Learning How Environment Affect How You Eating

Understanding what you should be eating is knowing your macro-nutrients such as protein, fat and carbohydrate and also knowing where those sources are coming from, whether it is highly processed or natural whole food.

After you learn and able to adjust your diet, you need to learn how you eat based on your environment.

For example, when I go out to eat, I have a tendency to eat more than I should. So what I've done is to have protein shake before going out to eat. When I am hungry, I know for sure that I will be adding extra patties on those burgers. However, if I am somewhat satisfied, I will be ordering only appetizers and be happy with it.

Another thing is emotional affect because of hunger. You may have been to restaurant where the service is very slow and may take up to 20-30 min before server comes to take your order. When I am hungry and situation like this happens, I am not very patient. So eating little bit before going out did helped me on this type of occasion. Something else helped was practicing 12 hour fasting. How it helped is, rather than taking hunger as alert signal, my brain start receiving it as "I'm hungry but it is ok".

Everybody has different response to food depending on their environment and situation. Therefore, how to handle may vary from person to person. Yet, most important thing is to be mindful about how you eat based on your environment then experiment what works the best for you.

Ask yourself,

When do I eat more than I should?

What can I do to not over eat?

When do I make bad food choices?

What can I do to not make a bad food choices?

Do I eat more when I with friends or eat by myself?

Be mindful about what you eat but also how you are eating.

Kota Shimada