Mindful Portion Control Strategies
Now that the holidays are here, weight gain is once again a major concern for most people. There are many ways to help oneself gain a semblance of control over the amount of food you eat or what to do if you eat too much food.
Let’s get some basics out of the way. Listening to well-intentioned friends and family members telling you to control yourself and not to each large portion is absolutely useless. You need to accept that while you have some control over the situation, you shouldn’t judge yourself as a failure because you weren’t able to resist that delicious food. So, what should one do. One of the available options is to use mindful eating. Let’s take a closer look at mindful eating.
Before talking about mindful eating, it is worthwhile to understand the concept of mindfulness as it can be applied to every aspect of your life, not just food. This technique was first popularized in the early 1970s where it was meant to help people reduce stress. By the 1990s mindfulness was being applied to help people dealing with depression.
According to scientific literature, mindful eating is a combination of emotions, behaviors, bodily sensations and application of mindfulness related to thoughts related to eating.
The 3 main components of Mindful Eating are:
Decentralization- recognizing that your food related thoughts are temporary and are not necessarily related to reality.
Present Moment Awareness – purposely become aware of your environment, sensations, emotions and thoughts
Acceptance – Be gentle on yourself. Don’t judge yourself for why you are having these thoughts and most importantly don’t fight to get rid of these thoughts or cravings
Decentralization is the most important, since it reminds you that the thoughts are temporary and don’t represent your actual actions. When you start thinking about food or imagining how good it will taste, try to understand that these are temporary thoughts and won’t necessarily be present long term.
The latest research looking at the reward system in the brain shows that GLP-1 medication can help to quiet these thoughts. I had a number of patients report that while taking weight loss medication, the constant thoughts about food were no longer so loud. These patients actually began to show decreased cravings for fatty high calorie foods and preference for healthier food.
When trying to decide the best option, working with your physician and a mental health specialist would provide you with the best approach to getting control over those strong food cravingts. The best option is to combine the benefit of the medication and the mindful techniques. A combination approach will always work better than using a single technique.
Medical Weight Loss Done Right ©
Dr. Leon Katz
Sources:
Glucagon-like peptide 1 agonist and effects on reward behavior: A
systematic review. Sebastian Badulescu et al. Physiology & Behavior 283 (2024) https://bit.ly/3CGTryz
Mindful eating: what we know so far. Katy Tapper. Nutrition Bulletin. 2022; 47:168–185 https://bit.ly/3ZniPSN
This article is strictly for educational purposes. Please speak to your clinical provider to determine the best course of therapy.
