I could remember sitting at the dinner table when I was a kid stuffing my face with food. Although I was full, I had to finish everything that was on my plate. We didn’t have a lot of money and there was no way we would let any food go to waste. I would always hear, “Eat everything that is on your plate!”
As I got older and my appetite grew and no one ever had to tell me that again. It was almost as if it were in the back of my mind. “Eat everything on your plate!” became something like my meal time mantra. Unfortunately, many people have had similar meal time experiences. As I got older, my activity and metabolism slowed down, but I still had the same ravenous eating habits. That in turn led to an increase in body fat and a decrease in overall health. High blood pressure, sore knees and tiredness began to define me when at one time I was a ball of energy and in excellent health standards.
It’s hard to untrain a habit. I tried using small plates to eat less but I just got up for seconds and thirds. I figured out it was mental. I would continue to eat until I felt full. So, I stopped fighting it and starting using it to my advantage. I changed the way I ate. Or should I say the order in which I ate my meals. Now, I drink water before each meal. Once I start eating I go for my meat first, then my veggies and finish off with whatever nonvegetable carb I may have on my plate.
Drinking the water first fills up a lot of space in my stomach. By the time I eat everything else I feel full and satisfied. Sometimes that all we are looking for. We don’t necessarily want more food, we want to be satisfied. That satisfaction is the feeling of being full. It’s funny how some well-meant rules, can turn into bad habits. Eating everything on my plate is a good way to not waste money, but it trained my appetite and helped me gain extra unwanted weight. But by hacking my meal time habits, I still finish my plate, but not to my detriment.
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