From: EatWithoutGuilt.com
The other weekend I was at a friend’s house for a party, when all of a sudden a woman came up to me and said “You’re having a piece of cake?”
“Yes,” I said, “and I’m enjoying every single bite.” The woman then replied, “Oh, you must be one of those naturally thin people…I can’t even look at a piece of cake and not put on 5 pounds!”
Little did this woman know that for at least half of my life I dealt with overeating, emotional eating, binge eating, and yo-yo dieting.
Quite often people see me eating a guilty food, see that I’m at a normal weight — so they just assume I’m a “naturally thin person.”
What people don’t realize is that now, I have a relaxed relationship with food. And that was the turning point for me. Changing my relationship with food. So much of what I learned about food, and my relationship to it, really came to light when I lived in France.
But it took time and it didn’t happen overnight. It was the small steps that I took that overtime became part of my lifestyle. It’s so much a part of my lifestyle now that I don’t even stop and think about it. I don’t think about doing or eating this, versus doing or eating that. It just comes naturally.
Here are just some guidelines that YOU can start implementing into your lifestyle:
1) Eat until satisfied, not stuffed. On a fullness scale of 1 to 10, I stop eating at around a 6 or 7. But I find many overeaters keep going until 8 or 10. Why? For some, they’re part of the “clean plate club.” As kids they might have been told about the starving children in the word, or look at not finishing their food as a waste. But it doesn’t have to be. Whatever I don’t finish I save for another time.
2) Use small portions. You know the phrase one’s eyes are bigger than one’s stomach? I find that often happens when I’mreally hungry. So instead of serving what I think I’ll need, I serve myself a little less. If I’m still hungry after that, I’ll take a bit more. But I always wait a few minutes before that second serving. You just might find you don’t need that second serving.
3) Don’t fear hunger. All too often we look at hunger as a condition that needs to be cured, meaning we’re so afraid of being hungry that we eat too often. It’s not the hunger that makes one overeat, often it’s the level of hunger. There’s a difference between a little growling in the stomach and being lightheaded because you haven’t eaten in 10 hours. It’s okay and it’s good to feel hunger. You should be hungry before you eat. Just like the level of fullness, you need to gauge your level of hunger. You want to feel a bit hungry before eating your meal, just not to the point that you’re ravenous, as that’s what often cases overeating.
4) Don’t use food to cure the blues. Sure, we all eat for emotional reasons from time to time, the difference is to recognize when you’re doing it and stop. I always tell my clients that awareness if the first step to changing a behavior. You have to be aware you’re eating for an emotional reason, and then take the steps to change it.
5) Eat more fruits and vegetables. Okay, I know you were secretly wishing this wasn’t true but it is. But I try get my servings of fruits and vegetables most days. And it’s easier than you think. Add fruit to yogurt, on top of cereal, in a smoothie, or even on top of some whole wheat pancakes. You can even have fruit as dessert. And don’t forget your veggies! I have at least one vegetable with lunch and dinner.
6) Get moving. And it doesn’t have to mean strenuous hours at the gym. I only exercise a few days a week for 30-45 minutes each. But I also do little things that add up. I take the stairs when possible and don’t spend 10 minutes looking for the parking spot nearest the entrance. I just park and then walk if need be. You’d be surprise how just moving your body a bit extra makes a big difference.
So follow these simple guidelines, slowly incorporate them into your lifestyle, and then one day you’ll overhear someone saying that you must be a naturally thin person!
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