Overeating can be defined as eating more than the body’s ability to digest at that point in time and eating beyond your capacity and your body’s requirements could be due to taste, habit, stress, or mindless ignorant eating.
The brain needs a minimum of 20-25 minutes to realise and send signals that it’s full so blindly gobbling down food in no time will lead to overloading your stomach without even you realise.
What happens when you overeat
Apart from gaining those unwanted layers of fat, it leads to a number of preventable lifestyle diseases:
Overeating expands your stomach more than the normal capacity, adjusting to larger meals, and pushing undigested foods upwards making you feel heavy and bloated.
Overeating calls for extra energy for digestive purposes and leads to energy wastage.
Overeating causes the secretion of excess HCL for the breakdown of food thus disrupting the normal course of digestion.
Overeating negatively impacts your sleep patterns thus inducing stress in the long run.
Overeating/poor eating/mindless eating is the leading cause of the increasing prevalence of obesity and associated comorbidities.
We have to learn to eat only to a point where our experience with food is sweet and pleasant and when our body is still fresh, light, and energetic.
Experiencing food slowly is the real essence of eating which keeps us in touch with our brain and body and we will automatically stop when we reach a threshold.
Master the lost art of moderation
Refrain from all gadgets while eating. Sit straight on the dining table (avoid sitting and eating on the bed, reclining/rocking chair, etc.
Sit in a relaxed state of mind; forget all your day’s or life’s fears and worries while you eat and avoid any kind of stress, negative emotion/thought, or argument.
Serve yourself only half (lesser than your normal portions) of food; enjoy that first and then refill if required.
Take small bites, chew them well, eat slowly, mindfully, and savor each and every bite.
Do not prepare/pick up your next bite until you finish what you already have in your mouth (keeping it ready is an indication that you are eating fast and will lead to overeating.
Eat with all your senses; enjoy the different colors and flavors on your plate, be thankful, and eat with a feeling of gratitude.
Get up from the dining table well-nourished with a pleasant and sweet feeling of satisfaction and not uncomfortably full/overloaded causing burps, heaviness and bloating.
Even the finest, most nutritious foods available will spoil in your system if it is overeaten. Do not punish your stomach and trouble your digestive system by overstuffing with food if there’s no tomorrow. We must learn to respect our bodies and take the best possible care of them. So let’s avoid overeating.
Dr Monika Seth
The writer is a freelance nutrition consultant
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
