How to stop eating when you’RE full
Eat this not that… No! eat this and that. Learning how to eat all foods in moderation blog coming soon!
Ever had a plate full of delicious food, maybe yummy pizza, Mexican or Chinese. You start to feel full but there are still 2 Crab Rangoon left, 1 slice of pizza, or 3 chips. What do you do? Often we eat the rest even when we are already full.
Does this describe you? Or do you struggle with knowing when to stop before we get too full?
Why do so many seem to struggle with this? Well maybe it's our environment our upbringing. I grew up in the age of clean your plate or no desert. Clean your plate no matter what. Our upbringing affects us as adults, so if you grew up that way likely you have lost touch with fullness cue and you finish your plate like the good little one you were raised to be . This is a learned behavior so if you are struggling with this, DO NOT worry you are not to blame. This is not a lack of willpower or determination, this is a learned mindset that we need to overcome.
Maybe your background is having a history of dieting and you don't really know how to tell when your full because you've become so accustomed to the cues of hunger or being overly full.
Eating past fullness consistently is actually a byproduct of restriction, we restrict for so long we have a hard time reigning it back in.
How can we start to learn how to stop when full?
1- Never let your hunger get so extreme you have to eat whatever you can get your hands on.
We've all been there. Have something yummy and nutrient dense planned for dinner, but life doesn’t always goes as planned. We worked late, traffic was jammed pack, and oops we forgot 1 ingredient we needed for dinner. So what happens? We say "well forget it!" And we swing past the local pizza joint or the fast food drive thru because it’s quick, convenient, and we are too hungry and tired to wait any longer.
For example, instead of ignoring our hunger cues until they become so intense you end up binge eating, honor it and when you feel more comfortable signs of hunger like a gentle rumbling stomach or you notice your thoughts are now on food every other second, it is time to eat. So take time to cue into these signs, acknowledge, and honor them.
2. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat!
It's so hard to stop eating when full when we worry when will I get to eat this again. For dieters we probably are all too familiar with the “last supper mentality” the night before new diet starts all too well. If you know certain foods will soon be off limits you will probably consume as much of them as you can before you start the diet, but this can lead to feelings of guilt and regret.
Restrictions can also lead to overeating. Thinking well I'll start back up tomorrow.
Giving yourself unconditional permission to eat takes off all the stress, pressure and restrictions that diets promote. You will now be able to make food choices out of a place of empowerment. You become the boss of what and how much you eat, no longer under the curse of old diet and food rules like following 1200 calorie meal plans (which I do NOT support). When you give yourself true unconditional permission to eat, it is so easy to honor your fullness!
And last of all start checking in with yourself while eating. This is called mindful eating. Now I don't mean you have to be fully focused on every single bite, but it's good to check on throughout the meal to see how you are feeling.
How can you start mindful eating? One way is to pause when eating, assess how hungry or full you feel and see how much you are enjoying your food! Another way is to take time to sense the flavors and ingredients in the food. So slow down and enjoy the meal rather than rushing and later wanting more because you did not truly get to enjoy it.
Need a little more help to start implementing these practices? Come work with me 1:1.
