31 Ways to Eat and Slim #3

3) Check in with your gut.

Basically this tip is to avoid overeating. Self says that most people eat too quickly to recognize their fullness signals (according to author Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D.) Dr. Fernstorm states that it takes 20 mins for signals to register. Self's tip is to tune in today by eating without distraction (no TV or computer), noticing the tightness and grumbling in your stomach before you dig in and slowing your bites so you can tell when you're truly full.

My Skinny - Sounds simple right? We'll all just sit down and slowly chew are food (aren't we supposed to chew it like 100 times anyways...so start counting) and there will be no more overeating and we will all be a size 0 by the end of the week? Wrong. It's easy for someone to say EAT SLOWER! But realistically it's not always the case. I have heard that there are actually places in THIS country where you do NOT get a lunch break so....how are these people supposed to slowly chew their food at lunch. IMPOSSIBLE! Sometimes you got to just slam it down. The key here shouldn't be how fast you eat it, it should be HOW MUCH you eat. If you have the correct portion size it doesn't matter. Also, sure when you are single and fat the last thing you want to do is sit around your apartment with your 20 cats (over exaggerating here for emphasis) and eat a lonely quiet meal. Face it people eat in front of the TV if they didn't they wouldn't still sell those horrible TV dinners. Just because you ate all of your portion quickly doesn't mean you deserve more. I think here's the real tip. Measure your portions. Come on we all know that a full plate of pasta isn't a portion. Check out this portion guide. So you downed your food now what. Maybe you are STILL hungry because that 20 minutes hasn't happened yet. Well now down some water. You probably weren't drinking much when you were shoveling it in so drink a fast glass of water and TADA! FULL! Same effect with less time spent mulling over a quiet dinner alone with all those cats.

Also make sure when you sit down to eat that you are not completely starving. At that point portion control can easily go out the window. So let's say it was litter box clean out day for all of those 20 cats and you didn't eat a thing. Dinner time and you are starving. Put the correct portion on your plate. Eat it and drink the WATER and see how you feel at that point. If you are still hungry go back to the kitchen get a LITTLE more (like HALF a portion size), eat it and then drink some MORE water. Just like shampooing....sometimes you gotta rinse and repeat.