Are you an Overeater? Probably not and here is why.
Posted on August 25, 2013 by Toni Stobie-Hartley, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.
Overeating may not have anything to do with your willpower...
Awareness around your meals is key to digesting, metabolism and absorbing nutrients.
Are you someone who says:
1. I eat too much
2. I can’t control my appetite
3. I have a willpower problem with food
4. I am an overeater
Those might be the words you use or maybe not. There seems to be as many descriptions of overeating as there are people. Let’s sum it up by saying that you might believe that you eat too much.
Some people may eat too much but for most there is something very interesting going on and it doesn’t have anything to do with willpower! It has to do with the the phase of digestion related to our brains. The cephalic phase digestive response.
Those old biology classes taught us that there are 3 phases to digestion- but it didn’t mention that between 30-40% of our digestion is related to this “head phase of digestion”-the saliva produced, the pancreatic enzymes and the stomach acids secreted.
If we are not taking the time to be aware of how and what we are eating we are missing out on our bodies natural ability to digest, metabolize and absorb the nutrition from our food. Sounds simple right? It is much harder to put into practice with our busy lives.
How many times do we consume a meal and don’t even remember anything about it-how it tasted, how it smelled, the texture, the taste, how it made us feel? Learning to slow down can have a profound effect on the amount of food that we eat. When it takes our brains 20 minutes to know that we are full we can pile in an awful lot of calories!
Here are some tips on how to slow down in front of our plates:
1. Sit down to eat-and not in the car!
2. Look at your food
3. Smell your food
4. Taste your food
5. Breathe while you eat
6. Be the last one at the table to finish a meal
7. Enjoy the experience
Taking the time to be awake at the plate will have you feeling full, fed and losing weight without even trying. The psychology of food and eating is powerful stuff. Food psychology coaching can be a great way to get in touch with your body, your weight and your health.
Are you ready to change the small things at the table to achieve the big things in your life?
If you are interested in one-on-one food psychology coaching please contact me.
