Feel Full Without Gaining Weight
By Paul Rothbart
Maintaining a healthy weight is important to overall health. For many, losing weight and keeping it off is quite challenging. Counting calories can seem to be torturous, cutting back on the amount of food consumed. Hunger seems to be a constant companion. The inability to feel full and satisfied can be distracting, unpleasant, and is a constant temptation to fall off the diet wagon. But successfully dieting does not mean you can never feel full. By employing a method called intuitive eating, you can feel satisfied without putting on those extra pounds.
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is having a healthy relationship with food and your body. It's a greater awareness of which foods you enjoy and when you truly need to eat. Rather than diet, you make a lifestyle change. Eating becomes a way of giving your body the nutrition it needs and your mind the pleasant sensory experience of a good meal. Be mindful of your body's needs. If you feel hungry, eat. Consuming three large meals a day is not a law. Eating more frequent, smaller meals can help you feel full without the extra calories. If you wait for a specific time you may become so hungry that you overeat.
Accept Your Body and Appetite
Feeling guilty over being overweight can be so stressful that it causes you to throw in the towel and binge eat. Accept yourself the way you are and feel confident that you are working on losing the extra weight. Learn to know when you are full and stop at that point. Cleaning your plate is ingrained in many of us from childhood but you don't have to finish everything. Eat slowly and take the time to really enjoy your food. Shoveling it all in quickly makes it hard to appreciate the flavors and then you eat more to experience the tastes you missed.
Don't Eat for Comfort
The main purpose of eating is to get nutrition into the body. It can also be a pleasurable experience that adds to the quality of life. But eating should never be used to relieve stress or anxiety. This is a sure way to pack on extra weight. Find other ways to relax. Take a warm bath, practice yoga or meditation. Listening to music or engaging in a favorite hobby are also effective stress reducers. Don't eat when you aren't hungry. It may feel good in the moment, but if you gain that extra weight, you will certainly feel stressed.
Losing pounds and keeping them off can seem to be at odds with satisfying one's hunger. But it doesn't have to be that way. By practicing intuitive eating, you can stay full and maintain a healthy weight.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Humble, Tex.