Skills to Prevent Overeating
Think about a diet you’ve done in the past. Did the diet have certain restrictions on foods you love? Remember how you felt when you craved food, but could not eat it. Often, dieting and restricting food cause a great deal of stress and negative emotions. Many dieters allow themselves a “cheat day” or a day out of the week when all foods are allowed. Unfortunately, cheat days end up containing many more calories, negating all the hard work done the rest of the week. Or, we build up these stressful feelings towards the diet and fall off completely ending in a binge meal or comfort eating and weight gain. We can reduce this constant cycle of dieting and overeating by always practicing mindful eating techniques. Mindful eating occurs when we chose foods based on all five senses (sound, look, feel, smell, and taste). We become aware of our body’s physical need for hunger and acknowledge when it may only be our brain craving food. With practice, it is easier to feel when we’ve had...