Some surprising ways to consume less food and reduce calories

Water. Water. Water.

We all know that drinking water is good for just about everything. It certainly makes a difference in enhancing weight loss and staying hydrated key for a healthy life with benefits including weight loss, fighting off inflammation, and aiding digestion. Weight loss aside, drinking a glass of water before a meal will help fill you up and make you want to eat less.

Higher contrast in colors between your plate and meal

Color Psychology is becoming a big field of study (of course restaurants have been practicing this for years) and is helping people improve their lives in many ways including choice and consumption of food. Studies show that having higher contrast in colors between your plate and food will most likely cause you to eat less and perceive the portion larger than it actually is, and feel more full. For example, if you have a soup that is light in color, serving it in a dark red bowl would be perfect! Or brilliant red beets on a white or light-toned dish adds additional satisfaction to the meal. And garnish your foods with bright colored herbs and flowers.

Protein!

Most people do not consume enough protein due in large part to the carb/sugar industry sabotaging our daily meals. Eating protein with every meal will keep you fuller, longer and aid in sparing muscle and burning fat. Don’t have the time to shop and prep? No problem. Hard-boiled eggs are an example of an easy way to get your protein on the go. And these days there are many wonderful and tasty frozen foods that merely need to be thawed and cooked, for example, shelled frozen prawns. Most grocery stores have a deli and now salad section where you can find ready-to-go tuna, chicken, turkey, lean ham, and beef.

Slow it Down

Savoring those first few bites is one of the best tools to reduce consumption. It takes about twenty minutes from the start of a meal for the brain to register satiety and in our rushed lives most people’s meals don’t even last that long!

Many of us ingest a lot more calories than we need - just because we haven’t given our brains time to register that we have food onboard. We grind through a heap of food on our plate in response to our hunger urge (many times brought on by waiting too long between snacks or meals). Imagine the extra calories you can easily ingest simply because you didn’t allow your body time to register that it no longer required food. Now imagine how those extra calories lead to extra fat!

When you eat slowly, you digest better. You lose or maintain weight more easily while at the same time feeling more satisfied with each meal. There is a difference between feeling “full” (aka over-stuffed) and feeling satisfied.

Non-dominant Hand

I know it may feel weird but eat with your non-dominant hand. Studies show that people who eat with their non-dominant hands eat significantly less. And slower.