dietary fiber per day and men need to eat over 38 grams per day. Get your fiber from whole foods, not from supplements. If you are not sure how much fiber you are getting I recommend Cronometer, a free app, to track your fiber and other macronutrients and micronutrients.
I have been using the Cronometer Gold Version, as it tracks macronutrients and micronutrients better than any other app I have seen. If you would like a tutorial on it, I would be happy to make one for you. Just let me know.
4. A Little Gas Goes A Long Way
Drinking sparkling water can help you eat less by putting extra pressure on the receptors in your gut, which increases the feeling of being full.
I have used this when I wanted to extend a fast and started to feel hunger pangs. It’s pretty amazing for making you feel suddenly full. I am not into fasting these days and I don’t usually drink water when I eat, but if you like to drink water during your meals, give carbonated water a go and you may notice that you eat less.
5. Eat Real Food
If you eat enough real food – also known as whole foods – you are bound to get enough fiber and micronutrients – vitamins & minerals.
Here are some of the most low calorie, satiating foods:
- Veggies, pumpkin, potatoes, tubers (potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams)
- Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapefruit, tart apples, papaya, peaches
- Vinegar, mustard, spices, herbs
- Egg whites, chicken breast, white fish, organ meats, cottage cheese, Greek Yogurt
Tis the season for pumpkins with Halloween right around the corner. Pumpkin is a truly amazing food that is incredibly fulfilling yet low in calories. Here is a link to more info on pumpkin goodness if you are interested in consuming more pumpkins like this cannibal pumpkin below.
Well, there you have it – 5 easy ways to help you overcome overeating.
I wanted to keep it simple today, so I limited today’s focus to 5 things. There are two more things I intend to write about in the near future in regard to overeating. They are 1) the speed of eating and 2) eating more mindfully (basically looking at your food and enjoying it rather than mindlessly looking at a screen while eating). Please look forward to those articles in the near future.
Your Task for Today
Please apply at least 1 of these 5 ideas today and let us know how it went. If you prefer a slower approach, take a week and focus on one of the ideas here that resonates with you and share your experience. There is power in a positive community so if you are up for connecting with others who are upgrading their lives, comment in our Northstar Fitness Holistic Health Facebook Group. If you click the comment button in the link below, it will take you directly to the post connected to this article, so we will all be on the same page.
Sending you love, power, health, fitness and confidence!
Aloha,
Bodhi
