Here are just some of the changes I made in what I eat, how I eat, how often, and how much I eat in order to get a wee bit slimmer.
These are not very dramatic things. But these are the first few things about your eating patterns that you CAN easily change.
I love my food and am not willing to give it all up entirely...I still eat chocolates and chips. And I have my bad days when, well, plans just derail, and I end up straying off the path.
But once you know that these small little itsy bitsy changes are making you feel better, that's incentive enough to keep going and coming back to THE PLAN if you stray.
Again, these are not strategies I devised all by myself, but this is what I FOLLOW (and it's largely from Rujuta Diwekar's book):
1. Eat fruit first thing in the morning. My favourite is plantain/banana. Very rarely apple or mango. Sometimes papaya. It revvs you up for the day, it's healthy food, and it makes you feel good about yourself. I believe in the philosophy that you must eat fruit before other food, not after, else it turns useless for the body. In case there's no fresh fruit, eat dry fruit -- my fav is almonds and raisins. Don't start the day with biscuits or tea/coffee.
2. Eat every two hours. It makes sure you eat less. It really works. It makes sure you don't get so hungry that you binge when you finally get your hands on food. Just munch and graze along.
3. Make food afresh. It has helped me a lot. I've always been a refrigerate-and-eat, ok-with-leftovers person. But now I'm changing that. It just FEELS so healthy to eat food afresh. I cook breakfast and lunch in the morning, and part of the dinner too. But there is something freshly made at dinner time. Yes, it takes time and effort, but it's worth it. It makes me feel good.
4. Smaller portion size. Smaller plates and bowls. Yes, they make a difference. Once you get used to smaller portion size (the most difficult part of a diet I feel) your stomach seems to shrink and get used to this new quantity. My example: I used to eat 4 idlis or 5 dosas. It's very difficult to stop at the ideal 2. Now I've come down to 2.5 or 3. And now, I can't eat more than that. It does take will power, though, to resist a second helping.
5. Eat all sorts of food for dinner, but eat less, and early. No sweets and fried food in this meal. Too early is not possible for me. That takes HUMONGOUS effort. But less and no sweets is a rule I can follow. Avoiding carbs at night doesn't work for me...I was raised on a high-carb diet since childhood. But I eat less rice at dinnertime. That works, I suppose. Also, since I eat late, eating less quantities eases digestion, so I sleep without heartburn -- a problem i had to face every night earlier.
These are not very dramatic things. But these are the first few things about your eating patterns that you CAN easily change.
I love my food and am not willing to give it all up entirely...I still eat chocolates and chips. And I have my bad days when, well, plans just derail, and I end up straying off the path.
But once you know that these small little itsy bitsy changes are making you feel better, that's incentive enough to keep going and coming back to THE PLAN if you stray.
Again, these are not strategies I devised all by myself, but this is what I FOLLOW (and it's largely from Rujuta Diwekar's book):
1. Eat fruit first thing in the morning. My favourite is plantain/banana. Very rarely apple or mango. Sometimes papaya. It revvs you up for the day, it's healthy food, and it makes you feel good about yourself. I believe in the philosophy that you must eat fruit before other food, not after, else it turns useless for the body. In case there's no fresh fruit, eat dry fruit -- my fav is almonds and raisins. Don't start the day with biscuits or tea/coffee.
2. Eat every two hours. It makes sure you eat less. It really works. It makes sure you don't get so hungry that you binge when you finally get your hands on food. Just munch and graze along.
3. Make food afresh. It has helped me a lot. I've always been a refrigerate-and-eat, ok-with-leftovers person. But now I'm changing that. It just FEELS so healthy to eat food afresh. I cook breakfast and lunch in the morning, and part of the dinner too. But there is something freshly made at dinner time. Yes, it takes time and effort, but it's worth it. It makes me feel good.
4. Smaller portion size. Smaller plates and bowls. Yes, they make a difference. Once you get used to smaller portion size (the most difficult part of a diet I feel) your stomach seems to shrink and get used to this new quantity. My example: I used to eat 4 idlis or 5 dosas. It's very difficult to stop at the ideal 2. Now I've come down to 2.5 or 3. And now, I can't eat more than that. It does take will power, though, to resist a second helping.
5. Eat all sorts of food for dinner, but eat less, and early. No sweets and fried food in this meal. Too early is not possible for me. That takes HUMONGOUS effort. But less and no sweets is a rule I can follow. Avoiding carbs at night doesn't work for me...I was raised on a high-carb diet since childhood. But I eat less rice at dinnertime. That works, I suppose. Also, since I eat late, eating less quantities eases digestion, so I sleep without heartburn -- a problem i had to face every night earlier.
Number 1. is something I heard once years ago from a Japanese classmate. I enjoy fruit so much it's like having a "treat" for breakfast.
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