Eating behavior includes all of a person's eating habits, his eating schedule, food choices, and approach to food in general. To summarize, eating behavior is responsible for how, when, how much and what exactly a person eats. If you overeat - it's a matter of eating behavior, if you undereat - it's the same, if you obsessively love French fries or refuel with food every night, if after every quarrel you run to the refrigerator or eat only once a day - in all these cases the roots you need to look specifically in eating behavior. This is why it is so important that eating behavior is normal: this guarantees you both a good figure and the absence of neuroses associated with food.
There are two main components to our relationship with food: hunger and eating behavior. Therefore, we must immediately take hunger out of the equation. This is physiological, the most natural cause what we eat; instinct, impulse, “hello” from the body to the brain with a message that it’s time to recharge with energy, that is, eat something. The connection “hunger - satiety” is basic and the only important one, unchanged throughout the entire process of eating. Everything else - the choice of products and meal times, the color of tablecloths and the shape of forks, conversations about calorie content and portion sizes - relates to eating behavior, which is a kind of “frame” in relation to hunger and hunger satiety.
The main injustice in this whole story is that we often completely forget about why we eat, what this whole process is all about - we forget about hunger and satiety and completely trust our diet to eating behavior. This is a big mistake, because in this case our nutrition loses its instinctiveness and becomes artificial. What does this mean? We eat when we are not hungry, and when we are hungry we tolerate it, we overeat, ignoring desperate signals of oversaturation (because “it’s a feast!”), we choose unnatural foods that are not food in the normal sense at all... in food we obey reasons that have nothing to do with hunger and satiety. Therefore, we must remember that hunger should always be at the forefront, providing the body with energy, and eating behavior should be a servant of this main need, should ensure satiety - so that the body feels as good as possible (read:).
How is eating behavior formed?
is a whole system of habits, rituals, preferences and tastes, and it is formed from early childhood. It would never even occur to you to challenge many of the components of eating behavior - because “everyone does this” (they have breakfast, drink tea or coffee in the morning, have lunch in the middle of the day, etc.), and some of them, on the contrary, are very personal and unique, unique to you (for example, you drink a cup of blueberry tea with honey before bed and cannot fall asleep without it). Each of your food-related actions has a reason. How is eating behavior formed?Upbringing. If a person has not specifically worked on his eating behavior, his eating habits are 90% the same as the habits of his parents, the way he was taught to eat since childhood. You have been accustomed to porridge in the morning - and you continue to eat it, and if you refuse porridge, replace it with another carbohydrate that has approximately the same effect on the body.
Traditions. A person who has lived in France since childhood will, by definition, eat differently than a person born and raised, for example, in Brazil. This is the cultural difference between traditional cuisines different countries. This can also include the geographical factor: the Italian diet will have a lot of fruits and olives, the Scandinavian diet will have a lot of seafood, the Dutch diet will have a lot of cheese and dairy products. It is natural for a person to gravitate towards products that are characteristic of his region, even if in terms of pure taste they are not particularly close to him.
Habits. Best example– tea or juice in the morning. For example, one day you decide that morning juice is good idea(healthy and nutritious, helps to wake up). You start drinking it, slowly get used to it - and after a month or two, a morning without juice is not a morning for you. The fact that habits have such a big impact on our eating behavior is both good and bad news. Because, on the one hand, habits force us to eat a harmful product over and over again or overeat at night, but, on the other hand, we can develop a new habit - a useful one, instill it, make it “native”.
Lifestyle. Lifestyle greatly influences eating behavior for quite objective reasons: for example, you return home late from work and really cannot avoid a late dinner. Or you don't have a lunch break. Or you get up almost at dawn and have breakfast very early. Or you don't have an oven at home, and that's why you never eat baked foods.
Personal tastes. You love cherries and hate apples, in the morning you can’t get a piece of it into your throat, but in the evening you “cook” until midnight, you hate vegetables, but adore fruits - and so on. The reasons for personal tastes are sometimes impossible to establish: maybe they appeared in childhood, maybe you were just born with them (after all, even very young children have their own preferences in food, their own way of eating). At this point it is worth noting the personal tastes of people close to you. If your husband, for example, loves meat, and you are initially neutral towards him, there is a very high probability that over time you will also begin to eat more; if your wife prefers to have dinner not at seven, but at nine in the evening, then sooner or later your dinner time will “slide” to nine.
Psychological factors. This is a fairly broad group of factors, including various psychological reasons one or another approach to food. This could be the consequences of neuroses or some kind of psychological trauma: for example, you once got into car accident, and at that moment you were eating grapes. We bet you won't even look at grapes again? This may be an overestimated psychological importance of food: for example, you always eat when you are upset; you seem to console yourself with food or, conversely, encourage it.
Eating disorder
There is no clear definition of what proper eating behavior is, but it can be roughly outlined as follows: you eat when you are hungry, as much as necessary to feel full, what will allow you the best way restore energy balance and deliver maximum beneficial elements to the body. And you do it with moderate pleasure. But medicine is much more familiar with eating disorders. Their considerable list can be divided into three types of eating disorders:
Emotional. The cause of overeating or undereating in in this case are emotional reasons. For example, a person, being upset, eats, literally destroying everything in his path, or, conversely, cannot eat at all, starving for weeks after any stress. Most often we are talking about “eating” stress.
External. When choosing a place, time and type of food, a person is guided not by internal need (hunger, appetite), but external factors: good company, lunch time, cheapness or availability of food, etc. The most common manifestation of an external eating disorder is the phenomenon of a person who cannot refuse food - even if he is not hungry, has been full for a long time, if he cannot eat this product, etc. Such people finish everything “to the bitter end” (even if it’s a kilogram package of cookies) and crawl out from behind the table, terribly overeating.
Restrictive. Restrictive eating disorders are expressed in addiction to strict diets, artificial restriction of one’s own diet, fasting, etc. Extreme cases of restrictive violations – anorexia And bulimia. This type of eating disorder is the most dangerous, since a person suffering from this is capable of driving himself to death from exhaustion, he is very unstable emotionally, treats food inadequately - as if it were an enemy, and eats extremely unevenly.
Changing eating behavior
Bringing disordered eating behavior into order is a long and rather complex process that consists of several stages:Problem Definition. You need to understand what type of eating disorder is typical for you, and also try to find out the causes of this disorder. This is not always easy, since the reasons can be laid down in childhood or associated with some hidden psychological factors.
Choosing a strategy. You need to decide how exactly you will move towards healthy eating behavior. Two can be distinguished: a sharp or gradual transition. The first strategy is associated with some psychological shock; it is relevant for maximalists, for those who are accustomed to doing everything immediately and completely. The second strategy is softer, more gentle, it allows you to introduce changes into life slowly, without any shocks.
Developing a plan. For example, you have chosen a strategy of gradual transition to healthy eating behavior. The plan will be a step-by-step description of the direction in which you will move. Let's say that in the first week you decide to learn to control the size of portions, in the next two you will gradually wean yourself from evening desserts, etc.
Implementation of a plan. The most difficult and responsible stage. At first, all this will be like a diet, since you will have to limit yourself. Repeatedly you will have the desire to give up everything and return to eating behavior that is comfortable for you. But the main thing here is to remember that you are working for your future that is calm in terms of food, that everything will definitely work out for you, because, fortunately, a person gets used to everything, even to healthy rituals and proper nutrition.
Eating behavior, or eating habits, is not only what and in what quantities you eat, but also how, when, why, with what thoughts and attitudes.
It is important to become aware of your eating behavior because there may not be problems with weight, even if eating behavior is disturbed. In this case, problems will appear only a matter of time.
Everyone has friends who were in great shape in their youth, despite the fact that they ate too much pasta, cutlets, fried potatoes and cakes, and then suddenly became terribly fat: this happens because with age, the basal metabolism slows down, hormonal status changes, and motor skills decrease. activity, and eating habits remain unchanged.
Eating disorders should not be confused with clinical disorders: anorexia (aversion to food and a distorted perception of one’s body, which seems too fat), bulimia (attacks of uncontrollable gluttony and “compensation”: inducing vomiting, excessive physical activity as a way of “working off” what was eaten) and compulsive overeating. Eating disorders may not necessarily be harbingers of these disorders, but still there are no situations when a person wakes up in the morning and thinks: “I want to eat everything that is in the refrigerator,” or, conversely: “If I eat a cucumber, I will gain weight.” him." Eating habits can be adjusted if you consciously approach nutrition and your thoughts about it. What can you realize and change?
Replacing physical hunger with psychological
Physical hunger occurs when the stomach is empty and the level in the blood decreases. nutrients. Signs of such hunger - uncomfortable feeling in the stomach, “sucking in the pit of the stomach,” weakness, and so on. You recognize them less and less because you are out of the habit - you eat on a schedule and often snack for company or because you have nothing to do. If you eat when you are not physically hungry, this is a sign of an eating disorder.What can be done? It is important to analyze in what situations and at what time the desire to eat “out of boredom” arises. By recording the last 10-15 instances, you can identify patterns and try to neutralize the conditions under which unnecessary eating occurs. And then apply “replacement therapy”: find activities you like and replace excess food with them: bring art, sports, dancing, walks, study, communication with animals and self-care rituals into your life - everything that reduces Negative influence stress; refuse a treat if you are not hungry - you can just drink tea or water for company; Give your child a slightly smaller portion: if he wants, it’s better to give him more. And most importantly: listen to your body’s hunger signals, if necessary, recording them: on paper or in notes on your smartphone, and try to eat when you are really physically hungry.
Violation of ritual
How you eat is just as important as what you eat. Eating in a hurry, eating with all the distractions (tablet, phone, TV, book, working on the computer) - why is this wrong? It is the brain that gives impulses that regulate the entire “chemistry” of digestion, from the first seconds of “contact” with food - both visual and olfactory. If you write, read, watch a movie, the brain is distracted by all this activity and does not give any signals for the formation of active enzymes (and digestion begins even when you chew), nor signals of satiety. Or there are signals, but you don’t catch these signals.In addition, eating in a hurry or while reading does not give to the fullest feel the taste and structure of the dish, concentrate and enjoy them. If you eat slowly, savoring and chewing well, then, firstly, you will eat less, and secondly, the food will be better prepared for absorption. What can be done? Try to make at least one meal a day “ritual”: set the table beautifully, combine foods of different tastes and textures in one dish, so that the eating process is interesting: it crunches here, melts here, it’s bland, but it goes well with spicy and piquant.
Diet Thinking
This concept is used by many doctors who specialize in eating disorders. A person is constantly looking for ways to limit food in order to lose weight, and as a result, he gets weight fluctuations, breakdowns and feelings of guilt. Depending on the articles and theories that come across, mono-diets, salt-free, low-carbohydrate, soup and any other diets are used, fear of specific foods - butter, sweets, potatoes, pies and various food combinations - the notorious “proteins with carbohydrates”, For example.What can be done? Only accurate information can help scientific knowledge. For example, this: you gain weight from any calories, and not specifically from fats or carbohydrates, and it is important simply not to overeat and include a variety of foods in your diet. Once this is realized, a person with a “diet mindset” can likely start counting calories. That’s why it’s so important not to ignore the body’s signals of hunger and satiety: they are your natural “counter”, guideline and limiter.
Food as a reward
This is one of the options for replacing physical hunger with psychological one, but it is important to highlight it separately, and here’s why. “Whoever doesn’t work, doesn’t eat,” was instilled in many people from childhood, forming an attitude “from the opposite”: and whoever works well (studies, draws, cleans, isn’t afraid of the dentist, did his homework, ate spinach), then... eats - and "goodies". The scenario of rewarding with chocolates, cakes and French fries is familiar to almost everyone, and when with age our parents and grandmothers stop pampering us, we begin to pamper ourselves. The practice is vicious because it goes against physiology: this high-calorie food, as a rule, enters the body not when a person is hungry, but when the brain is waiting for the “carrot” after the “stick”. And a person finds himself in a trap: the more nervous his job, the more often he experiences stress, the more external stimulants he needs ( tasty food accompanied by the release of the pleasure hormone dopamine into the blood).What can be done? First of all, don't teach this to children. If we are talking about a deeply rooted habit, then only replacement therapy: You cannot take something away without offering a replacement. The reward must remain - but not the food. A smooth transition is important: you can’t get used to something you’ve been accustomed to all your life in a week, it’s also stressful. You can reason like this: “I held difficult negotiations, I did well, and I want a cream cake for this. But on Friday we are meeting with friends, before that I will take a walk with the children, work up an appetite, and in a cafe I will gladly eat a cake for dessert, because I will be hungry. But if we fill ourselves with salad and steak, then I won’t.” You do not forbid yourself from eating cake; it is not harmful in itself, but as a consolation after stress.
Orthorexia
“Proper nutrition” - this is how it can be translated, or rather, a painful concern for environmental friendliness, naturalness, hypoallergenicity and other things that are associated in the mass consciousness with a healthy diet. What's wrong with studying the ingredients on labels, counting vitamins and minerals, eliminating fried, carbonated foods, salt, sugar, gluten and palm oil, and monitoring the results? scientific research and do not eat what causes cancer, leads to depression and causes genetic changes, replace all junk food superfoods that contain natural antioxidants, antidepressants, phytohormones, cleanses and generally complete organic and detox? Too long of a list, isn't it? There is a big difference between being attentive to the quality of products and an unhealthy desire for healthy eating. Orthorexia can disrupt the natural mechanisms that regulate the physiological needs of the body, which needs variety and moderation in nutrition, and a calm environment when eating.What can be done? Make a list of what concerns you about your diet (lack of vitamins and minerals, calorie intake, naturalness, supplements, etc.) and discuss all this with your doctor. There are a few things to think about. First: if you dig a little into the nutritional recommendations of any non-professional expert (not a certified nutritionist who studied this profession for less than 7-8 years, but a coach, beauty blogger, fitness trainer, and so on), then there will be many inconsistencies - from ignorance of the basics of physiology and chemistry to outright quackery under pseudoscientific cover.
Second: “experts” most often have a commercial interest: selling “healthy” products or dietary supplements, promoting a brand (a person writes about his experience of gluten-free living, and at the end - op! - a link to a line of products, dietary supplements or a personal blog that makes money from advertising all this). You won’t read there that the safety of palm oil has been proven, that a cake made with nut flour and with honey instead of sugar is about 1.5 times higher in calories than usual, and gluten does not harm those who do not have a clinically identified intolerance.
Disturbed eating behavior may be absolutely obvious to a dietician or psychotherapist, but not to a person who is used to eating the way he eats. Awareness is an important component of the coveted healthy lifestyle that everyone leads or would like to lead. You just need to realize - and learn - not how many calories there are and how chia seeds are useful, but your own habits: this is a continuation of your problems, fears, neuroses. If your eating behavior is so disrupted that you can't cope, see a doctor: a registered dietitian or psychotherapist.
Building healthy eating behavior
Why is psychology needed?
Think about why you are behaving this way now and not otherwise? Why do you behave differently at work than you do on vacation? And do you every time ask yourself the question - is it decent or not to spit in the company of people and throw objects at people you don’t like? Why are you doing this? Right! This is education. Once in childhood you were taught to do this so that you could live in the company of other people. This is called BEHAVIOR. Moreover, you don’t think about how to behave. This happens habitually, without the participation of consciousness. Physiologists distinguish the so-called EATING BEHAVIOR. This is the same behavior, only related to food.
Body weight directly depends on eating behavior. Eating behavior is a set of unconscious habits, attitudes, states that influence how, when and why a person eats.
If you have excess weight in your body, it means that excess energy is entering your body. This is ordinary physics: “Energy does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere.” Energy can only enter the body with food. This means that your eating behavior now does not correspond to your constitutional background, metabolic processes, level of mobility, etc. Simply put, overeating occurs, often unconsciously. Perhaps once upon a time, when there was a different age, lifestyle, etc., such eating behavior was adequate. And the formed habits freed you from unnecessary thoughts. But now the situation related to energy consumption has changed, but its supply has remained the same. And to regain harmony, first of all, it is necessary to optimize the flow of energy into the body.
Therefore, there are no diets, pills or other methods that could help maintain weight after losing weight. This can only be done by changing eating patterns, that is, eating habits. This is where PSYCHOLOGY is needed.
The primary task is to create for yourself such an eating behavior, with the help of which you can feel full and at the same time have a slim body.
Here's what you need to know to make it work.
Affects eating behavior hunger center Several times a day, this center sends impulses indicating the body's need for food.
Have you ever tried not to breathe for at least a minute? What happens then?.. The breathing center works in the same way as the hunger center, only the impulses at the breathing center are more frequent. Therefore, the same thing happens with the hunger center when a person eats once a day or goes hungry for several days. The accumulated impulses “shoot out”, turning into uncontrollable hunger.
Therefore, one of the conditions is no “hunger strikes” and fractional meals. This requirement also contributes to the maintenance of metabolic processes enhanced by our techniques.
An analogy with a fire is appropriate here: if you do not add wood to the fire, then soon only smoldering embers will remain. If you put a huge armful of brushwood on them, then these embers can completely go out.
Eating behavior is also influenced by the so-called appetite. These are emotions, feelings hiding under the guise of the desire to eat. This is not hunger. Remember the situations when you are bored, sad, or vice versa, fun and for company... Remember when in the evening you want something interesting, but your feet lead to the refrigerator... Etc.
It is knowledge of psychology that will help you learn to distinguish hunger from appetite. Hunger is physical state and it will only have to be removed with food. And appetite is the lost, lost energy of joy and self-development. Appetite is “buried” problems and unfulfilled desires. We will work with all this. Distinguishing between appetite and hunger and tapping into the emotions and desires behind appetite will truly bring a sense of emotional fulfillment into your life rather than physical fulfillment.
Eating disorders often lead to stress. Moreover, at the very moment of stress, some people eat a lot, others eat practically nothing. But then, when the stress is over, they eat off, gaining weight just like the others.
We will not relieve you of stress. It is not right. Hans Selye, the scientist who introduced the concept of “stress,” proved that a person cannot live without stress. During stress, substances are produced that later become mediators of pleasure. Therefore, it is good if stress arises. The bad news is that some of them become chronic, causing illness.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO EITHER SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS THAT CAUSE STRESS THAT DISRUMBERS EATING BEHAVIOR, OR TO CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TO THESE STRESSES.
Another reason that disrupts eating behavior is food addiction . It develops according to the same laws as any other dependent condition.
You can diagnose yourself: whether you have this condition or not. Normally, when a person comes home from work in the evening, he relaxes, throwing off the burden of the day's worries. Then he sits down at the table, chooses the most best products and, slowly chewing and savoring each piece, enjoys it. Then after about 15 minutes a feeling of pleasant satiety appears. And with good mood a person is either having fun or doing some business. This is what it is advisable to strive for.
In the presence of addictive eating behavior, the picture is different. In the morning an oath was made: “Today new life! I don’t eat anything at all!” The day turned out completely differently than expected. Stress, nerves, etc. In the evening, rushing home after such a crazy day, there is no time for an oath. In passing, they eat up what has not yet gone rotten (it’s a pity to throw it away). Then you have to sit down at the table with everyone else - they still eat! Then a feeling of satiety appears. But instead pleasant emotions remorse begins: “Well, I overate again...! You have no will, no conscience!” Then an oath is taken: “THIS is the last time!” And this is said sincerely, honestly. Then the subconscious gets involved in the process: “If this is the last time and tomorrow there will be nothing, then now I’ll be so full that tomorrow it will be disgusting to watch...” And tomorrow again the day will not turn out that way. And everything is postponed until the day after tomorrow. And “last time” – every time. And more and more excess weight. And more and more terrible the last time. This is how addiction grows.
Let's make a clarification here. With alcohol addiction, everything is quite simple. An alcoholic can not drink alcohol and still live and be a full-fledged member of society. Is it possible not to eat? A person cannot live without food. Then where is that extra piece that relates to addiction? How find this boundary separating normal eating behavior and addictive behavior? This book will help you.
This text is an introductory fragment.Typically, eating disorders are a consequence of you being at war with your own body.
Proper nutrition and adequate eating behavior, rather than strict diets and restrictions, are necessary for successful, healthy and comfortable weight loss.
Rule one, the main thing: do not fight with your own body. Learn to live with him in peace and harmony, love him. Remember, he is your only and irreplaceable one. Enter into peaceful negotiations with him and agree on the following. You will feed him when he wants it and give him as much food as he requires. You reserve the right to decide how you will feed him.
Determine what you should eat and what is strictly contraindicated for you. There won't be too many of these products. Nutrition must be balanced; the diet must contain fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Prepare a list of foods that will form the basis of your diet. Each person must follow his own plan, observing the general principles of proper nutrition. In the process of bringing the body to a physiological norm, food preferences will begin to change “by themselves.”
Eliminate fat "at the entrance"
Today, almost any store offers a selection of similar products with different fat content: bread 5% fat and 1.5%, milk 3.2% and 0.5%, kefir 3.5% and 0%, etc. Try to limit your oil intake as much as possible.
On the sales floor of a store, pick up the product you intend to purchase, read the label to see how much fat it contains, and compare it with the label of a similar product lying nearby. Ultimately, if one store doesn't have much choice, go to another. Don't forget that the farther the store is from your home, the more of your own fat you will have time to spend while getting bags of groceries from it.
Start losing weight from the store
Proper nutrition starts... in the store! When there is a lot of delicious “forbidden” food at home, it is very difficult to resist temptation; sooner or later you will still “relapse.” Therefore, start losing weight in the store - you are there for just a few minutes; it is much easier to refrain from buying the “wrong” products than from eating them when they are an eyesore from morning to evening. To avoid buying unnecessary “forbidden” products, make a list in advance of what you need to buy and follow it unquestioningly. Pack your bags with products that are safe for your figure, fill your refrigerator with them, preventing any tasty harmful substances from getting in there, then there will be no temptation to eat them. Now that you have only harmless foods in your home, you can safely open the refrigerator as soon as you feel hungry and choose from what you have.
Fractional meals
Try to eat small portions. Reduce the amount of food at each meal gradually - this makes it easier to get used to. If you feel that you are not satisfied with small portions, eat more often - there is nothing wrong with that when you take the “right” food. You should not feel hungry, but eat right away large volume food or liquid is not worth it, since in the latter case the walls of the stomach “stretch” over time. To get a feeling of fullness with a distended stomach, you will have to eat a large amount of food. If you eat and drink in small portions, your stomach will gradually shrink in volume, and you will be satisfied with small amounts of food.
Use small dishes
Most The best way getting rid of extra pounds means leaving them on your plate!Always use small containers for food. This is especially easy to do at home, but you can use this technique at work if you take care to bring your cups and spoons there in advance. For first courses, use small plates, for second courses - tea saucers. Replace tablespoons with dessert spoons. This technique will help you reduce your portions. Usually, when we are hungry, we completely unconsciously put a large amount of food on our plates. Then it is not only difficult for us to stop while there is still food left on the plate, but even if we are already full, upbringing and accepted social norms do not allow us to throw away the food remaining on the plate, and we eat it through force.
Take a break (but don't eat the Kit-Kat! :))
After you have eaten the first portion, take a break for 15-20 minutes. If after this time you still feel hungry, eat another portion. The fact is that when we eat, the signal about the onset of saturation does not come to the brain immediately, but with some delay. Therefore, we continue to eat when we are already physiologically full - we just don’t know about it yet. As a result, we eat to our heart's content. It is psychologically easier to take a 20-minute pause, knowing that you can return to food if you wish, than to tell yourself: that’s it, you can’t eat anymore. Be patient a little, it is quite possible that after a pause you will no longer want to eat.
Catch the hunger
Learn to distinguish between situations when you are truly hungry and when you just want to chew something. Over time, you will learn to differentiate your sensations, but if this is still difficult to do, act in a simple logical way. Analyze how long ago you last ate and what you did after eating. Moreover, keep in mind that if you were engaged in very intense physical activity, your body at this time spent not fats, but carbohydrates. And, although you have worked hard and are now very hungry, be careful in choosing foods. Eat vegetables or fruits, but limit your fat intake as much as possible. Also beware of consuming animal proteins, they are always combined in foods with some amount of fat. if it is difficult for you to give up eating meat, eat it only boiled or grilled. If you have had almost no physical activity in the period since your last meal, do the same. When the body really needs to replenish nutrients (experiences “true hunger”), it is imperative to eat so that it does not resume countermeasures.
Very often there are situations when you are not really hungry, but want to chew. Try to catch a pattern when “pseudo-hunger” most often occurs. For many, this is due to situations increased anxiety. In the cerebral cortex, the saturation center and the pleasure center are located nearby; therefore, when we eat, the electrical impulses that arise in the cerebral cortex in the process of satiation also affect the area of the pleasure center, and a feeling of peace and satisfaction comes. As a result of several repetitions of the “stress food” combination, the connection is strengthened, forming conditioned reflex, that is, a common habit of “eating” stress.
For some, the desire to chew arises when a person is not busy with anything and is bored, etc. Food is again a way to gain pleasure and get rid of oppressive boredom. If you start chewing every time in response to any emotional experience, just take chewing gum without sugar and chew it until you get tired of it. Try to drink relatively a large number of water (just plain still water, but not juice, tea, coffee or anything else) so that you get the feeling of a “full stomach” (don’t overdo it, you shouldn’t drink liters of water, you can “stretch” the stomach walls).
Develop incompatible behavior
If you have free time, use this technique. Do something that cannot be combined with food, for example, cleaning the apartment or something that you never get around to - replanting indoor flowers, disassembling mezzanines, repairing old things, etc. - There are always things to do at home. They will distract you from thoughts about food, and such as, for example, spring cleaning, will also help you burn off those extra pounds.
Allow yourself to be weak
Do not forbid yourself to eat anything once and for all. The Forbidden fruit is sweet. Do not overuse “harmful” foods, but allow yourself to eat what you want from time to time, despite the fact that it may not be entirely healthy. It is much more harmful to constantly keep yourself in check! Sometimes you just need to pamper yourself. This applies to any products, including sweets. Sweets are a different story altogether. Firstly, they are necessary for normal operation brain If you completely deprive yourself of sweets, you may experience problems with thinking and other mental processes(attention, memory, perception). In addition, a ban on sweets leads to real stress for the body. Genetic memory requires us to eat sweets. Let us remember that for our distant ancestors, a sweet taste meant the absence of poisons in foods and indicated a high content of nutrients in them. So the craving for sweets is the call of the ancestors. Try to eat sweets in the first half of the day to “charge your brain” and limit their consumption when physical activity is reduced. The body knows how to convert unclaimed “fast carbohydrates,” which include sweet foods, into fats. The transformation occurs especially quickly when consuming fatty sweets - cakes, pastries, chocolate. To prevent them from being deposited on your figure later, you will have to spend a lot of energy. Therefore, get used to satisfying your need for sweets with fruits (live and dried), honey, jam, marshmallows and marshmallows, and candy caramel. With sufficient physical activity During the day they simply burn without turning into fat.
Don't reward yourself with food
Psychologists advise rewarding yourself for small personal achievements with something pleasant, so that it is easier to force yourself to do unpleasant things (I went to the dentist and ate a cake). In general, the advice is not bad, but you need to decide once and for all for yourself that the “prize” can be anything other than food! There is always a place for heroic deeds in our lives - there are too many things we have to do every day that we don’t want to do at all. If you eat a cake for every action that requires moral effort, the results will not be at all comforting. Nutrition has too significant an impact on health to be treated haphazardly.
Lift the dinner ban
One of the pressing problems of those losing weight is the irresistible desire to eat to excess late in the evening. During the day, the fight against overeating is quite successful, but as night approaches, the feeling of hunger becomes so strong that many succumb to it. Sometimes, with superhuman efforts of will, you manage to force yourself to fall asleep “on an empty stomach,” but it’s too difficult to control your own body: you wake up in the middle of the night and, like a sleepwalker, empty the refrigerator without regaining consciousness. The principle " the Forbidden fruit always sweet." You have to constantly control yourself, which means you constantly think about what you can’t eat in the evening. Simply put, you constantly think about food in the evening. Here the very power of thought forces the stomach to produce digestive juice! Try to think continuously about anything whatever it is, and soon it will be obsession("I don't think about the white monkey, I don't think about the white monkey, I don't think about the white monkey at all..."). The more you think about something pleasant and inaccessible, the more you want it, right? But, if in many cases what is inaccessible remains inaccessible, and they work defense mechanisms psyches that “turn off” desire (this mechanism is called “the fox and the grapes” - the grapes are high, well, okay, it didn’t hurt, the grapes are green), then the food is here, nearby, well, if not in the refrigerator, then in nearby store - go, take it and eat. Not only is temptation close, you are also constantly experiencing stress from what is “not allowed.” It further increases the feeling of hunger, triggering the stress-eating reflex. In the end, we give up under this pressure, we eat too much when we can’t eat - we experience another stress about the fact that we violated the ban - we want to eat again! It turns out to be a vicious circle.
The problem of “late dinner” is very common and very difficult. But it’s not easy until you realize that the desire to chew something tasty at night is just one of your habits and all you need to do is change this habit. You just need to approach this gradually, slowly and carefully. If you try to change your eating behavior all at once, abruptly giving up everything that you have been accustomed to for years, nothing will work - you will fall into another culinary binge. You can probably give an example of the experience of someone you know who managed to turn their life around literally in one evening? You have an outstanding friend! His willpower is admirable. Is your will as strong? Then let me remind you that you have made a peace agreement with your body. Help him get used to the changes. Start small.
Firstly, strict restrictions for use in evening time This does not apply to all products. Allow yourself to eat something that is least dangerous for your figure - it’s better than “roaming around the refrigerator” later at night. If you have a habit of drinking tea at night, drink tea without sweets. Something tasty is not always harmful. Eat an apple or an orange - it’s also tasty, but it’s practically safe for your figure. Although it is usually better to eat sweet fruits in the first half of the day, this method of satisfying “night hunger” is also suitable for the “transition period”. At any time and in any quantity, you can eat a dinner of raw or boiled vegetables without adding oil or sauce.
Secondly, do not save your hunger all day until dinner. Be sure to eat throughout the day. Move lunch at work to a later time so that you come home feeling only a little hungry and satisfy it with the lightest possible meal. If, after having lunch during the day, you feel very hungry again in the evening, include an afternoon snack in your regimen. Finally, if the situation allows, have dinner at work or on the way home, and don’t eat at home. Perhaps for you, dinner with your family is more than just a meal, then you shouldn’t transfer it to work. There is no crime if you eat vegetables or a piece of lean meat in the evening. If you are still bothered by the feeling of guilt for eating dinner at the wrong time, take a walk at a good pace for an hour after dinner, you can even do this at home in front of the TV. If the energy consumption exceeds its income, nothing will be deposited anywhere.
Following these simple recommendations will solve the problem of evening meals, since you will be able to afford to eat when you want it. Feeling full will allow you to relax and not think about food anymore, without feeling guilty. The main thing is not to try to change everything too abruptly at once, usually this causes severe psychological and sometimes physical discomfort, the person cannot stand it and again rushes into all seriousness. You need to rebuild your lifestyle gradually, humanely towards yourself, in complete agreement with yourself. Then the weight loss process will be more fun - in every sense of the word.
Celebrate in good health!
Most people can't lose weight or just start eating healthy image life seriously and for a long time, because they believe that this would require them to completely abandon all the joys of life once and for all. But here lies the mistake: in order to lead healthy life, you don’t have to give up the pleasures it offers! You just have to change your attitude towards these pleasures. There is no need to impose strict restrictions on yourself in everything, you just have to decide what exactly is completely unacceptable for you, and there are very few such things and it is not too difficult to refuse them. Everything else is not just possible - you need to allow yourself. True, with a caveat: observing the measure. You have every right to rest and holidays, the main thing is that you don’t feel bad afterwards (in this sense, “overeating” is no better than “overdrinking”). After the holidays, you can safely return to a measured lifestyle, observing a little stricter discipline than during the holidays. If you feel that you “ate too much” during the holidays, exercise more, normalize your diet, and life will very quickly return to its normal rut. It is very important to be able not to limit yourself - it is excessive self-restraint that subsequently leads to breakdowns based on the principle of “got it!” Holidays should not happen too often, because only then can you truly enjoy them and then they cannot cause damage to your health. You need to understand that if you “violated” something, no one will punish you for it (unless you punish yourself by giving up and proper nutrition, and for training); you don't have to start anything from scratch. Everything you have already done before will count towards you. Holidays are just part of it normal life. This is how they differ from everyday life, in that you can “allow yourself a little extra.” This is how you approach it - calmly and joyfully. And continue to live the life that is familiar to you.
Increase physical activity
If you not only want to get rid of the habit of constantly chewing, but also strive to be in good physical shape, not get sick, have great mood, increase your physical activity. Besides the obvious benefits physical activity as such, there is an interesting mechanism that is triggered by regular low-intensity loads. If high-intensity physical activity usually induces hunger, then prolonged moderate-intensity exercise reduces appetite. In this case, the body switches to enhanced “internal” nutrition, that is, it “eats” its own fats. Fat reserves are large (otherwise we wouldn’t be talking about the need to lose weight now), so the body makes do with internal reserves and requires almost no nutrition “from the outside.” This explains the seemingly “mysterious” mechanism of decreased appetite during low-intensity constant physical activity and an increase during active training. That is why PSV classes lead to changes in eating behavior and a decrease in the organic need for fatty, high-calorie foods. The body switches to increased “nutrition” of its own fat, and appetite decreases as if by itself. At some point you will feel that abandoning a previously loved one, but very junk food It is not only painless, but also gives a certain pleasure. You will no longer crave fatty and high-calorie foods in large quantities and you will not have to test your willpower every time before breakfast, lunch and dinner. This will not happen right away, but it will happen without fail and for everyone, without exception, naturally and without psychological discomfort.
We wish Bon appetit and good health!
