You can train yourself to be an “undereater” with four steps.
1 / Avoid stimulating and concentrated foods
2 / Practice eating less until it becomes normalized
3 / Set special foods aside for special, social occasions
4 / Figure out your individual trigger foods and situations
Ready? Let us begin.
ONE—Stimulating and concentrated foods are difficult for anyone to eat without wanting to eat more of them. They are easy to overeat on. This includes high sugar foods like deserts and candies, high sugar/high fat combos like donuts and ice cream, and foods like cheese, nuts, and dried fruit that are “healthy” but it’s easy to overeat in a single sitting.
Recognize when and where you eat these, and cut down. Eliminating overt sugars completely is a very good idea—they are unhealthy, stimulating, and for many people, highly addictive.
A great place to start is eliminating sugary drinks, such as soda, sweet tea, and juices.
TWO—Cut down portions of your usual foods for a period of time, perhaps three weeks to a month. Notice if you still feel hungry. Don’t deprive yourself but practice eating a bit less. Once you do it for a while, you’ll get used to it.
Avoid feeling “stuffed” as that feeling is associated with blood sugar spikes, then dips which makes you hungrier at the next meal.
Overeating is a cycle. Once you do it, you want to continue doing it. By eating less and avoiding stimulating/concentrated foods you can still enjoy food without taxing your system and stimulating yourself to want to eat more.
THREE—Some people are better off eliminating all foods that are stimulating or “triggering” such as deserts, snack foods, or rich foods. But many of us can eat the on special occasions only, and get right back to eating correct amounts.
Which type of person are you?
I am not able to eat big amounts or stimulating foods without taking several days to recover and get back on track.
The longer you are away from stimulating/rich foods, the easier it is to have them once in a while without detriment. But they should not be a daily thing, and by this I mean pizza, cookies/cakes, deep fried foods, etc.
FOUR—We all have individual triggers to overeating. For some, it’s parties and for others, it’s eating out.
I have a lot of trouble eating a reasonable portion of non-triggering foods when I eat out…and that’s the way restaurants want it. They want you to come back! So I rarely eat out, and keep those times to when friends of family is around for a celebration or visit.
Other people are highly triggered by sweets and desserts. If this is you, cut them out entirely for a while and then go back and see…is it possible for me to eat this way without feeling miserable?
We live in a culture where there is plenty of cheap, stimulating and, frankly, addictive foods. The only way to eat less is to normalize underrating and the quickest route is to get junk food out of your diet, cook for yourself at home, and learn to recognize what makes you overeat.
