Eat Small Meals, and Eat More Frequently: Rule 4 to Control Your Appetite

Let’s talk about your Thanksgiving meal. Or big meals in general.

Have you ever eaten a huge meal? Stuffed. Can’t eat another thing. Then, an hour or so later you are offered a piece of pumpkin pie. Or ice-cream, or other temptation. At first you refuse. But when Grandma (or other convincing character) insists, you say. “OK, but just one bite.” Next thing you know, you’ve eaten the whole thing. And are considering seconds.

Why? You couldn’t possibly be hungry. And no, it’s not because your stomach stretched. It’s because you have been smitten by the Big Meal Monster.

Big meals actually prepare your body ready for another big meal. One big meal makes your body expect another. To be prepared for the rush of more food to digest, as soon as you finish a big meal, your body creates hunger hormones waiting for the next big one. When you take that first bite of the pie, those hormones instantly jump into action. You become irrationally hungry. You find it difficult to resist this rush of “Eat more, now, dummy, I’m famished” signal your body always produces an hour or two after a big meal.

The same thing happens when you eat less grandiose meals. Ever eat a “big” breakfast because you know it will be a long haul before lunch? Sure enough, about an hour before lunch, to your surprise, your are hungry. So, you do two things.

First, you resolve to eat an even bigger breakfast next time, and then you’ll give-in and eat a before-lunch snack. All unneeded, weight-inducing calories. The Big Meal Monster strikes again.

How Do You Control Your Appetite?
Conclusion 4: Eat Small Meals, and Eat More Frequently