Hi!
I almost opened with “It’s Bre, the RD!” and then I audibly cringed. Anyways, I’m back to talk about food!
After we talked about protein last week, there were some comments asking me to talk more about portion sizes and how to avoid overeating. I thought a lot about the most helpful way to talk about this that isn’t the same advice you’ve probably seen over and over: chew x amount of times, sip water in between bites, take half of your food home…annnd so on.
Sure, those things can help… but IMO they’re kind of just of band aids. And who wants to count how many times they chew?!
Let’s fix the root of the problem.
Of course there are a lot of reasons why someone may struggle with overeating, but it often stems from a history of ignoring signs of hunger and fullness. We’re actually born with a really cool sense that tells us how much food we need. Over time, that sense fades for many of us. It happens for a lot of reasons, but dieting is a big one. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, there’s a good chance that at some point, you weren’t eating enough. And if you’re like me when I was stuck in a dieting cycle (thanks to growing up in a world RICH in diet culture), you were trained to ignore your body when it told you to eat more.
Which (finally) brings me to my point.
Maybe it’s time to stop trying to find ways to “control” how much you eat. Instead, let’s focus on giving your body what it needs.
Maybe it’s more water. More sleep. An outlet for stress, or more of a specific nutrient. To figure it out, you have to regain trust with your body instead of assuming it’s trying to sabotage your goals