Mindful eating
Eat regular meals
This can alter between individuals and those with specific health conditions, but the general consensus is that eating 3 regular meals a day is better than skipping meals and constant grazing, especially for sustainable results.
Portion control
Although I’m not the biggest fan of militant calorie counting it’s important to be mindful of how much food you’re piling onto your plate. A simple but easy tip here is to invest in smaller plates – it really is that simple! This way your mind still sees a full plate but your stomach ingests less. It has been trialled and tested and proven effective.
Chew your food
This is extremely important because by breaking your food into smaller parts it’s easier for the body to digest and absorb the essential nutrients it needs for a strong metabolism. To ensure you achieve this, it’s best not to eat while partaking in another activity, eg. working at your desk or watching TV. In these scenarios it’s all too easy to wolf food down before your mind’s had a chance to catch up with your stomach and recognise that you’re no longer hungry and don’t in fact need that second helping… we’ve all done it!
Lifestyle choices
Sufficient sleep
The less you sleep and more tired you become, the more likely you are to make poor food choices. What’s worse is your brain will want high sugar foods to boost your energy as quickly as possible and you’ll be too tired to fight the temptation for that chocolate bar or can of coke. Equally important is that poor sleep effects daytime processes including our metabolism and digestion of fats and sugars which can lead to further weight gain.
Exercise
Exercise is our friend for so many reasons. It burns excess calories which might otherwise be stored as fat. It also increases muscle mass which in turn increases our basal metabolic rate which is the number of calories we burn while resting - winner! Furthermore, the endorphins produced during exercise are strongly associated with improved mood which could help prevent us reaching for those comfort foods or glass of wine…or both!
Support System
Last but definitely not least is your support system. We live in an incredibly fast-paced, highly pressured world where we’re pulled in all directions, often comparing ourselves to others thinking we could or should be doing better. Stressful.
Stress has been linked to weight gain as increased cortisol (the stress hormone) levels can lead to increased insulin resistance resulting in more sugar being stored as fat.
Stress and low mood also often drive us to reach for comfort foods. This is partly because high sugar foods and carbohydrates increase the uptake of tryptophan by the body. Tryptophan is a protein required to make serotonin - the happy hormone. The brain therefore links carbohydrates and sweet treats to a feeling of happiness, encouraging us to eat them at times of low mood. It’s a mean trick as this is only a temporary fix. The uplifted mood will stop with the stop in sugar supply.
The take-home here is that sometimes the key to addressing weight gain is to address the deeper factor driving it. Whether it’s a stressful job, a toxic relationship, balancing parenthood and a career or another trigger– ask yourself what makes you reach for the foods you do.
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