- Do you live your life one meal at a time? Instead, try to think about your whole day in advance. Will you be eating in, out or both? Will you be having cocktails and a lavish dessert later? We tend to overeat with a one meal at a time approach, but looking ahead offers opportunity to better balance calories consumed at each meal. If you want to enjoy a large dinner, then scale back on other meals. Or, as another example, make caloric trade-offs such as appetizers and no cocktails, or vice versa. The key is to make these choices and plan in advance of actual meal times/events.
- Do not confuse thirst for hunger. If you are at all thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Hydrate first, then eat.
- Try conscious eating at one meal. Slow down and chew your food. Eat a meal and do so without combining another activity like watching TV. What signals do your body give you that you are getting full? Most of us don't know the answer because we are combining eating with other activities.
- Try food journaling. Doing this for just one day can offer revealing info. There is usually a disconnect with what ends up on paper vs. what we "think" we are doing. Chances are also strong that there is a major shift between weekday & weekend eating habits. Visit mypyramid.gov and livestrong.com for additional diet tracking tools.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Eating Awareness and a Healthier You
Most active women require about 2000kcal per day, and men around 2500kcal to manage their weight. If you are sedentary, or trying to lose weight, then caloric intake should be substantially less. I will get more into the "numbers" of weight loss in a future blog. Instead, today, I would like to encourage all trying to embrace a healthier lifestyle to bring more awareness to their eating habits. Here are some points to consider:
