Nutrient Density - Part 1
How to Eat - Important Habits
In this part you’ll learn new eating habits that will automatically adjust your eating to be more in balance with your day-to-day energy needs. You can do these two sections together or one at a time…whatever feels best for you.
I’ve found that habit-based changes are much harder AND more effective than food-based changes. Give yourself some time and kindness when working through these ideas…it’s well worth the work <3.
Reacquaint yourself with hunger
As we get older our metabolism can slow down and our energy output goes down. Add to that any change in routine (like staying home more than usual) and this can create a minor change in how much fuel our body needs each day. Over time, this extra bit of food each day can lead to 10 – 20 pounds (or more) of extra weight.
But, as humans, we’re creatures of habit. It’s hard to adjust our food intake for these small day-to-day changes. Plus, many of us have been trained since childhood to always clean our plate, so our relationship to our hunger signals can be weak.
By reacquainting yourself with your hunger signals, your body will do all of the work for you. Your body knows exactly how much food it needs each day, and by following your hunger, you can adjust your food intake easily.
Keep in mind – you’ll be breaking a big food habit with this exercise. We all tend to eat at certain times of the day and eat the same portions. It can feel a bit frustrating and jarring at first…so be patient.
Also – sometimes your response will be “No! I’m not hungry, but I want to eat this anyways!!”. And that’s totally okay. What matters most is that you’re aware that you’re not actually hungry. This awareness is key and over time you’ll find that the urge to eat when you’re not hungry will quiet down.
Or, you may not be hungry, but there’s no other time of the day to eat this meal. That’s okay too…just be extra present and conscious when you eat so you don’t overfill your stomach.
What does hunger feel like?
Real hunger is a slight dip in energy, an empty feeling in your stomach, and a feeling like, “it would be really nice to eat something within the next hour or so”.
Hunger is not demanding, doesn’t change your personality (“hangries”), or cause any major physical symptoms like shaking or headaches. These are all symptoms of a blood sugar crash.
If you find yourself feeling these symptoms often, hop over to the Blood Sugar Balancing Masterclass first. Once your blood sugar is more balanced, everything becomes easier :)
How to notice hunger –
Most of us grab some food because the clock says its mealtime or snack time, but how do we know we’re actually hungry?
Real hunger (not a blood sugar crash) is a really quiet signal at first…it only gets louder when your body really needs food. Since it’s a quiet little voice, it takes a quiet moment to hear it.
Before making a meal or snack, ask yourself: Am I hungry?
Listen to your body. Does your stomach feel empty? What does your body feel like?
If you’re hungry, make some food. If you’re not, wait (if you can).
Lastly, finish eating when you feel full. The “eating mindfully” section can help you with that.
Over time, you’ll start to notice what hunger feels like, and then you won’t have to check-in so often. Notice if you need all of the snacks you have each day. What happens if you skip it? What happens if breakfast is a bit later? Or if dinner is earlier….do you need an after-work snack?
Also, are there times when you push through hunger? You’re hungry but you don’t have time (or don’t want to make time) to eat. Notice these body cues and see what happens later to your energy, hunger, and mood.
Spending time getting reacquainted with your hunger signals can be very important as your body changes over time. You’re allowing your body to dictate how much fuel it receives each day, so you don’t have to do the guesswork!
Eat mindfully, eat slowly
The easiest way to automatically manage your portion sizes is by adopting a surprisingly hard (but so worth it!) new habit – eating slowly and mindfully.
(I know, I’ve mentioned this in many masterclasses, but it’s SO important and SO hard…so it deserves many mentions :).
Did you know that the fastest eaters I see are always women who’ve had children?
It totally makes sense; for YEARS you’ve had to wolf down food while trying to get food into the mouths of youngsters. It’s not an easy task.
But, if they’re grown, it’s time to learn a new habit – eating slower and chewing well. It’s well worth it.
(if you’ve still got small kids…do your best, but also be kind to yourself through this stage)
Benefits of eating slowly and mindfully –
It’s almost impossible to overeat (it’s too boring and you’ll feel full)
Better digestion (heaviness in the belly, burping, bloating, & gas frequently go away)
You’ll enjoy your meal more
Healthy food will taste better, fast food won’t (healthy food tastes better as you chew, fast food was meant to be eaten quickly)
Eating slowly and mindfully involves 4 little steps:
1. Choose to eat – are you hungry? Do you want to eat this? Decide if this is something you want to eat.
2. Find a place to eat your food – mindful eating is done best when not distracted by the tv.
3. Take a deep breath and relax – you’re either stressed or you’re digesting. A moment to relax before eating makes a big difference.
4. Chew your food well – put your fork down between bites and concentrate on what you’re chewing. Taste it and enjoy it. Swallow when it’s fully chewed.
Sounds simple, right? But, eating is something we’ve done many times a day for our whole life, so changing our eating habits can be hard at first. Give yourself about 2 weeks to really sink into this new habit. Once you’ve got it, it’s hard to eat quickly again.
Bonus – Eat off a smaller plate or bowl
Sometimes, we need to trick our brain…and it’s pretty easily tricked. Let me tell you about two studies that highlight how easy it is to trick our brain.
The Refilling Bowl
Researchers gave two groups of people as much soup as they could eat. One group was given a large bowl in the middle of their table and were told to refill their bowl as much as they’d like. The other group had these specially made bowls with a tube coming up through the table that kept their bowls full all the time.
Both groups were told to eat as much as they’d like and stop when they’re pleasantly full. All participants stopped when they felt full.
But, how much each group ate was very different.
The group that had to manually refill their bowl when it was empty ate SIGNIFICANTLY less than the group who had the automatically refilling bowl. Overall, they ate 73% more than the other group!
Let that sink in for a moment – they ate almost twice as much food BUT didn’t feel like they had overconsumed or eaten more than the other group.
Our brains are easily tricked…and we can use this to our advantage :)
Here’s the study if you’d like to know more about it.
Disgusting Popcorn
A theatre full of moviegoers were surprised one evening with free popcorn. A group of researchers gave each person their own box of popcorn.
Two sizes were given – one that was GIANT and the other was even bigger (it was jokingly described as about the size of a child’s swimming pool). The researchers wanted to give two different sizes and have them both be bigger than anyone could possibly eat in one sitting.
But there was something special about this popcorn – it was terrible. It was at least 3 days old and so stale that it squeaked when bitten. It was totally inedible popcorn.
Why did they give them disgusting popcorn? They were controlling for popcorn lovers…no one could like this popcorn.
That left the question – would the people who got the larger container eat more popcorn? Eat more of this inedible, disgusting popcorn that should have been thrown away after the first bite?
The short answer is – yes. Yes, they did.
The people with the largest box ate 53% more popcorn! They put their hands into the box and ate, on average, 21 more handfuls of disgusting popcorn than the group with the smaller box. 21 more mouthfuls of the worst popcorn ever!
What we can use from this –
Our brain isn’t as rational as we would like it to be, and it can be easily fooled into eating more. So, let’s use this to our advantage.
Have you noticed that dinner plate sizes have increased A LOT over the last few decades? I wonder how much that’s affected our weight.
Try an experiment – use a smaller plate or bowl when serving your food. Get more if you’re still hungry and stop eating when you’re full and satisfied. Does this affect how much you eat in a meal?
I always use this technique when I’m eating potato chips (they always go in a tiny bowl), and I’ve stopped eating off of some of the larger plates and bowls I have in the house.
I even use this technique for wine – I always pour myself a half glass in a regular-sized wine glass (I stay away from the newer ginormous ones). If I want more wine I pour more, and I find it usually cuts my wine intake in half without cutting my enjoyment of it :)
And, truthfully, 10 years ago I was underweight due to stress, and I found that pulling out those larger bowls and plates worked really well to help me put on a few pounds…so it works both ways :).
Try it out and see how it works for you! And let me know, I’d love to hear about your experience :)
If you have any questions, jump to our private Facebook Group or the Ask Lisa page :)