Some ways that I prevent myself from inadvertently consuming half the contents of the refrigerator in a single evening:

• Keep the food away, far away. I might want a snack, but I also don’t want to get up from where I’m cozily snuggled on the couch. Does this mean I’m lazy? Yes. Am I OK with that when it prevents me from inhaling half a bag of walnuts? Yes.
• Measure everything. If the desire for a snack does manage to win out over the desire to stay right where I am, thank you very much, then measuring a quarter cup of walnuts into a bowl is much, much safer than bringing the whole bag back to the couch with me.
• Chew a lot. And put your fork down between bites. It supposedly takes your brain about 20 minutes to process that your stomach is full. So if you inhale your meal in five minutes, you’ll be tempted to keep stuffing your face for the next 15. The longer you chew, and the more slowly you eat, the less likely this is to happen. Plus, you enjoy your food more, experience it more, and are less likely to want to keep eating when you’re done.
• Go to the gym. I realize this requires more of a commitment than, say, keeping the walnuts out of sight, but there is no better way to keep yourself from inhaling 500 calories without noticing than going to the gym and seeing exactly how much effort it takes to burn off every little calorie.
• Drink lots of water. Sometimes my hands and mouth just want to keep busy. Drinking a glass of water can do this just as well as a pint of ice cream. And it’s calorie-free and even has the side benefit of preventing that pesky dehydration.
• Don’t shop hungry. Go to the store when you’re feeling full so that your eyes won’t get bigger than your stomach. Make a list and stick to it. If you don’t buy it, you can’t eat it and then regret it later.
• Keep healthy options nearby–and make sure they hit your cravings. You want something creamy? Try nonfat yogurt. Crispy? Raw vegetables with hummus will hit the spot. Sweet? What about fruit, maybe with some Splenda sprinkled on top? Salty? A handful of baked chips should do the trick. It has to be chocolate? At least go for the dark kind, which is the healthiest and also lends itself to small portions because it’s so rich. Whatever it is, make sure you have non-junky options, so that you can satisfy the craving without blowing your nutrition plan to bits.
• Brush your teeth early in the evening. It sounds weird, but once your teeth are brushed and your mouth feels minty fresh, you’ll think twice about putting more food in your mouth. Really.
• Keep track of what you eat–and that includes just a bite here and there. This is the principle of Weight Watchers, which has served me so well. If it goes in your mouth, it needs to be tracked. There’s no cheating here, because nobody reviews what you’ve written–and not writing down something that you’ve eaten doesn’t mean that your body will avoid absorbing the calories. When you write down every single thing you ingest, you get a much better sense of how much you’ve been consuming and where your trouble areas are. And knowing the nature of the beast makes it that much easier to beat it.

So, what are your tips to avoid overeating?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Blogs, Not a Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.