Only if your body could talk, like would be so much easier.
But unfortunately that does not happen in real life. The most important part of
losing weight and keeping it off is to listen to your body. We all wish it could just say what it
wants. Although your body doesn't have an oral language, it does communicate.
Certainly, you know when your body hurts because you feel pain. You know when
it needs rest because you get the cues like yawns and sleepiness. But are you
able to clearly hear your body communicate when it is time for you to eat and
when it is time to stop eating?
Infants exactly know when to cry for food and
when to stop taking the feed. Changing your perception about being full is the critical first step
toward reaching your ideal size. Notice that an infant does not keep feeding on
milk until he or she is full. Full is actually an uncomfortable feeling.
Wanting to get full from eating is an urge that develops later in life due to
social pressure and outside messages from family and peers. Infants feed only
until their hunger is satisfied and the stomach is comfortable. You were once
an infant too and knew well how to listen your body signals but as you grew up,
you changed your eating habits to accommodate social norms and emotions. But
the good news is, that you can get closer to your original instincts once
again. You just need to recognize and listen to your body signals.
Hunger is a
natural part of the body and it is good to feel hungry. You are supposed to
feel hunger so that you can know when it's time to eat because eating helps
sustain life. You may be thinking that your hunger is out of control. Most
often, it isn't out of control; rather, you have either denied or ignored your
true hunger feelings for so long that you don't recognize them. However,
there's a sort of fake hunger. It comes from stress and anxiety or other
emotions, sometimes from appetite stimulants such as alcohol, prescription
drugs, illegal drugs, or a lack of sleep. The fake hunger is just that. The
communication doesn't come from a hunger pang; more likely it comes from the
mouth, as in an oral chewing need, from emotional feelings, or from thirst.
Hunger
is a pain, and it is felt somewhere above, below, or behind your belly button.
Hunger feels different for different people. For some, it is almost like a
muscle contraction. For others, it's an empty or void feeling. To become
acquainted with your hunger, wait to eat until you feel a hunger pang. For most
people, it takes about two to five hours after the previous meal to feel
hunger. Pay close attention to your stomach initially to feel hunger. Identify
where the physical feelings are located. Listen intently to any rumbling or
growling.
A human stomach is a muscle of 25 centimeters ( 10 inches) which can expand and hold 2-4 litres of food and water but that is the discomforting situation. In our body we have 2 hormones which regulate appetite, Leptin and Ghrelin. Leptin is secreted by the fat cells especially after eating a meal which tells the brain that the stomach is full and one should stop eating. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach lining when it is empty and tells the brain that the stomach needs food and one should eat something. Generally both the hormones work in sync and one goes up, the other goes down regulating your appetite. But when people eat more food than required and increase the fat in the body, the leptin also increases which may make you feel that you will lose weight by the hunger curbing signal of leptin, but here is a twist, as the fat in your body increases, the leptin becomes resistant and stops signaling the brain which means you eat more than your appetite without realizing when you are full. This makes you more fat.
How to eat in control?
·
Don’t be
distracted with all the tempting food around you and in the grocery stores
which can give you fake hunger pangs.
·
Do not
skip breakfast and meals as it can get you more hungry making you eat more than
required food.
·
Do not
watch T.V or talk much while eating as it can divert your attention and you can
land up eating more than your capacity.
·
Chew your
food well as your brain gets the signal of being full from your stomach 20
minutes after eating. Eating too fast can only make you eat more realizing
later how full and uncomfortable you are.
·
Do not
eat when stressed as it can affect your ability to understand true hunger pangs
and you tend to eat more.
·
Avoid
taking large serving sizes as in a buffet spread as one tends to eat more in
such situations.
·
When you get cravings
to eat something for 10 minutes before you put something in your mouth.
Sometimes cravings are fake as well. Try drinking water and see if the cravings
vanish. If not then go ahead and eat something healthy.
·
If you don’t have
time to eat later, it is alright. But do not eat more than your body needs just
because you wouldn’t get to eat later. That will just add to more fat to your
body.
·
Try to set regular
meal timings as they keep your hunger and fullness undercheck. Eat meals at the
same time every day.
·
If you don’t like to
waste food, try taking little in your plate and another serving when you need
more. This just saves you from finishing the excess food in your plate, saving
you from excess fat.