Habit Change: Fears and Facts

Stopping at 'comfortably full' at breakfast and lunch seemed so easy that I wondered why I fall back into overeating at meals so easily. FEARS AND RATIONALIZATIONS influenced my slide back into overeating. Here are the fears and rationalizations, which I hear myself saying when I no longer feel hungry or even slightly full, but I still want to eat:

(1) If I don't leave the table feeling obviously full (or even stuffed), I'll get hungry before the next planned meal, like when I'm out walking or running errands, or even before my husband gets home for dinner. If I eat a snack when I feel that hunger, I either won't want to eat the meal with my husband or I'll eat what I really wanted to eat at the meal and feel too stuffed.

(2) I didn't get to eat enough of what I really wanted to eat.

(3) I took probiotics with this meal. So the fullness I feel comes from intestinal bloating, not 'enough' food.

(4) I don't need to lose weight. Why worry about stopping at 'just enough'? If I overeat at this meal, I can just eat less at the next meal.

In order to resist those rationalizations, here's how I can respond to thoughts which motivate me to ignore slightly 'full' sensations and keep eating to the point of physical discomfort:

(1) I can't believe I'm still listening to that silly rationalization. I now eat 4x daily. So my meals are no more than 4 hours apart after my early morning fruit snack. I'm seldom starved for meals unless I ignore my stomach cues. I also know which food combinations will keep me unhungry for at least 4 hours. Above all, my blood sugar seems to have stabilized (after 8 months on not bingeing). So I no longer get those blood sugar peaks and valleys. I also don't crave and/or consume sweet foods as often, perhaps because I finally eliminated candida overgrowth.

(2) I need to not only choose foods which I enjoy and which feel good in my body, but also decide which food (when I have more than one at a meal) I most want to eat. I already learned to prevent feeling psychologically deprived (to prevent binge cravings) by eating my favorite foods regularly. However, choosing to eat first the food I most enjoy usually ensures that I will feel physically satisfied, when I no longer feel hungry or even slightly full. In order to feel satisfied, I have to eat the most satisfying (for me) foods. That's a no brainer!!

(3) After taking higher dose probiotics for a while I treat c-diff, I can differentiate intestinal bloating from stomach fullness. However stopping at no longer hungry, rather than comfortably full, at dinners can only help me to sleep better, because we often eat within 3 hours of bedtime.

(4) The most important reason to stop at 'just enough' is to feel BETTER after eating, rather than worse. LOL For so many years, while I had food allergies, I grew accustomed to intestinal discomfort or even excruciating pain after eating, even though I no longer suffered discomfort from hunger. So eating and feeling better was a strange and new concept for me. Nevertheless, I'm now accustomed to feeling comfortable after meals, when I don't overeat. I DO deserve to feel comfortable after meals. Feeling comfortable frees me to think and do things unrelated to food or eating. Life is so much more than food or eating.

This is a great time to practice eating 'just enough' without fear of weight loss. For me the 'holidays' begin Monday with my husband's birthday, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by leftovers and holiday get-togethers, followed by Christmas and post holiday get-togethers. I've also learned that eating comfortable sized portions of those higher calorie density foods allows me to eat less volume, feel more satisfied (from fats) and then feel 'unhungry' much longer. What a great time to practice eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm satisfied!!