9 Tricks for Eating Less

Restaurant tips, calorie exchange and taste bud fulfillment.

Our fast food, food-everywhere, consumer society wants us to pig-out as much as possible.

We are constantly bombarded with TV, radio, billboard, newspaper and magazine advertisements depicting slim and happy people eating mostly bad food or drinking sodas and beer. You can’t drive down a major street in any city without seeing dozens of fast food restaurants. Many popular restaurants serve gigantic portions of food. Food everywhere has been super-sized.

The first step to eating less is to say “No” to the industrial food complex that is trying to fatten you up for the kill. Just say “No” to McDonald’s and every other fast food restaurant. Say “No” to canned food and pre-packaged meals, “No” to soda pop and “sports” drinks, “No” to trans-fat and “No” to high fructose corn syrup. You’ll consume fewer calories and extend your life. The next step is to practice these 9 little tricks for eating less:

1. Learn that you are full before you stop eating.

We all have a human survival gene left over from a more primitive day called the “thrifty gene,” which encourages us to keep on eating even when we are full. Stop eating before those last few bites of mashed potatoes. Wait, and the desire to eat will go away.

2. Cut back on fat.

Fat has 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and protein. You can eat the same amount of food while automatically cutting back on calories.

3. When you eat out, order two appetizers instead of one appetizer and a main dish. Or, simply order the main dish and no appetizers. Or, share an appetizer.

Skip the desert or if you must, or share it. If you aren’t too embarrassed, ask for a “doggy bag” before you start eating, and put a portion of your meal into the bag ahead of time. Don’t eat the roll or bread and butter before the meal begins. If the waiter asks you if you want bread, stand up, throw your arms in the air and yell, “Hell, no!” (Just kidding).

4. Have a light soup before your main meal. Better yet, have soup as the main meal.

Soup makes you feel full on fewer calories.

5. Drink a large glass of water before you eat.

You’ll be less hungry.

6. For heaven’s sake, slow down.

Enjoy every single bite, chew it, and savor it. To slow things down even more, set your fork down between bites. Twenty minutes after your first bite of food there will be sugar in your blood stream; you’ll feel full regardless of how much you’ve eaten.

7. Don’t ever let yourself get extremely hungry.

Another primitive instinct is to overeat when we are really hungry. Don’t skip meals and learn to eat healthy, low calories snacks between meals.

8. Eat by Yourself!

After 30 years of overeating and obesity research, psychologists at the University of Toronto have concluded that regardless of how hungry, social clues can dictate how much you eat–usually too much. In groups as small as two people, you will tend to eat 30% to 50% more than if you were alone. So, eat alone or be more aware of how much you are eating when you are with others.

9. Notice when the flavor is gone and stop eating.

You’ll be amazed that after a bite or two of ice cream or fast food you really can’t taste it anymore. Your taste buds are numb but your stomach is on autopilot. Stop eating for a moment. Your desire will go numb as well.

START WITH THE DOGGY BAG AT A RESTAURANT! EXTEND YOUR LIFE BY EATING FEWER CALORIES WITH THESE 9 TRICKS TO SAYING “NO.”

Contributed by David Bunnell to Maximum Life Foundation