HOW TO STOP OVEREATING

Sometimes eating too much is simply an instance of your eyeballs growing bigger than your stomach at a buffet, potluck, party or holiday meal.

Other times, overeating is a pattern rather than the exception.

How much is truly too much? And if you are indeed at that point, how do you cut back?

Overeating is eating beyond what's needed to fuel your body. Whether intentional or not, we all do it at some point. The short-term symptoms of overeating are often just related to stomach discomfort, but there are long-term consequences of overeating which, over time, can negatively impact your health.

This means it's important to recognize whether you're overeating and, if you're doing so frequently, take steps to reduce the behavior.

HOW TO SPOT THE SIGNS.

Fortunately, these particularly noticeable signs can be powerful reminders that it's time to take action. But there are also detrimental health impacts you may not notice yourself — although they will likely show up in your blood work.

Over the course of weeks to months to years, overeating can affect your cholesterol and could potentially impact your blood sugar management, which can put you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

SO, HOW DO I STOP?

If you recognize the signs and are ready to take action, here's what we recommend to help you avoid overeating:

1. Familiarize yourself with recommended portion sizes.

Portion size is critical. To keep your eyeballs in check, take advantage of nutrition food labels and reputable sources' recommended amounts of foods. These guidelines aren't perfect, but they can help set the baseline for what a realistic serving size looks like — usually hard to guess on your own. Knowing the recommended amount also helps you stay accountable for how much you should be eating.

And — speaking of accountability — you might also try eating off of a smaller plate.

The plates we serve our food on are usually pretty large, so even just something as simple as decreasing your plate size can really help you stick to more appropriate portion sizes and avoid overeating, especially for those who have been taught to finish everything on their plate, which you don't actually have to do!

2. Include a fiber source with meals and snacks.

Fiber is helpful for satiety, the feeling of fullness after eating. For instance, let's compare a plate of roasted vegetables versus several pieces of cheese. Both may contain the same amount of calories, but the roasted veggies are more likely to fill you up because they contain fiber — whose feeling of fullness can help reduce overeating tendencies.

Since cheese is less filling, you may have to eat more than your body actually needs before you physically feel full and your brain realizes you're not hungry anymore.

3. Avoid skipping meals.

Intermittent fasting — the foundation of which is skipping meals — is a trendy diet right now, but for some people, it may lead to a feast-or-famine mentality that inadvertently leads to overeating.

Skipping meals can cause intense hunger, which, for many people, tends to result in episodes of overeating once you do finally eat. Instead, we recommend eating healthy snacks between meals or eating smaller meals more regularly throughout the day.

4. Know and limit the foods that are easiest to overeat.

We've all wondered if there are foods we should write off completely. Just give us the list! But it's not that simple.

Everyone has their own individual preference on the foods and drinks they enjoy most, so advice on which foods to keep your eye on will vary from person to person. Keeping a food journal can provide you with insight into your own eating habits, a helpful tool for identifying which foods you struggle with the most.

Most people tend to overeat calorie-dense foods or processed foods they view as treats, including those high in: salt, added sugar, saturated and trans fats, empty calories.

And while there's no food you should overeat — since even too much of something healthy, like fiber-rich veggies, may cause unwanted digestive distress — you doesn't often hear of someone who regularly overeats broccoli or asparagus.

5. Stay hydrated.

Cues for thirst can often be mistaken as hunger cues. Especially when you're feeling hungry or craving a snack at a time you shouldn't, just taking a few sips of water can help you determine whether you're actually hungry or just thirsty. And keeping up with your water intake throughout the day may help you completely sidestep those tricky hunger pangs that aren't actually due to hunger after all.

6. Be mindful about why you're eating and pay attention to hunger cues.

There are a lot of reasons you might want to eat, but there's only one you need to: nourishing and energizing your body.

From "I think I need a snack" to "It's dinner time," be sure you're not falling into the trap of eating mindlessly just to eat.

If you aren't paying attention to the actual snack or meal you're eating and why you're eating it, chances are you're not really paying attention to your body's cues for appetite and hunger either.

When you're not in tune with when it's time to stop eating, you're more likely to overeat. Being mindful about your meals and what you're eating is important since paying attention to your body's cues can help you connect to the process of enjoying food as a way of nourishing your body.

7. Slow down.

Crucially, not overeating also means actually stopping when you're approaching feeling full. Portion sizing can help, but, ultimately, slowing down your meal and paying attention to how you actually feel is one of the best ways to avoid overeating.

The goal is to give your food-filled stomach and hungry brain time to re-sync with one another. In fact, it can take as long as 20 minutes for your stomach to let you brain know it's full.

A lot of us scarf down meals in half that time or less. If you find yourself overeating at meals, try to find ways to slow down the process. For instance, you might try eating with your non-dominant hand or putting your fork down between bites.

8. Rethink that second serving.

Speaking of slowing down... it can also help you decide whether you truly need to be refilling your plate or not. Maybe you really are hungry and need that second helping, which is okay. But our advice is to wait 5 to 10 minutes before you get another serving and to make sure your additional serving is mostly the good stuff — more vegetables, for instance.

9. Turn off your TV.

A great way to help encourage paying attention to how you feel after eating is to make snack time and mealtime a distraction-free experience.

Turning off your TV and sitting down at the table is a great place to start. Eating without distractions brings us back to the concept of connecting to the process of nourishing your body, which is what your food is actually meant to do.

10. Give yourself some grace.