The key to finding a balanced and healthy weight loss plan is properly managing what you eat. Sounds simple right” To do this, you need to monitor the nutritional values of the foods that you put into your body and to make sure you don’t go overboard by eating way more than you should. Again sounds so simple right” Let’s be honest with each other a few slips here and there won’t break up all the hard work you’ve put into your healthy lifestyle. What is an absolute diet killer is binge eating. One of the biggest problems with binge eating is that, while it’s happening we don’t even realize that it’s happening. If you worry you’re at risk for binge eating or just want to become aware of when it’s happening, here are a few tips.

Binge eating isn’t healthy – physically or mentally. Here are tips to help.

First things first, don’t give yourself access to binge/trigger foods. These are the foods that we can eat and eat. Think about the goldfish, it can eat its weight in food and then literally explode because it doesn’t have the food shut off value. Think to yourself for a minute do you have any foods that you are unable to control” For many of us, the big offenders are chips, crackers, candies just about anything that comes in super size. For me its ice cream, I can so go gold fish on that stuff. If you’re really serious about staying away from binge eating and sticking with a healthy lifestyle then just don’t allow yourself access to these kinds of foods or keep them in your home. You can’t eat what you don’t have, right’

If you don’t live in a space where you can control your access to binge foods (family members, kids, roommates etc.) then you should shift your focus towards good portioning habits. Portioning is one of the key points of good nutrition management and this goes double for snacks. If you want to have a snack that you know can be unhealthy if it gets out of control, buy in proportioned packaging. This way you won’t hit the bottom of the bag and wonder what happened. Just make sure not to go overboard and have more than one snack serving at a time.

The greatest protection against binge eating is remaining vigilant against it. Like I said before, bingeing is also referred to as mindless snacking which can’t happen if you’re paying close attention to the foods you’re buying and eating. You can’t accidentally eat a whole bag of chips or box of donuts if you’re making sure to monitor and track all the things you’re eating. Your own level of focus is the best guard you have against the dangers of binge eating. With that said, I’m not saying become OBSSESED about food but aware of what you are putting into your shopping cart and what you are putting into your mouth. Are you choices moving you toward your fitness goal’

At the end of the day, persistence in your drive to reach your weight loss goals. Even if you find yourself slipping or notice that you’ve binged on snacks that doesn’t mean your diet is over and you should give up. All it means is you made a small slip up and you have to be more careful next time, something you’ll be sure to do after you’ve recognized what lead to your binge eating in the first place.

The post Does Binge Eating Sometimes Make You Feel Stupid’ appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

To identify whether or not you’re hungry you need to take a look at the different kinds of hunger you can experience.

First there’s natural hunger, it’s when your body is telling you that it needs food or nourishment. Think about those times you go for HOURS without eating and you get a little hangry. I can’t be the only person who gets like this.

The next is thirst hunger which feels like hunger your body is dehydrated and looking for anyway to get moisture into it.  This one is easy to solve be sure to be drinking a glass of water at least every hour you are awake. Now I know some of you will start to negotiate. I know I love coffee and tea but those aren’t really going to cut it in the hydration game, neither will soda or juices. Focus on having plain water. Add in a lemon or other natural flavorings such as fruit, cucumbers or mint to have it have flavor without the unnecessary calories or chemicals.

The last kind of hunger is known as “emotional hunger” and it can be the most dangerous. How often have you been stressed and reached for something to munch on’ Emotional hunger is brought on by stress, sadness, anger, or other emotional stressors and often makes you crave specific “comfort foods” that you can scarf down before you even realize it.

More than anything else the bane of weight loss is mindless eating and snacking, or “grazing.” This is my Achilles heel. When you’ve got a bowl of popcorn of a bag of chips it’s easy to just reach your hand in and eat a little at a time without realizing it because you’re only having one or two chips or pieces of popcorn. The problem is that one or two and one or two tend to add up quickly into a whole lot.

The downfall of grazing is that it’s not very fulfilling you are left craving real nutrients or…
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This over eating can be both good foods and not so good foods.

So how do you tell what kind of hunger you’re feeling’ Well, mindful eating on the whole helps you to identify that. One of the key concepts is choosing to slowly eat and savor the food you’re eating. Taking your time to chew and enjoy each bite not only lets you enjoy the flavors of your meal. Taking your time while eating gives your body plenty of time to decide if it wants more or if it’s done eating. One of the best recommendations I can give you is put your fork down between bites and not picking it up again until you’ve swallowed, you’ll start to appreciate how full each bite ends up making you feel. I recently attended an event where we had to eat a Hershey’s kiss for 10 minutes. We had to look at it then smell it, then listen to the sound of the foil wrapping. THEN we had to put in on our tongues and wait a solid 10 minutes before we could bite. Now think about how you typically eat a Hershey’s kiss, you grab it pop it in your mouth and no sooner than you’ve finished swallowing you have another kisses unwrapped and ready to go.

This is a process, it will take time, but trust me you will get the hang of it. As you spend more and more time eating mindfully, you’ll find that you’re able to identify whether you’re actually hungry and need it or if you just want that snack because it you smell deliciousness coming from across the room. Trust me when you take the time to identify what your body is trying to tell you, you’ll be able to decide for yourself if you’re hungry once you start to do that, you will never use the word DIET again!!

The post Are You Hungry or Just Eating’ appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.

Recognizing your unhealthy eating triggers is important so you do not sabotage your exercise and…
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for a healthier and happier you. When you eat for the wrong reasons, whatever issues or circumstances existed before this unhealthy emotional eating episode will still be there. So, how can you identify your unhealthy eating triggers’ Great question. It may be easier than you think.

Commit this to memory, emotional and spiritual hunger can never be filled with food.
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  I’m a big believer in pushing that imaginary pause button.  Ask yourself if you are an emotional eater. Be very honest with your answers to the following questions:

• Do you often times find yourself eating after periods of intense stress’
• Do you continue to eat after you know that you are physically full’
• Do you frequently reward financial, personal and business achievements with food’
• Do you often eat until you are stuffed’
• Does the thought of eating make you feel safe and content’
• Does just thinking about food make you feel powerless or out of control’

These are all instances where unhealthy eating triggers are activated. Because of habit, environment or some other issues, if you answered yes to any of the questions above, you have developed unhealthy eating habits which are triggered by outside influences. This is not to shame you, it’s for awareness. Once you become aware you can start to make changes.

How do you determine if you are emotionally vs. physical hunger which means you need fuel in the tank.

• emotional hunger usually comes on very quickly and you usually want something SPECIFIC!
• natural, physical hunger usually means eating just about anything sounds good. Even eating your own arm. I’ve been know to get hangry if I don’t eat on time, what about you’

Please keep in mind that

emotional hunger usually is not satisfied once you are physically full,
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, because this hunger is located in your mind and if you are distracted, you could wolf down an entire bag of potato chips or your favorite comfort food at one sitting. Have you ever been a victim of mindless eating’ You start by having just one and then BOOM the bag is gone’

Take the time, to identify and respond appropriately to your unhealthy eating triggers, and you will not suffer the regret, shame or guilt that accompany the weight gain and the mental stress that emotional eating delivers.

The post How to Recognize Your Unhealthy Eating Triggers appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.