As with anything, portion control and diet are mostly a matter of self-control. This means convincing your mind that instead of multiple servings at dinner or lunch, you need just a single serving and a modest one at that. However, there are some physical tricks you can use in order to be a lot more convincing to yourself. The following four tips are tricks you can play on your mind in order to exert better self control when it comes to your diet.
1. Eat throughout the day. Rather than load up on food at breakfast, lunch and dinner, spread your feasts throughout the day. You will find that this will allow you t reduce your total food intake by at least 65% when you eat more regularly throughout the day. Ideally, five to six meals, or "snacks" as they will become known, will be enough to keep you energized and to give your mind the feeling of being full.
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2. Reduce portion sizes. Although eating throughout the day sounds like a great idea, you will not be able to eat your regular portion sizes. As stated above, you can reduce your food intake by 65% by eating throughout the day, but this also means making sure that your serving sizes are modest enough. You can do this by ensuring each carb portion is no larger than your fist; the same holds for your protein size.
3. Incorporate both carbs and proteins in each of your six meals. Reducing portion size and eating more frequently throughout the day means you will have to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. Incorporating both a carb and a protein in your meals means you will get both of what you need, not just one food type. For the purposes of this approach, consider fruits as carbs. So, a serving of low-fat cottage cheese (a protein) might go well with a grapefruit. A serving of lean-ground beef meatballs (protein) might go well with whole wheat pasta (pasta).
4. Make sure that at least 2 of your meals include a serving of vegetables. Although many people who need to lose weight do not enjoy eating vegetables, at least two servings each and every day will turbo-charge your weight loss efforts. Make sure you incorporate vegetables in at least two of your meals. This is not only beneficial for the fiber content, but so that you can achieve that feeling of being "full," especially after lighter meals. And instead of reaching for junk food between your meals, reach for vegetables. They not only fill you up quickly, but that feeling of being full lasts a lot longer.
The four tips are great tricks for convincing yourself that you do not need to eat larger meals, particularly at dinner time. By eating multiple, well-balanced meals throughout the day and incorporating vegetables at least twice (ideally with the larger meals like lunch and dinner), you will not only find yourself becoming more and more convinced that you are full, but you will not be as heavy a eater as you normally are. The diet mind game will work this time.
Four Mind Tricks to Help Stick to a Diet
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Chris has been writing about health and fitness matters for over 4 years. He recently wrote the Horizon Fitness EX57 Elliptical Trainer Review for Gym Exercise Machines.com.