What is the DASH Diet? 1:38
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Voted the best diet for 5 years running the DASH Diet is the healthiest way to lose weight.
- news.com.au
- 07 Jan 2015
- Lifestyle Lifestyle/Health
IT’S irrefutable.
Eating is one of the most complex human behaviours and one of those things we often do on autopilot. Here are some of the most common unhealthy eating habits and how to break them.
POST-WORKOUT COMPENSATION
While it’s true that exercise burns calories, improves fitness and staves off chronic disease, it also has another effect: it can stimulate hunger and/or serve as a reward, causing you to overeat. But after months of pounding the pavement for one hour, five times per week, your daily ritual of a grade vanilla latte with breakfast, a banana bread to overcome the 3pm slump and two glasses (or more) of wine with dinner (because you deserve it) is doing no justice to those pesky love handles.
How to break it: To help stave off post-workout binge, sip water and eat nutrient-rich foods that make you stay fuelled and feel full throughout each day. Opt for a combination of minimally processed, slow-digesting carbohydrates (to help replenish and refuel) and lean sources of protein (to help muscles repair and recover).
Good choices include dairy-based fruit smoothies, wholegrains (multigrain bread, quinoa, brown rice, oats) with either fish, legumes, eggs, dairy, chicken, red meat, mixed with veg and healthy fats (olive oil, nut spreads avocado).
Timing matters, too as letting yourself get too hungry or thirsty is a guaranteed setup for a binge. Also consider a lightweight snack before working out, especially if you plan an intense session.
Try a handful of nuts, small tub of yoghurt, 1 slice of a small bowl of high-fibre cereal with milk.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are key to healthy eating. Source: News Limited
NOT PLANNING YOUR MEALS
How many times have you been on your way home after work, promising yourself you’ll swing past the shops to buy something healthy to cook, only to find yourself dialling take away. Or attempt to find a ‘nutritious’ snack while ravenously hungry but end up polishing off a packet of crisps instead?
How to break it:Whether you are cooking for one, for two or for your entire family, taking the time to sit down and plan future meals will not only save you time, effort and money but can make all the difference to your healthy-eating goals, like eating more fruits and vegetables. Write out a weekly plan (Sunday works well) and prepare a shopping list to ensure your kitchen is well-stocked with healthy items that are suited to quick meals and snacks e.g. frozen or canned legumes or vegetables, wholegrains pasta, rice, fresh fruit and veg, yoghurt and nuts.
Keep in mind that the “out of sight, out of mind” principle applies to your fridge and pantry. You are more likely to see, eat, and enjoy healthy foods if they’re staring at you from the eye-level shelves.
Keep weekend eating consistent. Source: Supplied
WEEKEND EATING
Compared to a hectic working week, our more relaxed weekend schedules leave room for frequent trips to the kitchen, late night snacking, too many martinis, and not many of us are lining up for 7am spin class either.
But while we might always ‘start again on Monday’, a weekend of bingeing can easily provide more than enough calories to find ourselves up to one kilo heavier when we get on the scales at the start of the week.
How to break it: To outsmart the weekend weight gain trap doesn’t have to mean your favourite Friday through to Sunday treats are completely off-limits. Consistency is key and if you really want to a treat yourself, stay on top of portion sizes while also taking advantage of additional time on the weekends to try new healthy recipes and squeeze in more calorie-burning activity.
Nutrition specialist Kathleen Alleaume. Source: News Limited
SPEED EATING
Whether you’re snacking or eating a meal, wolfing down your food in record time doesn’t give your brain enough time to catch up with your stomach which may curtail the release of hormones that help regulate appetite and hunger signals.
Not only can this result in overeating, but can cause a whole host of other issues such as bloating, indigestion and acid reflux.
How to break it: Don’t bite more than you can chew (literally!). One of the major reasons for eating too fast is not chewing long enough. To slow down your eating, chew every bite a minimum of 10 times — or whatever it takes to really grind it into mush. Physically put your fork down between bites helps, too. Bonus. When you focus on chewing your food well during each bite, you’ll begin to notice new tastes or textures you never paid attention to before.
Find your triggers when comfort eating. Source: News Corp Australia
COMFORT EATING
Of course, stress doesn’t just make your stomach bigger, it can make everything bigger if you’re not careful. For many, eating is a negative coping pattern that can suppress an emotion, such as anxiety, boredom and even physical tiredness.
Unfortunately, though, this unconscious pattern sets up a cycle of eating (irrespective of hunger) that masks unpleasant feelings.
How to break it:Identify the eating triggers. Keeping a food journal for 1-2 weeks will allow you to identify eating patterns fairly quickly. If you find that too many stressful days in the office or a tiff with your partner means a remedy of hot chips or a chocolate cupcake, consider introducing coping mechanisms other than food to your repertoire. Go for a walk, phone a friend or get a massage. Whatever it is, do something other than eat to cope with the emotion and your eating habits will take a turn for the better.
So what’s the bottom line? Bad habits are meant to be broken. As Aristotle once said, we are what we repeatedly do.
Kathleen Alleaume is a nutrition and exercise scientist and Author of What’s Eating You? @therightbalance
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