Here are some reasons why you might eat when you’re not hungry – and what you can do about it.

You’re not hungry but you eat anyway:

Life and calorie control would be a whole lot easier if we only ate when we were truly hungry.  Then it would simply be a biological drive that needed to be satisfied – like downing a glass of water when your throat is parched. It’s the rare person who doesn’t eat for reasons other than hunger – most of us find ourselves doing it from time to time.  Read more »

Our bodies send clear signals telling us when to eat and when to stop – but are we listening?

I was talking with a new client the other day and I asked her to describe her appetite.  She thought for a minute, then told me, “I can’t really say that I ever get hungry.”  She ate frequently throughout the day (maybe a little too frequently), and on a fairly set schedule.  So she relied on the clock – not her hunger – to tell her when it was time to eat.  And when I asked her how she knew when she’d had enough –that it was time to stop eating – she was completely stumped.  “I don’t have a clue,” she said.  “I’ve never really thought about it.” Read more »

One of the most common complaints that I hear from my weight-loss clients is that they’re “hungry all the time.”  Often when I hear this, I first have to help them sort what it actually means to be hungry.  True hunger is usually felt first in the stomach – as blood sugar drops, the body releases hormones that stimulate the stomach to contract, and you get hunger pangs.  But some people confuse hunger with wanting to eat – which is actually appetite, not hunger.  To help them learn the difference, I ask them to let a moderate amount of hunger to set in – to really recognize the body’s signals that say “time to eat” – and to put the fork down when they feel comfortable – not stuffed.

It also helps to incorporate healthier, filling foods along the way.   Because in the end – no matter how you define it – if you feel hungry, it’s going to be a lot harder to stick with the program. So here’s my list of some of the most filling foods you can eat.

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