10 Ways To Trick Your Brain Into Wanting Less Food

Undoubtedly, nowadays people suffer from obesity on a large scale and this is a serious problem in the modern way of life.

The main factor, of course, is increased food intake. A large percentage of daily calories come from low-nutrient but high-energy foods, such as saltines, biscuits, sodas, white bread and pasta, and french fries.

The problem is not only in the increased feeling of hunger, but also visually we are used to a certain portion size, which has increased significantly in recent years. External stimuli, such as taste and smell, affect the brain much more than the internal feeling that food is sufficient. So imagine a full packet of biscuits that you eat imperceptibly just because you like it. But do you need this food and does it have nutritional value and meaning ... rather not.

Do you know how much portions have increased in the last 50 years? We can give you a few examples:

• biscuits + 700%
• pasta + 480%
• portion of meat + 224%
• bread + 200%
• french fries + 168%
• the hamburger + 112%
• car + 103%
• beer + 93%
• pizza + 42%

This means that while years ago it was normal for a steak to weigh, for example, 50 grams, nowadays the portion of meat that is considered normal is about 250 grams. And if we used to eat 1 cookie, now we eat 7-8 and we accept that as normal, but a packet of cookies does not mean one serving.

Find out 10 ways to trick your brain into wanting less food

1. Pay attention to your portions

It sounds very simple, but really, the first and main way to eat less is ... to eat less! Do not trust the measurement of the eye and avoid eating at buffet tables where you can not control the amount. When consuming packaged foods, pay attention to what is written on the package - the table, in addition to the values ​​per 100 grams, describes how much per serving for the product. This is usually about 1/3 of the package.

It is very likely that you will overeat if you constantly have food in front of you.

2. Find out about the nutritional value

Even if you eat in a restaurant, you can check informatively on the Internet how many calories the portion you have chosen to consume has. Usually for the elderly the ration is about 2000 calories a day, but you can easily get carried away and eat more than half of the daily portion at once in the fast food restaurant. It is good to distribute these 2000 calories evenly throughout the day. When you consider that the caloric content of the portion is too high, give up a few things in it, so you will significantly improve its quality.

By reading the food label, you can not only control the portion size, but you will also find out about the products used in the production, which are not always good for health.

3. Eat in the light

This may seem strange, but romantic candlelight dinners make us eat more, and the same thing happens in front of the TV.

Instead of distracting yourself and eating in the dark, eat in bright rooms, concentrating on your diet.

An experiment conducted on a group of people found that those who dine in the dark tend to increase the amount of food they eat by 36% and do not realize in time that they are fed.

4. Carefully choose your snack

When choosing a snack, try to be informed about the portion size. The label has all the necessary information. For example, when you take 5 small donuts or 5 large ones, you will eat the whole amount without thinking that size matters. Avoid taking things in large packages, even if you approach it with the thought that it will last you for a few days. You will imperceptibly overdo it and eat the whole amount instead of what you planned in advance. If you still want to take advantage of an offer, serve the desired amount on a plate, and keep the rest out of sight.

5. Plan your daily diet

The best thing you can do is plan ahead for the food you plan to eat for the day. So you can add certain products to provide your body with a complete set of macronutrients and a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Also, this way you guarantee that you will not overdo it and will not overeat.

When a person sits down to eat, he decides in advance that he will eat a certain portion that is given to him, even before he has tasted the dish. By providing yourself with a predetermined amount of food, you know that this is enough to get full and avoid the possibility of eating frantically without having control over the situation.

6. Eat a high-protein breakfast before leaving home

If you are planning to go out to a restaurant or gather with friends, where you usually overeat, you can prepare at home. Eat some high-protein products, such as a protein bar, guacamole with egg, beef pastrami, cottage cheese with chia. In this way you will provide yourself with complete food, and the proteins will be very filling, respectively, when you go to the restaurant, you will not be so hungry and angry. You are guaranteed not to overeat.

7. Add more vegetables to your portion

Vegetables will fill your eyes with quantity, and will actually reduce the calories you eat. Start dinner with a large salad, then move on to the main meal. Do you remember, that's how we ate many years ago ...

8. Keep food away from you

When having dinner with your family, leave the pot away from you. Sprinkle the portions and let the rest rest on the stove. This reduces the likelihood of you wanting to pour once more, and when you leave a few minutes and walk to the pot, you will realize that you are actually already fed.

9. Don't be fooled by the label

Did you know that many things labeled "organic" or "organic" do not guarantee that the content is low in calories or healthy? The fact that some biscuits are labeled organic or made with organic oatmeal does not mean that they are not full of sugar. Very often people are deceived and overdo it with supposedly "healthy" food, consuming huge amounts of it just because they believe it is useful. They even tend to skip a main meal just to enjoy another healthy serving of bio-organic food, which may be more caloric than a steak.

Do not be fooled and do not put more meaning into some words than they generally have. Follow and consider each food rationally and correctly, instead of following fashion.

10. Serve in small plates

You certainly don't hear this advice for the first time, but it's a fact that you can't put the same food in a small and a large plate, you just can't put a lot in the small one. But when you see a full plate in front of you, you have the feeling that there is enough food, and the big plate with little food creates the illusion that it is empty.

Keep in mind that between the 1980s and 2000s, the average serving plate increased by 44%. You yourself can compare at home and you will notice that several service plates for the main course can be of different sizes.

You can consume more food, even if your spoon is bigger, and what's left for the plate. Also, the chance of drinking more fruit juice increases if the glass is high. Instead, choose low and wide.

Conclusion

Although it is very annoying to count calories, they are a factor that should not be overlooked. Especially nowadays, the average food is extremely rich in carbohydrates and at the same time poor in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. A huge amount of the menu are pasta, bread, crackers, salads, snacks and waffles. Almost daily snacks are higher in calories than main meals. The best thing you can do to take care of your healthy diet is to pay attention first to the quality and variety of foods, and then to the amount of calories - if you take care of the first, then the second will be happened by itself.

Be careful with portions, even if you think something is useful, it does not have to be low in calories. Nowadays, it is enough to add oatmeal to biscuits to be called healthy, but think about whether this is really the case and whether it is enough.

Control your portions and turn eating into a conscious process.