Learning Moderation
Moderation can be difficult for many of us, especially when it comes to our favorite foods. If we’re trying to lose or maintain weight, and we love food, it’s essential that we learn moderation.
I won’t lie, I often fail when it comes to moderation, but I also succeed much more often than I used to. There are several tricks that can be helpful when you’re trying to give up that “all or nothing” mentality.
These are some tips that have helped me to be more moderate with the foods I really enjoy:
If you really love something, don’t eliminate it from your diet or you will crave it and eventually, you will probably binge on it.
Ice cream is one of those foods for me. I’ve learned to order the kid’s size serving out instead of buying the pint to bring home, because I know that pint will become my single serving once I get it home.
Buy snack size packages (or better yet, make them yourself) and keep them somewhere that you won’t eat multiple packages.
Costco trail mix and mixed nuts have become great car snacks when we’re out but need some food. When they weren’t pre packed however, I would eat WAY too many while driving.
Fill up on healthier foods before you eat the food you really love.
I love pizza and had no self control once I made one. Now however, I make a really big salad and eat it while my pizza is cooking so I’m almost full before the pizza is done. I still eat more than I need but now I’m eating half of the pizza (two servings) instead of the whole thing.
Make it yourself. It’s almost always healthier to make food at home than to get it out in a restaurant.
The pizza above is an example of this but it wasn’t healthy when I ate the whole thing. Thai food is another example of food we started making when we saw the layer of fat coagulating on our leftover restaurant red curry meal that had almost no vegetables in it. Now we easily make our own with less fat and lots of vegetables.
Eat deliberately and consciously.
Many of us know that its’ better for us to eat at the kitchen table, while we pay attention to what we’re eating and chewing our food slowly while really tasting it. This deliberate and present eating style helps us to enjoy our food more and gives us a chance to feel when we’re full in a way we miss when mindlessly eating in front of the TV.
Use a small bowl or plate for snacks.
If you are determined to snack while watching TV or other activities, at least keep your snack bag out of the room. Fill a small bowl with your treat and make yourself go back to the kitchen to refill it if you really want more when you’re done.
Ask for help.
There are certain foods that “call to me” when they’re in the house and I feel somewhat powerless to resist them. When our son used to bring Trader Joe Babka (multi layered chocolate cake) home, I needed him to store it in his room so I wouldn’t eat it.
Admit defeat and keep certain foods out of your house, most of the time anyway.
Our kids have moved out so it’s now up to us to keep our “gateway drug” foods out of the house on our own. If the pint of ice cream or the box of BritsRUS chocolate dipped ginger cookies make their way into the house, I really do try to be moderate, but also accept my current lack of control and eat the whole thing.
Moderation doesn’t always work but I’m really happy when I am successful and still get to east those less healthy foods that I love and I don’t overdo it.
When I haven’t followed my own advice in one ore more of the bullets above, I immediately see an increase in my weight and body fat.
Next steps when moderation didn’t work:
Forgive yourself (and thoroughly enjoy the foods you overate the day before).
East super healthy the day after and eat less. This will help to offset your overindulgence and will make your body feel better by giving it more lean protein and vegetables, and less or no processed foods and extra sugar.
Move more. Choices have consequences. If you chose to overindulge one day, the next day choose to exercise more to get rid of those extra calories and fat. If you don’t, you increase your risk for multiple diseases down the line and there’s really no reason to when you can often undue a “mistake” by working it off and eating healthier the next day.
They key is to have many more moderate days and far fewer days when you overeat too many unhealthy foods or outright binge.
It’s all a process that takes practice and patience with yourself.
The patience is important but it’s also essential that we make changes in the way we eat or eventually we may experience life-threatening consequences to our health.
Action Steps:
Consider the ways you already do a good job being moderate with your food and feel good about that.
Now think about the areas you could improve (maybe based on the bulleted list above) and make one or two changes this week.
Keep practicing until you’re able to make small changes in the way you’re eating on a regular basis. These small changes become your new habits and eventually you don’t have to think about them. They simply become a part of your new healthy lifestyle.
