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by Michelle Sutton-Kerchner
March is National Nutrition Month. Many experts say how you eat is equally important to what you eat. Here’s the best way to eat healthy …
Everyone realizes the importance of a healthful diet. Proper nutrition helps achieve and maintain a healthy weight while fueling the body with needed essentials. The foods you choose impact everything from your mood to your waist size.
What Versus How
When trying to lose weight, much focus is on the food itself. However, we often overlook the how in dieting. Not as in, “How will I manage to live without pepperoni pizza!” More like, literally how you should consume your food. How food is eaten impacts digestion, satiation, and even weight management.
Set the Stage
Everyone has a meal (or three) on the go during the week. Life gets in the way of an official sit-down-and-eat. For most meals though, try to schedule time for eating. Research proves the process of meal planning aids weight loss efforts:
- Planning ahead helps avoid impulsive unhealthy food choices often made from hunger, including fast-food, processed products, and basically any junk food within reach.
- Thinking about food is pleasurable in itself. Looking forward to a meal adds to the satisfaction without any caloric intake.
- Grocery trips focus on the specific healthy ingredients needed without being sabotaged by unhealthy temptations that always seem to be on sale. (Does anyone ever need that half-priced second pack of cupcakes?)
Set a place at the table for all family members, even if you’re a family of one. It sets the scene for a proper meal to be enjoyed mindfully.
Take Your Time
When scheduling mealtime, allow yourself about a half-hour to sit. Notice the setting, appreciate those gathered around the table with you, and be aware of your food. Mindfully taste each forkful, discovering flavors, textures, and temperature. Keep your TV and phone out of view so you can better maintain portion control. Let the meal be your entertainment.
A study compared speed-eaters to those who ate at a more relaxed pace. Those who ate at a normal speed were 29 percent less likely to be obese. Those who ate slowly were up to 42 percent less likely to be obese. Slow-eaters tended to be the most overall healthy participants, as well.
The theory suggests slow-eaters are more mindful and appreciative of their food—and, therefore, more satisfied– than those who rush. Nothing keeps you snacking like an unmet craving. When you take time to experience a meal, you can fully enjoy the food and time spent with others.
Also, eating slower gives the body the time required to recognize fullness. Eating too quickly allows you to consume excess food before your brain can register that your body is full. If you quickly devour your food, allow about 15 minutes before serving yourself seconds.
As for dessert, if you are going to have a cookie, then have a cookie. Do not multitask it with clearing the table, loading the dishwasher, or making the next day’s lunch. Enjoy it slowly and mindfully. You’ll be less likely to reach for more.
Be an Accountant
Be aware of how you eat throughout the day. Do you often hit the vending machine to ride over the midday slump? Are you snacking by the handful while cooking dinner? Is nighttime TV your downfall, one hand on the remote control and the other hand out of control in a bag of chips?
Nutritionists recommend keeping food journals to monitor your eating habits. This is helpful even when not trying to lose weight. Learn your food weaknesses and assure a balanced diet. Realistically, we often do not take time to write down every piece of food eaten. Instead, be aware of calories consumed versus calories burned.
If you soon will be asleep (minimal caloric burn) avoid snacking. If you must nibble, go for a healthy, low-cal treat. If it is early in the day when there is a birthday cake scheduled for later (mega calories consumed), avoid having a mid-morning donut or lunchtime pizza. And add some additional exercise to your day. That will help maintain a balanced consume-burn ratio.
Remember the “How”
When trying to lose weight, it is not just what you eat. It is how you eat it.
Sources
“Want to Keep the Weight Off? Eat More Slowly,” by Steven Reinberg at webmd.com.
Webmd.com
