8 Aspects That Can Alter Your Food Portions

Your food portions will change from meal to meal, and everyday.

It’s not only vital for you to grasp learn how to take heed to your body’s hunger and fullness signals, nevertheless it’s also vital for you to grasp why your portion sizes change from meal to meal, so you’ll be able to use those little insights about yourself feel more confident in learn how to best nourish your unique body.

There are so many alternative aspects that may influence how much you eat and if you happen to’re not aware of those aspects, it could possibly cause you to eat portions that aren’t in alignment together with your body’s needs.

Having more awareness of why you’re feeling you would like a bigger or smaller portion will guide you to seek out the appropriate amount of nourishment you’re needing.

Keep reading to see what to be mindful of as you’re selecting your food portion sizes so you’ll be able to strengthen your ability to make use of your hunger and fullness as a guide.

Why Your Food Portions Can Change

Keep these in mind whenever you check in together with your hunger and determine what your food portions needs to be.

1. What You’ve Already Eaten (or Not Eaten)

One common factor that’s more likely to influence your food portions is what you’ve already eaten, or not eaten and the way nourishing the food you’ve consumed was for you.

For instance, if you happen to’ve intentionally or unintentionally undereaten throughout the day, this may cause your body to feel intense hunger that will result in larger portions. These larger portions can often cause overeating since you’re just so ravenous.

Moreover, after we undereat for an prolonged time period, then eat a very great amount of food on account of exceptional hunger, this can lead to blood sugar spikes.  These can lead us to feel less satisfied and satiated overall, perpetuating the cycle.

However, let’s say you’ve eaten a considerable dinner and would now wish to enjoy a dessert. That portion of dessert often times will naturally be on the smaller side due to your adequate intake at dinner. Eating a really small dinner before dessert can often result in a bigger portion of dessert because our hunger cues were never quite satisfied.

It’s also vital to contemplate how nourishing the foods you’ve chosen to eat are for you and the way you balanced those during your meals. In case you’ve eaten a well-balanced Foundational Five meal, you’ll feel more satiated between meals, but in case your meal wasn’t balanced, you’ll likely end up hungry shortly after.

2. Activity Levels

Our activity levels can even impact our food portions.

On days whenever you’re more energetic, you’ll likely notice yourself needing a bigger portion of food to support the extent of activity you’re participating in. To accommodate this, aim for carbohydrates and healthy fats that may provide your body with the sustained energy it needs, alongside some protein that may help rebuild your muscle tissue.

If you notice yourself being more energetic than usual, be mindful of that so you’ll be able to make sure you’re adjusting your portions to fulfill your needs.

However, if you happen to’re normally very energetic and also you’re resting or taking a break, your body won’t need as much nourishment, so that you’ll need to concentrate to how your hunger changes in your less energetic days.

3. Environmental Triggers

One common factor that may influence your portion size inadvertently is environmental triggers. These are anything in your environment that’s triggering you to eat something or eat a specific amount.

Some environmental triggers can be quite supportive, corresponding to having more nourishing food options at eye level within the fridge, fairly than tucked into the produce drawers below. This could remind you to decide on larger portions of vegetables and greens because they’re top of mind.

Nonetheless, some environmental triggers is probably not supporting the kind of eating habits you’re wanting to experience for yourself. For instance, one among the members in our Mindful Nutrition Method™ program noticed that she was often snacking on chips or cookies within the afternoon. After some exploration, she realized this was because she was at all times walking by the office kitchen to go to meetings or refill on her tea, and she or he was simply grabbing a snack since it was out and available.

Noticing your eating patterns to see when it’s possible you’ll be influenced by your environment can provide help to discover if and when it’s impacting your portion sizes.

4. Stress Levels

Stress can impact your food portions in two other ways.

1. Smaller portions 

When stress initially comes on, your appetite is more likely to go down because your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) puts your body is in “fight or flight” mode to reply to the stressful situation. Your brain tells your adrenal glands to release adrenaline which increases your heart rate, sending blood to muscles and your heart so you’ll be able to take motion, temporarily putting your hunger on hold (1). When the stressful situation passes, your SNS returns to its baseline.

In case you’re unaware that your hunger is suppressed on account of stress, it’s possible you’ll notice you’re undereating. While we use our hunger signals to guide our food selections, it’s vital to acknowledge when those signals is probably not working (i.e. on account of stress) and nourish yourself well anyway.

1. Larger portions 

The second way stress can influence your portions is whenever you’re experiencing chronic stress. If stress isn’t managed or alleviated, the SNS will remain triggered and responding to that stress.

When this happens, your body releases cortisol, which is why it’s also known as the stress hormone. Unlike adrenaline which might put a pause in your hunger, cortisol can increase your appetite (2). In case your stress response continues to stay “on,” your cortisol levels may remain elevated.

In case you’re experiencing this chronic stress, you’re not only more more likely to experience physical hunger, but you’re also more more likely to experience more comfort or cravings for carbohydrates or sugary foods.
Sugar can release dopamine — the feel-good chemical, activating the pleasure centers of the brain (3).

This stress eating can lead you to achieve for larger servings of those foods.

5. Distracted or Rushed Eating

Distracted or rushed eating is precisely that — eating when you’re distracted or rushing through a meal. This commonly looks like eating in front of the TV, at your desk, while scrolling social media, or the rest that takes your focus away from sitting and having fun with your food.

If you’re distracted or rushed, it’s much more difficult to make use of your hunger and fullness signals as a guide for the way much to eat. This may occasionally lead you to either eat roughly than your body needs since you’re not mindful of and in tune together with your body’s signals.

6. Lack of Sleep Can Influence Your Food Portions

Research has shown that poor sleep quality results in increased cravings for processed or sugary foods, overeating throughout the day, and never eating as many fruits and veggies.

Try eating meals which might be filled with protein and fat whenever you’re drained, so you might have more sustained energy throughout the day!

7. Your Cycle

Nearly 30 percent of premenopausal women are iron deficient (4), and if you happen to’re vegetarian or vegan or have a heavy menstrual flow, you’re at a greater risk for iron deficiency. As well as, menstruation alone lowers the quantity of iron in your body (5).

For this reason, it’s possible you’ll feel more drained during menstruation, which signals to your body that it needs energy. Carbohydrates are the body’s fast-acting type of energy, so it’s possible you’ll notice yourself craving carbohydrate-rich foods or feeling like you would like a bigger portion to get that energy source.

Make sure you eat loads of iron-rich foods, especially during your menstrual cycle to support your body’s needs and energy levels.

8. How Hydrated You Are

Water is liable for every process within the body, including your metabolism. By drinking enough water on daily basis, you’re helping your digestion keep moving, while supporting an efficient metabolism, and so rather more (1)(2).

In case you’re dehydrated, it’s possible you’ll feel hungry whenever you’re truly thirsty. Staying hydrated will help keep your hunger cues more accurate.

If you feel hungry, drink 1 glass of water, wait 10-Quarter-hour and reassess your hunger cues. In case you’re still hungry it’s possible you’ll be experiencing true hunger, and in case your hunger subsides it’s possible you’ll try drinking a bit more water to see if you happen to’re just thirsty.

How You Can Strengthen Your Ability to Find the Right Portions

Finding the appropriate portions take patience and practice. It requires the flexibility so that you can tune into your body and discover what physical hunger and fullness seems like for you after which even have the right knowledge to know learn how to use that information in a supportive way. That is what we support our members with inside the Mindful Nutrition Method™ program.

You possibly can enroll here for our free workshop where we share an exercise to provide help to higher tune into your unique hunger and fullness cues and guide you thru our Mindful Nutrition Method™.

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