One of the main reasons we overeat is because we let ourselves get too hungry in between meals. Skipping meals, especially breakfast will absolutely backfire on you later in the day. People often tell me that they just aren’t hungry at breakfast time. They feel that is the one time of the day when they aren’t battling the urge to eat, so it’s a great opportunity to “save calories”. This is the worst thing you can do both for your metabolism and your portion control efforts. In fact, I believe and I will always believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets your metabolism going and, depending on what you eat for breakfast, it can stabilize your blood sugar for hours. This in turn will help with cravings that show up later in the day. A great breakfast consists of 40-50% of the calories coming from complex carbohydrates, 30-40% coming from lean sources of protein and 20-30% coming from good fats. A healthy breakfast is also one that is very low in added sugars, so the pancakes and syrup are not as good of a choice as the egg white scramble with spinach and peppers.
Once you eat a healthy breakfast, the next thing to keep in mind to help you with getting overly hungry, is to eat every 2 ½ to 3 hours. One client of mine describes it as “staying ahead of her hunger.” You eat much smaller meals but you get to eat more often, which will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day, and thus your portions in better control. Below is a hunger scale that I like to use to help people determine when they need to eat and when they need to stop eating. This might sound obvious, but most people let themselves get too hungry between meals and they usually eat beyond the point that they should. We can almost always eat more than a proper portion size. That’s not the question. The real question is: Is it enough food to get your through the next 2 ½ to 3 hours.
As young children we knew when we were full; however, at some point in life, many people stop paying attention to their body’s cues and instead eat for a number of reasons completely unrelated to physical hunger. In fact, eating beyond the physical signs of fullness is the primary reason for weight gain. To stop the vicious cycle of dieting, overeating and guilt, you must tune back in to your body and understand the difference between physical hunger and psychological hunger. This is the only way to make diets a thing of the past and healthy eating a lifestyle forever.
Next time you find yourself going for food, ask yourself where at that moment you fall on the hunger scale. If you’re not physically hungry, walk away from the food and determine what you are feeling (stressed, bored, depressed, anxious, lonely etc.) and what actions besides eating can help you to feel better. Remember, physical hunger is real. It comes from the stomach and only food satisfies it. Psychological hunger is a learned response and impossible to satisfy with food.
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