Rules for Eating

"If you want to lose weight, get MORE pleasure out of LESS food"

Emotional Eating

Eating is easy.

We all eat emotionally! We have no choice - we rarely "think" about what we are doing, and underneath it all, our emotions control this aspect of our lives more than almost any other.

We are all born with the instinct to eat to survive, and eating fits well into our understanding of emotional growth.

Many of us eat automatically as if our life depends on it!

Some of us eat like children waiting for our Mummy or Daddy to tell us what to do.

Some like to eat in company and thrive on group eating, but find it hard when they are on their own.

Some love to make rules and tell others how they should eat.

Some are able enjoy their eating as a gourmet and get the balance right.

But eating is something that should so obviously balance itself - when we are hungry, we eat; when we are full we stop; and we follow the foods our hungers and our body tells us. We know when we are thirsty and need to drink. We know when we need something salty. We know when we need a rapid energy source or even something more substantial. So what goes wrong?

Some eat way too much!

Some use eating as a form punishment.

Some have excessive rituals as to how they, or others, should eat.

Some even use eating as a form of control.

So few of us seem to get it just right!

For some reason, we all seem to have troubles with controlling what we eat. We develop rules and use our thinking to try to overcome our desires. But in truth, we need to learn to understand our emotions better to understand our eating.

To begin with, let us have a look at how we think about eating.

Rules for Eating

These rules for eating seem to be the opposite of everything we have learned - and yet they are hard to dispute. Of course they are there to challenge our attitudes, and each has an important point to make

1. Enjoy your food

• Become a Gourmet!
• What do you really like?

2. Learn how to be satisfied

• Get as much pleasure as you can out of every bite.
• Savour every mouthful. Chew slowly.
• Stop eating when you feel comfortable and stop enjoying.
• More is not better.
• Learn from your mistakes!

3. Let it Taste good not just Look good!

• Are your eyes bigger than your stomach?
• Listen to what your body likes or would like and not what your eyes or others tell you.

4. Never punish yourself with food.

5. Never eat “crud” food.

• Don’t waste your calories.

6. Every  body is different.

• You have to work it out for yourself!

7. All things in moderation.

• Experiment with new foods.
• Do not take all of your eggs out of the one basket.

8. Do be sensible!

• Some foods trick you.
• Avoid foods you know cause trouble.