Five Tricks to Reduce Eating and Still Feel Full

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1. Stimulate your ‘I’m full’ hormones

Trick your body into thinking you’re full more quickly by eating about 70 calories of healthy fats about 20 minutes before your meal.(1) That's 6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts, bread dipped in olive oil, or 2 teaspoons of all natural peanut butter. Eating good fats stimulates the production of a hormone that tells your brain you've had enough to eat and then keeps you feeling full by slowing  emptying your stomach. So when you sit down for a meal, you'll eat for pleasure, not for hunger, and you'll be likely to eat less.

2. Rate your hunger and fullness

You don’t plan to overate. Sometimes you just eat as long as food is available.  To break that habit, rate your hunger using the scale below before you eat and plan to stop eating when you are comfortable; before you get a full feeling, when you feel energized by food and not bogged down.

Hunger Scale* (2,3,4)

10 – Stuffed: so full that you feel nauseous (Thanksgiving full)

9 – Very uncomfortably full:  you need to loosen your clothes

8 – Uncomfortably full: you feel bloated

7 – Full:  you feel a little bit uncomfortable

6 – Perfectly comfortable: you feel satisfied

5 – Comfortable: you're more/less satisfied, but could eat a little more

4 – Slightly uncomfortable: you're just beginning to feel signs of hunger

3 – Uncomfortable: stomach is rumbling

2 – Very Uncomfortable: you feel irritable & unable to concentrate                                         

1 – Weak and Light-headed: your stomach acid is churning

*   Begin eating when you're at a 3 or 4

Stop at 5, if you're trying to lose weight

Stop at 6, if you're wanting to maintain your weight

 

3. Use Smaller Plates

A 9” salad plate or an 8” butter plate is size plate most people should actually use to get the proper potion sizes. Smaller plates can trick the brain into thinking that you are eating larger portions. Many people have been able to lose weight by simply reducing the size of their plate through meals and snacks. (5) 

4. Eat Slowly

Real Age website suggests taking 30 minutes to eat, or at least slowing your eating.(6)  According to Real Age, blood tests showed that slow eating increased levels of two appetite-lowering chemicals by 25 to 30 percent, and these satisfaction hormones stayed high for the next 2 1/2 hours.

Some tips to help you enjoy dinner more slowly, rather than gulping it down, is to make the meal an event to savor.  Set the mood by having a nice table setting, flowers or a small decoration, and music to fit the mood. To add spice and variety to the meal, I’ve bought 4 each of different salad plate patterns (e.g., bright and festive, green and soothing, formal)  at low cost from ebay or at a garage sales.  Bethany Thayer, director of Wellness Programs for Detroit’s Henry Ford Health System says “Pay attention to the food you’re eating,” and gives tips on how to focus on the food while eating. (7)

5. Have a symbol to end your meal

The Frenchy Way to Eat for Pleasure and Good Health suggests you that you end your meal with a signal such as an aperitif, an espresso, a piece of wonderful chocolate. (8)

Having a symbol to end the meal tells your brain and stomach “basta” or enough! You are leaving the table full and satisfied.  Your brain registers that the meal is over, no more eating until the next meal.

Which of these tips will work for you?  The tip on eating the healthy fat before a meal really works for me. So does using smaller plates. I do need to learn to eat more slowly and focus on the meal. I invite you to try one or more of these tips for a week and let us know how it went for you.

References

1. Real Age.com, All About You: Eat This First
2. Fleming, Jill. Thin People Don't Clean Their Plates: Simple Lifestyle Choices for Permanent Weight Loss, La Crosse, WI: Inspiration Presentations, 2005.
3. Halliday, Judy, Arthur Halliday, and Heidi Bylsma. Thin Within: a Grace-oriented Approach to Lasting Weight Loss. [Nashville, Tenn.]: W. Pub. Group, 2002. 
4. Intuitive-eating.blogspot.com, Different Hunger Scales, February 26, 2007, 
5. Smartdietwiki.com, Ten Ways to Reduce Overeating
6. Realage.com, Curb overeating with this Mealtime Trick
7. Ellen Warren, ChicagoTribune.com, Focus on the Food When Eating, May 11, 2010.
8. Mary Brighton, MS, RD, Brightonyourhealth.com, Frency Ways To Eat for Pleasure and Good Health: Un Cafe or Chocolate? April 6,2011.