Losing Weight While Conserving Food and Money
Don’t be surprised if this sounds familiar. I’ve talked before about being mindful of what you eat. Tonight, I’m going to be a little more specific.
Now, you’ve tried the diet food frozen dinners and expensive fresh vegetables and all the price tags that come with “good, healthy food”. It was over-priced, the portions were unsatisfying, and the more you stuck to it, the more you wanted to break away. Chances are, you eventually caved and got some junk food to compensate for weeks of steamed broccoli. This is unnecessary and unhelpful. Just remember one thing: Only eat when you are hungry.
This phrase encompasses a lot of things. First off, eat slowly to give your food time to hit your stomach. Don’t eat until you are full; eat until you are no longer hungry. Don;t force yourself to clean your plate or finish the bag. Very often when we are young our elders tell us to finish all of our food, but you need to break that mentality. One serving of food may not always be satisfying on its own, but I guarantee you don’t need or want as much as you get. So, the first rule attributed to the phrase is to stop eating when you stop feeling hungry.
Next, let’s talk about eating habits that are not related to hunger. For example, when you watch a movie, you are likely to eat popcorn whether you are hungry or not. Likewise, you may eat hotdogs at a ball game or chips at a party. Don’t. When you find yourself wanting these things, ask yourself if you’re actually hungry, or if you just want it because you’re used to it. If it’s the latter, try to resist the temptation. Chew a stick of gum or suck on a mint to distract yourself. Most of all, if you’re not hungry, don’t buy/make snacks.
I’ll give you a personal example from tonight. I had lunch with my team and dinner with my fiance and his friend. My first example comes at lunch. There was plenty of delicious pizza available that I wanted, but after two slices I stopped and allowed the food to hit my stomach. After it had, my hunger was gone, and I no longer crazed the pizza so strongly. Thus, I was able to resist. Likewise, at dinner, the portions were huge, so I ate about half and boxed the rest for later to avoid feeling wasteful. Six hours later (11pm), my fiance was hungry again yet I was not. I went downstairs with him to keep his company while he made fries for himself. I can feel myself tempted to eat fries as well, even though I know I’m not hungry. To resist temptation, I left the kitchen and went back our room. He ate the fries downstairs and, as for me, it was out of sight and out of mind.
I would really recommend this method of getting out of the kitchen or food area to a food-free zone to practice the out-of-sight trick. If you really are hungry, obviously you’ll still be hungry in another room, but if it’s psychological, your craving will significantly lessen.
