One of the greatest challenges facing us here in the US
continues to be obesity and general health issues that are
associated with being overweight, which it seems more and
more of our population is these days. Recent studies
confirm that one of the reasons the American culture has
such serious struggles with obesity and weight control is
our inability to figure out when to stop eating.
In fact, when Americans were contrasted with another
culture that is often touted for having one of the lowest
obesity rates as well as less health issues associated with
being overweight, the French, it was found that the French
respond to different cues that tell them when to stop
eating than Americans do.
Americans cited outside factors many times to determine
when they were finished eating, whereas the French who were
questioned cited internal cues, from their bodies, to
determine when to stop eating.
Americans cited things like when their television show was
over, or when their plate was empty, or everyone else was
done eating, while the French commonly cited their cue as
their level of satiety, whether they were full or not, and
also whether they felt they needed to continue eating.
It is clear that listening to internal rather than external
cues dramatically increases the likelihood that one will
stop eating when their body has signaled it has had
adequate "fuel" for the time being.
As you can see, those who felt more influenced by their
external environments were more likely to keep chomping
away, even if their bodies felt totally satisfied. It may
also be that the different groups pace their eating
differently. I, as an American, notice quite a few people
who seem to eat very quickly, and this can really sabotage
anyone's attempts at weight control or weight loss.
Why? Well, because if you are eating at a pace faster than
your body can signal the brain that it is full, you've
passed your window of opportunity to stop eating while
you're actually satiated, and you will continue to eat past
that point.
Yep, that's the all too common occurrence we get where you
feel like you're busting at the seams from overeating.
You've most likely either taken too little time to eat and
not given your brain enough time to catch up, or you've
ignored your "full" cues and kept on going.
I've done it many times myself, and often wonder what
possessed me to keep eating beyond the point at which I
felt "full". Perhaps it was because the food just tasted
too good, or, if I dug down even further, there is usually
some external cues that are going on that influenced me.
Take for example Thanksgiving dinners and other settings
where the American culture has made it almost "expected"
that you stuff yourself silly. You may actually feel that
it is abnormal to stop eating when satisfied in certain
social situations, and those thought processes are
precisely why our nation has a very hard time with
controlling our weight.
Some of the best advice I ever got was to chew my food
completely, and to make sure I savor and enjoy every bite.
I was taught by example, thankfully, by my mother, who
always ate very slowly, and who also incidentally happens
to still be very trim in her mid fifties thanks to her
common sense approach to eating.
I learned to eat slowly and enjoy the food, instead of
"inhaling" it as some people would say. I feel this has
greatly improved my weight control abilities because I
notice that I'm much more attuned to when my body tells me
it has had enough. I may not have cleaned my plate, but
who cares if they are just excess calories my body will
store as fat anyways?
Another good piece of advice is to use smaller plates, this
way we are not filling up a larger plate, and that
subconscious thought that we should clean our plates won't
sabotage our diets and make us eat larger amounts due to
larger plates and servings.
If you're really watching what you eat and want to control
your portions, I have heard the suggestion that taking a
teaspoon full of fiber may help you to eat less when taken
about a half hour before a meal.
The fiber will expand in the stomach, leaving less room for
food, and making you feel full faster, and consequently
lowering your caloric intake. Many people say this is
their favorite diet trick because it fools them into eating
less.
You may want to avoid sugar substitutes in your diet.
While this may seem counterintuitive, there is a lot of
emerging evidence that sugar substitutes actually make us
eat more in the long run because they do not satisfy our
natural sugar cravings, they in fact increase our cravings
for sugars and carbs.
Last but not least, try very hard not to watch your
television while eating. There are numerous studies that
show that people eat a lot more while sitting in front of
their television than if they are sitting at the dinner
table, because they are more likely to ignore their
internal cues that they are full or satisfied.
So, sit at the table and have some good conversation at
your next meal time. This creates a definite, set aside
time for eating, which will help train you to listen to
your internal cues better. Because it most likely will
include conversation, it will also increase the time you
have you mouth full, and give your brain more time to catch
up with the cues being sent from the stomach.
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Danna Schneider is the founder of a popular online source
for dieting and weight loss, including this which is a
review of a 12 hour hunger suppressing diet patch
http://www.dietingmagazine.com/transdermal-diet-patches.html
. She also founded http://www.fitnessnewsmagazine.com , an
online help site dedicated to reviews of exercise
equipment, the latest offerings and breakthroughs in
physical fitness, and workouts and more.
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