How can you stop your overeating urges?
Warmer weather means more cookouts and barbecues, more hamburgers and hot dogs, and more ice pops and frozen treats. Summer also brings vacations and more free time. And everyone knows relaxation and idleness sometimes promote excessive snacking.
As you are glancing at the food table at your next summer celebration and contemplating returning for another plateful or searching your refrigerator for the third time of the day, remember you are not alone in the fight against overeating.
Although overeating is caused by many factors, the majority of overeating habits stem from eating when there is no physiological need and eating too much when it is time to eat.
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, there are three main strategies to prevent overeating.
- Look at your Food
Simply by paying attention to what is on your plate, you can reduce how much you eat. Research says that removing the visual aspect of food can lead to eating too much, while “eating attentively” positively influences your food intake.
To try this strategy, remove all distractions around you when you are eating. Step away from your phone, computer, and TV, and relax while you recharge your body. Disconnecting from work-related tasks in general can help too, and sometimes it boosts productivity post-meal.
Another way to use this strategy is to take the time to plate your food. If you get takeout, remove your food from the cartons and use plates. Paying attention to what you put on your plate and what you eat can help.
- Beware of Sugar and Salt
Harvard says sugar and salt tantalize your taste buds, making it easy to overeat salty and sweet food. Diminishing the salt and sugar you add to your food and the amount of salty and sugary processed foods you eat will allow your palate to be satisfied with lower amounts of salt and sugar.
To try this technique, take small pieces of sweets or salty snacks and eat slowly to enjoy the bite. Opting for low-sodium versions of salty snacks will help too!
- Change Your Response to Comfort-Food Cravings
It is rare that you think of your relationship with food. Do you eat when you are stressed? When you are bored? When you need emotional comforting? Healthy relationships with food involve eating only when you are hungry. Food fuels the body and prepares you for the ups and downs of daily life. Viewing your food as a source of nutrition instead of a crutch for emotional support can change when and how you reach for food.
Food is a potent natural reward and food intake is a complex process. Reward and gratification associated with food consumption leads to dopamine (DA) production, which in turn activates reward and pleasure centers in the brain. An individual will repeatedly eat a particular food to experience this positive feeling of gratification. This type of repetitive behavior of food intake leads to the activation of brain reward pathways that eventually overrides other signals of satiety and hunger.
Persistent Stress = Bad Eating Habits
Ask yourself if you are really hungry before your next snack. Or distract yourself for 10 minutes when you think you are hungry as a “purposeful pause” that can minimize stress and increase mindfulness. Harvard says increasing the length of these pauses can change your habits from “crave and cave” to “pause and pass.”