Second helpings can be a very difficult challenge for anyone who is trying to limit the amount of food that they eat. If you're hoping to lose weight in a healthy manner, one of the crucial ways of doing so is to ensure that you eat only a reasonable number of calories. By meeting your body's needs with a single helping of food, you ensure that you don't need a second helping in order to fulfill your nutritional requirements. However, weaning yourself off of second helpings can be a difficult task. Read on for a few tips on how to avoid overindulging.
1. Prepare Food Carefully
One of the best things that you can do to ensure that you don't overindulge is to plan ahead when you prepare food. When you make your own food, you have much more control over the calories that go into it than you do if you purchase food that is prepared by someone else. Make foods that can easily be split into single portions, or make food in single portion sizes only. When you save leftover food, split it up into separate portions so that you avoid the temptation to overeat later on.
2. Choose Filling Foods
Some foods will provide you with a much better caloric and nutritional mix than others. When possible, choose foods that will be rich in healthy calories and which will avoid fats, empty calories, sodium and sugar. These foods will provide you with a longer lasting feeling of fullness than foods that are full of empty calories. They'll fill you up and provide you with energy that lasts for hours, thereby preventing you from feeling the need to eat again shortly after your meal.
3. Drink Water
If you find yourself having the urge to continue eating, take some time to drink a glass of water. Most people throughout the United States do not drink their daily recommended serving of water, and having a well hydrated system will help to ensure that you digest your food well. This will also distract you from eating second helpings and will fill you up after you've had your first portion of food.
4. Eat Slowly
The body tends to experience the feeling of hunger for a longer time than is necessary. This means that you might still have the sensation of hunger after you've eaten, and eating more on top of the food that you've already consumed will only be excessive and result in being too full. To combat this tendency, eat your food slowly. Not only will you be better able to savor the foods that you eat when you do this, but you'll give your body a chance to reduce the feeling of hunger before you've eaten more than you should.
If you continue to have difficulties with second helpings, a nutritionist or a doctor can help you to moderate the foods that you eat.
