Make Good Food Choices and Have Fine Weight

Do you know the importance of picking up some type of treat at the grocery shop, ideally a relatively guilt-free selection that still satisfies a typical craving. These days, if I want something sweet at night I’ll still go to the shop, but will pick up some delicious berry like fresh blueberries, along with a few granola. I’ll go home and have a great bowl of heaping blueberries with a little amount of granola and some soy milk, sweet, delicious, filling and loaded with antioxidants and fibre.

I’ve struggled nearly my entire life with food. During my late teens I was obsessed with a diet and calorie-counting, which turned into compulsive eating and a strong addiction to sugared, greasy foods in my 20’s and 30’s.

Obviously, having scientific knowledge about food and health isn’t enough to help someone control their uncontrollable behavior around food, you need to understand the real roots of compulsive eating patterns, something I was never taught in medical school and only really began to understand and heal from in the last few years.

1) At the supermarket, you let yourself purchase belongings that sabotage you
My control of my eating behavior starts at the supermarket, as I’m more likely to enjoy triumph there than I am at home. Otherwise, if I’m tired or stressed that no-no food’s already in my cupboards (with a flashing neon sign over the cupboard door that screams "you know I’m here, what’s taking you so long?"). Make a pact with yourself not to buy problem foods when you’re out shopping for groceries.
Practice making yourself look away when you start eyeing up a tempting shop display. Focus on the people or non-food items around you or just keep on walking determinedly towards the foods which are supposed to be on your list.

2) You can’t tell the difference between hungry and appetite
Before you reach for that junk food snack (which you promised yourself yesterday that you wouldn’t give in to today), check in with your body. Are you truly hungry? Where is your urge to eat coming from your stomach or your mind? Can you tell the difference? If you ask yourself enough times, you’ll begin to be able to tell the difference. Will an apple or other healthy snack begin to satisfy your need for food? If not, you’re probably not truly hungry and just wanting to snack.

3) You let your mood push you towards food
Again, the next time you feel like reaching like something too sweet, salty, or fatty,check in with how you’re feeling. Are you sad, bored, or stressed? Once you start connecting the dots between certain moods and certain foods, it’ll be much harder to fall into what was once "automatic" behavior.

4) You don’t pay attention to when you hit full
Years ago I saw a dietitian who taught me this golden rule about food and maintaining your ideal weight: "Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full." When you start paying attention to this, you’ll be shocked by how often you push past full (and move into the land of totally stuffed) just because you’re liking the eating process and don’t feel like stopping.

This is especially risky when eating with others, as studies have shown that’s when we’re most likely to overeat. Eat slowly, and as the meal or snack progresses, check in with yourself regularly before the next bite or before serving yourself again. Are you hitting full? If so, time to stop.

I shock myself now with how often I say no to dessert these days, simply because I’ve learned to notice when I’m full. And when I’m full, I stop. If we push past full, we’re not respecting our body, and it’s just going to end up on our hips anyway.

5) You don’t get enough sleep
If you get less than 7 hours of sleep a night, your brain actually starts producing appetite-stimulating hormones, and you’ll feel hungrier (and eat more) throughout the day without meaning to do so. Lack of sleep also affects your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, and can make you susceptible to diabetes. Many experts now believe that our excessive sleep deprivation as a society is partially to blame for the epidemic of obesity.

Have more sleep, and your mind will create another kind of endocrine that really suppresses appetite. How simple is that?

I also believe that the best finest to keep good health is just by doing the most observable things like getting sufficient sleep, eating a resonable diet, and especially knowing your body. And I think that the body is at its healthiest when you are adhereing to a routine of these matters. So get to know your body. Learn to respond to your body when it needs either food, no more food, sleep, and activity and you will be a much happier healthier person.