Top Five Tips For Moderating Your Eating

I absolutely love food and could not possibly resist some glutinous pleasures in life. Life without tasty treats would be difficult to cope with! The challenge for someone like me is managing my eating habits, or in other words, moderation. Here are a few tips on how I keep my eating habits in check.

1. Make sure your regular diet is healthy and well-balanced

This may seem obvious but it is important to start from a good base. If your regular diet is relatively unhealthy, then the fact of the matter is that you are probably reaching for quick fix snacks that contain lots of sugar and fat to get your through the day, rather than as an occasional treat. A healthy and well-balanced diet will provide you with a sustainable source of energy in order to avoid those peaks and troughs. Your diet has such a huge effect on both your energy level and mood that ultimately a poor one starts to take its toll in lots of different ways.

There are plenty of resources available that you can use as a guide to assist with healthy eating and if you are really struggling then consider seeing a professional dietitian or nutritionist to help tailor a program that suits your lifestyle.

2. Keep your treats at a healthy distance

Everyone has their favourite treats that they simply cannot resist. To resist temptation, try and avoid keeping these treats in close proximity. These should not be things that form part of your regular shopping or sit in the desk draw. That way, you have to make a special trip just to get access to your treat. This will help you to question whether you really want it and avoid the temptation to snack on your treats rather than healthier foods that may be less appealing. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I absolutely love chocolate. I keep a well stocked cupboard with all sorts of healthy snacks but if there is a block of chocolate in the house, I will eat some every day until it has all disappeared! However, if I do not buy chocolate, I typically only eat it once a week reducing my intake dramatically.

3. Take a moment before you give into the craving

There is often benefit in taking a minute to reflect on whether you really want to eat that treat. If you wait for fifteen minutes and the answer is still a resounding 'yes', then perhaps you should give in. If you have a little voice in the back of your mind that is saying 'no', then try to save it for another time.

A good example of when to use this tip is at the end of a meal when you are deciding whether to eat dessert. It can sometimes take a little while for the feeling of fullness to reach you at the end of your main meal. For this reason, take a break before you decide to launch into dessert. You will often find your appetite is gone by the end of your break and the need for dessert has gone.

4. Think about what else you did that day

Did you exercise today? Have you eaten well? Did you indulge in other treats along the way? These are all good questions to ask yourself before you have a treat. If there have been lots of other indulges throughout the course of your day, then consider saving this one for later.

5. Have a little rather than a lot

Most things are about moderation. If you eat well on a regular basis, you can afford to have your favourite treats in moderation. If you binge and then deny, you start an unhealthy pattern that can negatively impact your wellbeing over time. Little reminders to yourself so that you think beyond the moment are a simple way to moderate your diet.

It is also important to control your portion sizes so as not to over-indulge. We can all have eyes that are bigger than our stomach so try to be a bit restrained. Simple tips include sharing a dessert rather than eating one to yourself, buying a snack size piece of chocolate rather than a full size, having low fat ice-cream instead of full fat - I think you get the picture.

I hope that my fellow food lovers find these tips and tricks useful. Just remember that moderation rather than denial is the key. Denial leads to obsession and often ends in unhealthy bingeing. Moderation on the other hand can make a little bit of pleasure go a long way. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

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