Comments on: Mindful Eating and Portion Control

By: Darya Pino

Darya Pino — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:47:21 +0000

Great story, D! Thanks for sharing!!

I agree with you 100% and I can pretty much eat whatever I want because of it. I stick to high-quality (aka satisfying) desserts and only take a few bites. I love it

By: D Stickney

D Stickney — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:34:56 +0000

Great article, and extremely important information to implement in our healthstyles (great word Darya!).

About a year and a half ago I started educating myself about nutrition and eating because for several years I had continuously been slowly gaining weight. I was doing everything I was told (by society, media, USDA food pyramid, RDAs) was healthy, and over about 5 years I put on 30 lbs. How could this be? I didn’t eat fast food ever, I ate “healthy”, and I exercised. In hindsight, I knew what the average American knows about nutrition, which is unfortunately very little. This article touches on my first “discovery”… modern American portion sizes are ridiculously huge. The second discovery was the significant delay until satiety is perceived, and therefore the importance of allowing satiety to be perceived with proper sized portions. The following 3-4 months saw my weight gradually decrease by 30 lbs back to a BMI of 21.0 (with no additional exercise) where it still remains.

My personal contribution to the discussion of managing cravings is to take very small amounts of desserts/sweets. A good friend of mine shared this tactic with me. The idea is that the first few bites of a really great dessert are awesome and satisfy my huge sweet tooth. All the rest of the bites to finish a large dessert serving don’t contribute to satisfying my sweet tooth, inevitably leave me feeling a little bit sick, and contribute significant amounts of calories and fat to my daily intake. Lesson learned. I now take dessert portions that are about 3 bites. My sweet tooth is satisfied, I don’t feel sick afterward from excess sweetness, and I don’t have to go running for 2 hrs to burn off that extra 500+ calories I would have needlessly ate.

Last comment on this subject… Our bodies are very efficient at intaking and burning calories. A huge cinnamon roll (say 600 calories) can be eaten in 5 minutes. How much effort and time exercising does it take to burn 600 calories? Of course it depends on the exercise, but say 90-180 minutes. So 5 minutes of eating gives fuel for 90-180 minutes of continuous moderate exertion exercise. My perspective has changed from “denying myself pleasure” by not eating excessively to “saving myself hours of mandatory exercise every day” to maintain caloric intake/expenditure equilibrium

By: Surabhi Saraf

Surabhi Saraf — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:55:29 +0000

Great post Joyti, I am already practice some of it such as slow eating, but distraction is something very important to think about. Thanks
and keep up the good work:)

By: Angela@spinachtiger.com

Angela@spinachtiger.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:08:21 +0000

So many good points, especially “distraction.” I get so busy, doing something while I’m eating, I don’t remember eating. And my brain hasn’t yet adjusted.

By: Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan

Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:07:07 +0000

Hi Dinneen
I was away on a 5 day camping trip so just read your blog on mindful eating and really enjoyed it – nice coincidence that our posts were on the same day! I agree that simplest of foods can be tasty and filling if eaten ‘with all the senses’. Camp food actually highlights that pretty well: a peanut butter, tuna and whole grain bread combo tastes great & nourishing on a hike when one is immersed in nature, but perhaps not otherwise! Great job on spreading the word on mindful dining

By: Lori Enos

Lori Enos — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:09:35 +0000

Wonderful post. All too often we eat in the car, eat in front of the TV, and do anything but eat mindfully. I do know that when I make a “production” out of eating even the basics like fruit and cheese I am more satisfied by the simple fare than by a big production that I eat mindlessly.

By: Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan

Jyoti Mishra Ramanathan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:27:33 +0000

Hey Everyone!
Great to see your interest in my post. Matt and Steve gave some more relevant tips: limiting the portion on the plate and eating slowly. The latter is actually very important physiologically. Circulating levels of appetite regulating hormones, such as leptin that signals satiety, slowly increase after a meal; and ghrelin that signals hunger, decrease after a meal. The post-meal peak response times of these hormones are approx. 20 minutes (with variation across individuals based on BMI and gender), which means that the feeling of satiety emerges approx. 20 minutes after a meal irrespective of whether you’ve finished half a plate or a full plate by that time!

By: South Beach Steve

South Beach Steve — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:38:27 +0000

Great tips! I don’t know if I have any of my own to add other than just put less on your plate. Amazingly simple, but effective.

By: Darya Pino

Darya Pino — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:52:08 +0000

I’m so excited to meet you! Thanks for connecting and I look forward to reading your blog

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:47:14 +0000

I got here because I love the picture (and also love grapes), but was excited to find an interesting article! I’m a neuroscience grad student as well, so I’m extremely glad that I found your blog! I might try out the grape experiment…