- When eating a meal, frontload the good stuff. “Good stuff” means food or beverage that’s good for your body, such as water and veggies. You’ll naturally get more full earlier. If you are about to go to an unhealthy meal, try eating or frontloading a salad before going.
- Know what you are mostly eating. Estimate what you eat with the 80-20 rule. Try eating healthy 80% of the time, and not worrying about the rest. When you are eating something, ask yourself: what’s the main ingredient? That’s the category of food that you’re eating. Don’t overanalyze a dish and break it down too granularly. Read the ingredient list and note the first ingredient to know what you are mostly eating, don’t sweat the rest.
- Your stomach is the size of your fist. It doesn’t need too much beyond that amount per meal. Before you eat, make a fist, compare it to the food, and decide if you need to finish the whole plate or not.
- Don’t fully trust your hunger, craving, or appetite. Your brain and body can be very biased about what it needs. A bite of energy bar can help you walk 1 mile. When we think we suddenly crave a specific food when it’s not meal time, the body might actually just need water. Try chugging water and eating a bite of something filling, if you must.
