Lose weight, not control

There are so many triggers that kick eating into overdrive but the good news is you can beat them.

Its late evening and you know just where that bag of chips is – its buried in the pantry between the Jungle Oats and the Cup-a-Soup sachets. Out of sight but not out of mind. You think to yourself, how can you still be hungry when you ate an hour ago?

Eat regularly

Experts advise eating every 3-4 hours, which works out to be 5-6 times a day. “If you are skipping meals you’re causing your blood sugar levels to drop, which results in cravings, mood swings and low energy,” says dietitian Kim Hoffmann. “By eating regularly you are keeping your blood sugar levels stable and preventing those late night cravings. Also the more meals you eat during the day, the less likely you are to eat large quantities at supper.”

Build snack barriers

Uncontrolled snacking can put extra meals on your menu and add kilos to your waistline. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, suggests two ways of building snack barriers to limit your consumption:

1. Build a distance barrier: Rather than keeping your packet of biscuits, sweets or refined sugary treats close by, put them at least two metres away from your grasp. In a study conducted by Cornwell University, UK it showed that keeping treats close by increases your consumption by 50 percent.
2. Eat-before barrier: Make a rule that every time you want a snack, you eat a piece of fruit before. Wansink explains that putting an act between you and your snack, even an act such as eating (something healthy), can reduce your snack reflexes.

Use a 23cm plate

Recent research suggests that when you limit your portions to the point where it’s noticeable to the eye, you start to compensate by going back for seconds and piling food higher on your plate. To make sure your changes go unnoticed, Wansink suggests using a 23cm plate to easily reduce your portions without feeling deprived.

Take 30 minutes

Gulping down food may mean you’re not tuned in to your body’s hunger cues, so you’ll eat more just because it’s there. A study from the University of Rhode Island, US found that women who ate a meal in nine minutes consumed 2 713 kilojoules; and when they took 29 minutes they felt full after 2 431 kilojoules. Judith Beck, author of The Beck Diet Solution suggests you learn to linger longer over meals by focusing on the flavour of your food, sipping water between nibbles, chewing food fully, and putting down your fork every few bites.

Staying positive

“In order to shift the “C” from compulsive to controlled eating, you have to change your focus,” says dietitian Liesbet Delport and Gabi Steenkamp, authors of Eat Smart and Stay Slim. To achieve your weight loss goals, they suggest daily messages of motivation such. Try these:

• I don’t live to eat; I eat to stay alive.

• I only eat when I am hungry and only until I am full.

• I mustn’t give up on working on my eating habits just because I overdid it. I forgive myself and from this moment on, I will try again. I do not have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.