Do you know that feeling at Thanksgiving when you go up for seconds and eating those seconds is such a euphoric experience? Do you also know the feeling about 10 minutes after the euphoric pigging out experience when your stomach seems to have exanded to the size of a balloon because you are so full? Yes my friends, this is an article of why we let ourselves grow full term food babies. This guide on how to not overeat will hopefully help decrease the growing rate of food babies out there.
The Biology Behind the Madness
The hypothalamus plays a major role in regulating appetite and hunger. The hypothalamus regulates important body processes, which include hunger and thirst. There are two sets of nerve cells in the hypothalamus. One set produces proteins that induce hunger. The other set produces proteins that inhibit hunger. Whether or not there is a balance with proteins will determine a person's balance with hunger and fullness cues.
How to Sense Overeating
It takes about 20 minutes for signals for feeling full to be sent from the stomach to the hypothalamus. Therefore, if you are eating too fast, you aren't giving your body enough time to relaize if it is full or not. Some cues to look for is feeling sluggish after eating, discomfort in the stomach, and tightness in the stomach area. There are also some "fake" hunger cues to be aware of. Some of these fake cues are brought about when you are tired, stressed, or emotional. All of these feelings can make a person think they are hungry, but food is not the true answer. The most important part to remember when eating is to enjoy every bite and take it slowly so you are more in tune with your body.
How to Stop Overeating
Overeating can be stopped by some simple life changes. The three most important changes to make is to get sufficient amount of sleep, eat breakfast, and exercise. When you get a good amount of sleep, your mind and body is energized and alert, so you brain can send signals quickly. Eating breakfast kickstarts your day, and it keeps you properly fueled until lunch. Lastly, exercise will keep your body regulated and release bad toxins. In addition, exercise gives you more endorphins for the day.
Food is incredibly important to our well being. It gives us the fuel to power out minds and our day, and there are so many delicous options- check out any Spoon chapter instagram to see what I mean! It is totally fine to pig out every once in a while (pizza night, anyone?) but in the long run we will get the most out of food if we eat only the amount our body needs.