How to Make Peace with your Appetite

by: Stefan Simonovic

Having a self-control with food is certainly something that seems unachievable for many people out there. And while the reasons for not being able to control our appetite may have a stress-caused background, the problem can be as simple as eating too fast because we believe we don’t have enough time to enjoy our meals. This often leads to overeating since we cannot properly estimate when we’re full exactly. And how could we know it, with all that opposed signals our confused body is sending us?

Either way, it doesn’t matter if you just want to curb your cravings so that you can stick to your diet and look amazing for your dating profile and easily meet people online or you just want to be able to control your appetite because you’re on the strict nutrition plan - just read the following paragraphs for some tips that can help you finally make peace with it while setting up some realistic diet expectations.

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Eating should be a ritual

There are more and more people who are eating while watching television, holding smartphones in their hands browsing Instagram, or reading magazines or books. These are all considered major distractions that don’t allow us to concentrate on food so we continue to eat even after we’re actually full.

This usually happens because we’re stressed-out and feel like we don’t have enough time to complete all our daily activities. Moreover, we treat the fulfillment of our basic physiological needs as the necessary evil, the must-do things that keep us apart from our jobs and housework; We spend 5 minutes under the shower, and then we spend next 3 minutes for eating our breakfast, just to mention a few. And it shouldn’t be like that because chewing food properly all the while savoring the taste and being completely relaxed allows us to focus solely on satiety signals that our brains receive from the body.

This way, we are treating our digestive system the way we should and more importantly - we are able to know exactly when to stop eating. And if you start applying this to your everyday life you’ll see that you actually need less than you’ve thought.

Think about what you want from food

Are you eating to live or you’re living to eat? Do you really believe that being on a restrictive diet for the rest of your life is a viable option for you? These are just a few of the questions you can ask yourself. Honesty, on the other hand, is one of the key elements for evaluating your relationship with food. If you’re a proven hedonist who simply enjoys the taste of food then you should definitely allow yourself some ingredients or dishes that are otherwise considered forbidden.

This is a nifty psychological trick that can help you eat less because you will know that you haven’t deprived yourself of certain foods. On the other hand, if you continue to bounce from strict diet to eating five doughnuts whenever you got a chance or whenever come up with an excuse to do so, the chances are you will feel unhappy. Moreover, you can easily end up in the never-ending circle of frustration that will do harm to your body as well.

Think about how you feel about your life in general

Believe it or not, an increased appetite and stress-eating can be caused by all sorts of dissatisfactions with life. This is why it’s absolutely advisable to take some time to contemplate about it. The most crucial thing is, to be honest with yourself and admit if you’re not really happy with your current job, relationship, marriage etc. There are also some things you might be missing without even being aware of it, such as having a hobby, a certain physical activity, a time for meditation and so on.

The moment you start introducing any of these to your life, you will notice the decrease in appetite. People are often eating so that they can fill in some sort of a void in their lives. And while this can have some short-term satisfaction effects, it’s certainly better to enrich your daily routine with some new pleasant activities that you find fulfilling since these can make it meaningful and happy. Consequently, you won’t have to reach out for food every time you’re feeling blue for no apparent reason.


About the author:

Stefan is a writer and a blogger in his spare time. He also works for First Beat Media, a company that mainly focuses on the online dating niche and similar services.