In the preceding blog post we started talking about understanding our stomach. Today I will write a bit more about it and more specifically – about reaching our food threshold level.
The stomach is the size of two palms. Let me elaborate. If you cup your palms (as in under a tap of flowing water), that would be the size of your stomach.
If the quantum of food you are eating does not / will not fit within the cupped palms of your hand, then you have crossed the food threshold level.
Nature has made our stomach elastic otherwise any excess food would accumulate in the gullet (wind pipe) and choke you to death. Unfortunately, we take undue advantage of this elasticity and stuff ourselves.
So how can you remain within the food threshold level?
Here are a few healthy diet tips:
Eat five tiny meals through out the day (i.e. roughly once every two hours).
The keyword is “tiny”. Eat any good healthy food; the quantum should be equivalent to the space occupied by one-and-half medium sized apples. I promise you that you won’t feel hungry nor will you starve.
If you have a problem with deciding how much food is right for you, check out the portion control plates, glasses and bowls we have in our store – they will help you decide food portions and prevent over consumption. Other portion control tools should be available at your neighborhood crockery stores or other websites, too.
Savor every bit of what you eat. Eat slowly, quietly and mindfully.
As you pick the food with your fork/knife or spoon, look at it – know what you are eating, taste every morsel of food that goes into your mouth by chewing slowly and noticing its flavor and taste. After four mouthfuls stop, wait a few seconds and ask your stomach if it is full. Your stomach will reply – it’s just we’ve never bothered to pay attention to it. If you feel full, stop eating irrespective of the food that might be left in the plate. In the initial stages some food will be wasted. Don’t let that bother you because by end of first week, you will know exactly how much food should be in your plate.
Keep the dining table quiet.
The dining table is not the place to discuss the events of the day nor is it the place to catch up with the latest sports or news roundup. Use all your sensory organs for the task at hand – eating. If you’re talking, watching TV or reading the newspaper with one hand, then you aren’t paying attention to your food.
Yet Another Tip We Oversee: Do not load your fork/spoon/knife with fresh food
until you have slowly chewed and swallowed down the food that was in your mouth. Keeping food ready to be stuffed into your mouth will cause you to eat fast and consequently, to overeat.
In my next blog I shall write on how you can increase the nutrient intake. In the meantime, you can subscribe to our RSS feed so we update you when it’s out!