What we all essentially enjoy doing is to eat food, and varieties of it. We eat when we’re happy, sad, or hungry. We enjoy the taste of food, its textures. Upon first bite, the taste flavors burst on our tongues, we absorb the colors while experiencing the surge in our mouths.
We see tempting arrays of food which activates our taste buds, then anticipate to savor and enjoy its flavor. We want to experience its uniqueness. Once we’ve try it and find it irresistibly delicious, we want to eat more of it. Then the next thing you know, we’ve overeaten.
Then your stomach lets you know about it. This overeating becomes a habit, as you begin scolding yourself for not having enough self control, to say no to yourself once you feel full.
But then, it’s really not about restraining yourself. What it all comes down to is getting a healthy balance of what you eat. You can allow yourself to have that occasional sinful treat, but also know how to restrain yourself to say that enough is enough, and be comfortable doing so.
Stopping yourself to a halt isn’t that easy when your taste buds are screaming feed me more. So it becomes helpful to hone your habits which leaves you feeling satisfied, while controlling yourself to stop that urge for extra helpings. What’s required is regulating your appetite better.
Begin By Drinking More Water
What water does is it makes you feel full when you’re really not. It’s more temporary and not to the degree of solid food, but it helps in ways whenever you have that craving.
There are studies which prove drinking amounts of water suppresses appetite. It’s found that those who drink up to 8 cups of water daily, will eat approximately 200 fewer calories.
Another study showed that those who drank 2 cups of water right before meals ate 50 less calories per sitting. You’ll begin to see the benefits by drinking 4 – 16 ounce glasses of water a day.
Some don’t enjoy water because, well, it’s tasteless, too bland. Water doesn’t need to be boring as you can easily flavor it. It’s found that adding fresh orange, lemon, or lime wedges, cucumber slices, fresh mint leaves, or small pieces of assorted fruits adds healthy flavor.
Eating As Consistently As Possible
No one enjoys eating on a schedule, but at times, is found to be the best approach. What your body prefers is food on a consistent set basis. If you don’t accommodate this, what happens is it disrupts the nutrients which you need for sustaining energy and vitality, which alters your appetite, and then you eat more.
It begins with a routine breakfast, which should be eaten within the first hour of waking up. Even just a small healthy natural sugar breakfast helps, such as fresh fruit and some type of protein.
For the remainder of the day, what’s found to be ideal is eating as moderately as possible, preferably every 3 or 4 hours, which includes lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Eating As Well As Possible
There’s a number of resources which shows you how to eat well. Your success will depend on whether you decide to take their advice or not. The message is usually the same.
Eat a few servings of lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy starches such as whole grains, and the “good” fats such as fish, avocados or almonds.
When it comes to giving yourself a snack, make sure that you space it out every few hours and eat moderate portions. What binging does is it adds calories.
Not Thinking Of Food
You may be thinking that you lack the willpower to stop eating, so even if you’re full, you overeat. You think you’re programmed to reach for those cookies or a bag of chips every time that you sit down and watch TV.
There’s a variety of methods that you can use to take your mind off eating, training yourself from reaching for those unhealthy snacks. Begin by spending more time outdoors, meditate, exercise, do whatever it takes to remove the emotion of reaching for food.
Have Fun Exercising
Some will say, I like to workout because then I can eat more. What any type of exercise does is it helps moderate weight, this unless you eat more calories that you burn.
What this attitude promotes, however, exercising so you could eat more, the only reason being so you could gorge eat afterwards, is extremely dangerous and a sure way of gaining weight.
So the idea is to have more fun and enjoy exercise, and don’t focus on you’re doing so to regulate your appetite. Instead, just have fun, play, like the kids at the park do. They don’t think of it as exercise.
So have fun biking, hiking, walking fast, jogging, swimming, dancing, or whatever else you enjoy to do. Join and play organized sports, and then soon, you can’t wait to get out there and exercise to have fun.
Getting Adequate Sleep
It’s found that what not getting enough sleep does is it affects your appetite. You’ll feel hungrier, and this hunger is usually for junk food. There are studies which show that not enough sleep prompts overeating and obesity.
What getting more sleep does is it cuts down the consumption of carbohydrates and fats, which leads to weight loss. What’s recommended is getting at least 7 to 8 hours a night.
What not getting enough sleep also exposes are other health issues such as a weakened immunity, heart disease, and increased stress. If you have a habit of eating before bed, eat foods which promotes sleep, such as bananas, cherries, fortified cereals with milk.