Whether you are looking to lose weight or just change your eating habits, we all have times of overeating. It can be frustrating and set back our goals. Overeating can have negative effects on your mental and physical health as well. Before I became a Long Island Holistic Health Coach, I would often find myself struggling with overeating which would then trigger an endometriosis flare-up. Once I started on my new wellness journey, I learned to balance my nutrition it started to get easier to avoid overeating. So I thought I would give you 5 tips to avoid overeating to help you reach your goals.

-Don’t skip or restrict your meals. I hear this so often, people restricting calorie intake or skipping meals to help them lose weight. By restricting or skipping meals you can affect your blood sugar levels, which may lead to increased cravings. Can you guess what types of cravings you will have? Yup, unhealthy processed food cravings. Those cravings lead to overeating.

-Limit or Avoid Processed Foods. Kinda goes without saying, but processed foods have little to no nutritional value. Have you heard the phrase “not all calories are created equal?” Well, whole foods offer nutrients that fuel your body. Processed foods are loaded with chemicals and often cause our bodies to continue craving more of it. Just like sugar.

-Check in to see if you are really hungry. We can often confuse being physically hungry with emotionally hungry. Typical signs of physical hunger are an empty feeling or growling in your stomach. Some people may even feel irritable or weak. Emotional hunger is often caused by how we are feeling and the craving for comfort foods. Foods have a way of comforting us when we are bored, depressed, sad, stress, or angry. So do a check-in to see which type of hungry you are feeling.

-If you eat it, track it. A great way to keep yourself aware of what you are actually consuming is to keep a food journal. We often don’t realize how much we are consuming throughout the day. So get into the habit of tracking your days, and then looking it over to see where to make adjustments.

-Be Mindful. Pay attention to the food that is in front of you. Get rid of any distractions, like the TV, computer, or phone. Slow down when eating, focus on chewing your food. Experience the food, smell it, taste it, think of the texture, etc.

Make a connection with your meals and appreciate the benefits that they are providing your mind and body.
Health & Happiness!!

Don’t forget to follow us on instagram.