- Overeating often results from emotions, distraction, or habit, not true hunger
- Body signals like hunger hormones and fullness cues help prevent overeating
- Mindful eating with attention improves digestion and satiety signaling
Overeating, or the consumption of food beyond the body's nutritional needs, is often driven by emotions, distraction, or habit rather than hunger. It involves taking in more calories, leading to a significant weight gain, digestive discomfort, fatigue, and potential chronic health issues. In an Instagram post, nutritionist Nmami Agarwal opened up that the need of the hour is to prevent overeating to say goodbye to a series of health issues. She explained, “Most people don't overeat because they lack willpower. They overeat because they ignore their body's signals.”
She reveals that your body has built-in mechanisms to prevent overeating, including hunger hormones, fullness cues, glucose response, and gut–brain signals. Certain dysfunctional mechanisms like stress, screens, and diet noise, however, also have the power to shut them down.
Agarwal says, “So you can eat a ‘perfect' meal and still feel bloated or unsatisfied.” This is when you need to pause, eat with attention, and stop at gentle fullness. But how to follow this cue? According to the nutritionist, these are the three questions you can ask yourself before eating to prevent overeating. These are:
Am I Actually Hungry?
She emphasises that this question is a key way to determine if hunger is physical or emotional.
True Hunger: The nutritionist reveals that only true hunger is associated with physical sensations like stomach growling, a drop in energy or focus, and the feeling of emptiness after the passage of several hours since the last meal.
False Hunger: This is a kind of hunger often triggered by emotions, stress, and boredom, leading to craving specific comfort foods or simply feeling thirsty.
This checklist will help you understand the differences and ultimately manage your eating habits effectively.
Am I Eating With Attention?
Highlighting the importance of mindful eating, Agarwal differentiates between two types of eating habits, such as -
With Attention: When you savour your food with proper slow chewing, deprived of any screen distraction, you have a better glucose response, satiety signalling, and digestive enzyme release.
Without Attention: This is when you use any form of distraction, including phone, TV and others, which leads to fast, unconscious consumption, delayed fullness signals, poor digestion, and a higher chance of overeating.
Am I Full or Just Finished?
This question explains the slight difference between genuinely feeling full and simply finishing a plate of food.
True Fullness: This is a state of gentle satiety where you feel a calm, satisfied feeling after savouring your meal. This is why your brain signals after 20 minutes to register fullness and support metabolic health.
Just Finished: Depending on various factors, you tend to eat until the plate is empty without pausing even between bites. This leads to fullness that does not register in the brain, causing heaviness and spikes.
In conclusion, these simple questions provided by the nutritionist indeed can help in preventing overeating, which is, in turn, a slow poison for the overall health of the body.
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.
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