How to lose weight & not feel hungry all the time !
Joan Moloney, Nutritionist
Appetite and food intake are controlled by the brain, the ‘feeding centre’ and the ‘satiety centre’.
If you gobble down food, you by-pass essential messaging.
The brain receives information from us when we think about food and eat food. To lose weight, learn to communicate strongly with the Satiety Centre
To live we have to eat. Healthy food is good for us therefore step 1 is to start developing a good relationship with healthy food.Look forward to your meals.
How to communicate with your brain to avoid weight gain?
Your senses – you see, smell, taste and think about food and this stimulates the feeding centre, which stimulates 3 major nerves who in turn stimulate the production of saliva in your month and gastric juices in your belly. You feel a strong sensation of hunger, you are salivating, your tummy rumbles in anticipation. Welcome this –you are refueling.
2. Step 2 - Feedback – Sit down to eat and concentrate on the food. This takes effort to do if you are stressed.
Make food visually appealing on a plate. Enjoy the smells. Eat it slowly, chew it well. If you are a fast eater, divide the food into 2 to 3 visual portions on your plate and take a break between each portion, putting the knife and fork down. Alternatively, put one serving on the plate (a small one) and return to the kitchen for a second small serving. Your brain will know there is more food coming and you will feel more satisfied. Use your senses – sight, smell and taste to reinforce the eating experience and signal satisfaction to the brain. Use small plates and bowls to make the food look its size as large plates dwarf food.
Avoid watching TV or reading during your meals, focus on the food and the company you are in. Enjoy conversation, it helps to slow the eating process. The French and Spanish are slimmer as a result.
I suggest a meal takes at least 25 minutes to eat to allow the brain-gut communication to work. As you eat, you send messages back to the satiety centre in the brain via thoughts.
If you gobble your food fast, these messages are missed.
You also overload the gut very quickly with food and challenge its ability to message the brain and completely digest food.
- 2.Step 3 – PAUSE for 20 Once you have finished your meal, note the time and allow 20 minutes to pass before you eat another bite or decide to order a dessert or other food item. Mechanically, food distends the stomach walls and intestine walls. The walls are dotted with Stretch receptors and Chemoreceptors and these send feedback back to the brain via nerve impulses. Hormones such as CCK are released in the intestines and produce feelings of satiety (a sense of fullness). Some hormones such as CCK, secretin, substance P and many more have been found in both the stomach and brain highlighting the powerful connection between gut and brain. By allowing 20 minutes, you are allowing this communication to take place.
- 3.
80% of my clients who carry excess weight tick the ‘I eat too fast’ box in my questionnaire
Change this habit and it will help to change your weight for the long-term
Summary1. Look forward to meals – no guilt, just pleasure and anticipation 2. See, smell and taste your food – experience it 3. Use small plates and bowls 4. Chat during your meal to family – no TV, reading 5. Divide food into portions on the plate – eat 1 @ a time 6. Put small serving on plate and return for second small serving 7. Eat slowly, chew each mouthful well 8. Pause for 20 minutes after a meal – no more food
