What are Your Eating Cues?
When you understand why you eat when you aren't hungry you can take positive steps to prevent it from happening again. Do you eat when you are feeling down or lonely? When you are engaging in certain habits or activities? Because the weather is gloomy? Or simply because food is put in front of you?
Next time you catch yourself heading to the pantry when you aren't hungry, think about your motivations for wanting to eat. Then you can work toward re-gaining control of how you respond to your cues. Try removing the cue (e.g. take the packet of chips away from the TV room if you eat when you watch TV). Or you can actively respond to the cue in a different way (e.g. call a friend instead of heading to the kitchen when you are bored).
Don't be disheartened if you don't succeed in changing your habits straight away. Change is a process that takes time, dedication and the courage to persevere - even when you don't succeed.
Measure Your HungerBe aware of when you are engaging in hungry eating because hunger is an appropriate cue to eat. To ascertain your level of hunger, try using the following scale to rate your hunger before eating, then five minutes after you have started eating and then again when you have finished your meal:
Rating / Physical Sensation
1 Starvation, physical pain
2 Definite physical symptoms: headache, low energy, light headed feeling, empty stomach
3 Beginning of physical signs of hunger
4 Could eat if suggestion was made
5 Neutral
6 Satisfied
7 Feel food in stomach
8 Stomach protrudes, beginning of mood alteration
9 Bloated, definite mood alteration
10 Definitely full: physical pain and numbness
People who are successful at weight loss generally wait until they are at a rating of 2 or 3 before they eat, and then they only eat to a rating of 6.
Remember that you are in control of how you respond to your eating cues. And when you control how you respond to your eating cues, you can start to control your weight.
Reference: Kausman, R. 1998. If Not Dieting, Then What? Allen & Unwin
I'm curious to know how this technique fits in with the "must eat every 2 - 3 hours" theory?
ReplyDeleteWe recommend eating approximately every 3 hours because it helps to keep your blood glucose levels steady. When your blood glucose levels are steady you are less likely to feel hungry, which means that you are less likely to make inappropriate food choices and eat too much. Most people feel physical hunger signals every 3 hours (rumbling tummy, low energy) and this is an appropriate reason to eat.
ReplyDeleteRegular eating also raises your metabolic rate (or keeps it high). If you don't eat every 3 hours, skip meals or find yourself too busy to eat or to listen to your body's hunger signals, you will have a lowered metabolic rate. When you start to eat every 3 hours (even in the absence of physical hunger), your metabolic rises very quickly and you will start to feel hunger on a regular basis again.
When choosing your meals and snacks, choose healthy foods and make your portion sizes large enough to keep you feeling satisfied for 2-3 hours.
Non-hungry eating is different to hungry eating because it is a trigger to eat regardless of the amount of time since your last meal, and regardless of whether or not you are feeling hungry. As an example of non-hungry eating, imagine someone who is at a barbeque. They ate a steak and salad 20 minutes ago and they don't feel hungry anymore. However there are chips and dips sitting on the table in front of them so they eat them regardless.
:o
ReplyDelete