I am the person who can eat a lot and not feel full. For those who often do not eat enough, this may seem strange, but I tend to overeat and feel over-fed after eating. Now that I am more aware of this habit, I am making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of food I eat and increase the amount of time it takes me to finish eating.
But this is not a story about reducing food for weight loss. My eating habits made me lethargic, so I started to change them. But I still question these new habits, mainly because of the huge, often contradictory, amount of information related to the “best” time for eating, snacks, serving sizes, etc.
Myths about food
I call them “food myths” only because everyone I know subscribes to different groups, and I sincerely believe that there is no specific formula for how, what, or how much we should all eat. Many of these food myths are not backed up by science, moreover, we all have different organisms and different genes. Nevertheless, these food myths made me doubt myself and how I eat many times.
Serving Size
If you, like me, are not sure of the correct portion, I would recommend you to experiment, taking the time to find out how you feel. It was difficult, as it took me a long time to finally feel full after a portion of “my” size.
I also began to track the amount of water I consumed and drink more during and between meals, so that a feeling of fullness would come faster. One of the main reasons I’ve become more comfortable with smaller serving sizes is because I finally started drinking eight glasses of water a day, instead of the usual two.
Snacks and snacks
Another “food myth” I’ve heard of is that to improve your metabolism, it’s better to have a snack or eat small portions of food with an increased snack between them. A lot of articles with tips in these areas led me to buy a lot of healthy snacks. This affected my budget the most, since I began to spend much more on food because of these bars, etc.
Before buying them, I was able to distribute portions in such a way that I ate when I was really hungry, that is, every 3-5 hours. However, after buying these snacks, I found myself forcing myself to eat them, although I was not really hungry. Just knowing that I have extra food that I spent a lot of money on, I felt hungry.
I always had “emergency” snacks with me in case I was hungry for some reason, and on some days I really wanted to eat more than on others, it depended on the type of training or the level of stress. But I realized that for me personally these snacks are useless in terms of replenishing energy, maintaining health or level of happiness. Instead, I began to undernourish my usual servings, and then did not know what to do with the leftovers.
Of course, we are all different, and only a certain percentage of people are faced with this. But we all read a large number of food-related articles and fell asleep with news about the latest diets, whether it be celery juice to cleanse the body or keto. And these food-related myths involve considerable financial costs. Moreover, even if they work for some people, but not for everyone.
Conclusion
I became more confident in my own eating habits, simply because they work for me and help me feel strong, healthy and energetic. If your current eating habits do not make you feel that way, I definitely recommend trying new types of foods, even if they are more expensive. Or change your diet, for example, smaller meals with more snacks; large meals with fewer snacks; intermittent post, etc. Personally, this experience made me feel more confident in the products that I buy: I know what and how much I need, and therefore I can not worry about the amount in the future check.
What “food myths” cost you more money than you expected? And how did you manage to become confident in the food you consume? Or did such a problem arise only for me, and no one else was worried about their food just like me?