Too often I hear my friends and clients say (and who am I kidding, me too… I’m not innocent here!) “I wasn’t hungry but.. there was so much left and I didn’t want to throw it out. Ugh so stuffed…”.
The thing is, when we feel stuffed, we feel a little gross… and maybe self criticism starts in the form of, “Why did I keep eating… I could have stopped earlier… I always just eat what’s in front of me…I can’t seem to stop…etc etc etc”.
Then we often want something else to make ourselves feel better. Maybe some chocolate….or sweets…or another serving because, “Why not? It’s so good and I’m already so full…what’s one more piece…”. This doesn’t usually end with us feeling to good about ourselves.
One thing that can help is getting used to always leaving food on our plates. Depending on your upbringing, I know it can feel kind of wrong. Take me for example, my mom grew up without much at all and survived on bread and butter. To me, changing this habit of always finishing what was on my plate was super difficult! Smaller plates and always leaving a bit behind no matter what helped remind me in the beginning to pay attention to my satiety cues.
Putting it back in the fridge and eating it later is always awesome too (unless it’s some mushy deliciousness, of course), but if not, to be enjoyed and fully appreciated yet again! And if we really are paying attention while we’re eating and we still eat it all, we can feel good about it because it’s what our bodies needed in that moment.
The point is to pay attention to our bodily cues – not the size of the serving in front of us.
Whenever we feel that “mmm I’m getting full but there’s still so much and it’s so yummy..”, just remember..either that food goes in the fridge… or in you… or in the garbage.
We’ve heard the saying before…it’s not saving any starving people by stuffing it in us.
So some options are:
- Start measuring portions first and experiment with how much is needed
- Smaller plates. The eyes are hungrier than the stomach…
- Pay attention to satiety and eat more slowly, which is easier said than done, I know. It takes time to build this habit
- Stop halfway through just to notice where you’re at and stop ¾ way through again
- Try listening to music instead of watching TV to be less distracted
- Make it a habit to leave at least a little something on the plate
So if we’re not saving it for later.. isn’t it a bit like treating our bodies like garbage?