Fool Yourself Into Eating Less

You can totally fool your brain into thinking you are eating less than you are. It's funny how what we eat and how much we weigh and how much we look are all directly related to how our brain processes things. Remember those fun optical illusions? Yet another fun way to fool your brain into something else. Did you ever wonder if this could be done with food and if so, how can we go about stuffing our faces less?

Keep these tips in mind to fool your old noggin':

• Drink a full glass of water before you eat any meal. You'll feel fuller faster..hence, less calories get stuffed into your midsection.

• Eat multiple small meals rather than the big three. It's when you get those hunger pangs where you tend to overeat. If you are hungry, you are almost too late to stop yourself! Nip it before it hits you.

• Eat from a blue plate. Scientific mumbo jumbo says that blue is calming and because it's rare to find a piece of blue food, your mind doesn't connect the color blue with food. Try it out. Blue is an appetite suppressant. Along those lines, if you like powder blue, paint your kitchen with it too!

• Sneak in 10" rather than standard 12" plates. Your eyes will think you have more on your plate, and your brain will think you are getting the same amount as you did before.

• Limit your sidedishes to just one. The more choices there are, the more you are inclined to "just try this one and that one..." and pretty soon, your plate is overloaded....you know...like at potlucks and parties. Less choices, less food-loading.

• Use dessert spoons instead of regular spoons. Fooled yet again! Not just dainty but smart too.
  

• Don't put serving dishes on the table and if you must have them there, keep the lids on. This'll trick your brain into "out of sight, out of mind". The more your mind sees food sitting around, the more the tendency is for you to "clean up" and "just one more shovelful".

• Don't be the family garbage can. My dad used to play this role. Whoever didn't finish their food, he cleaned their plate. It was almost comical...until his gut started to grow exponentially! Dish out smaller servings next time, and allow the kids to have seconds. Stay away from the "clean your plate mentality"...that went out with the Dark Ages. If you absolutely hate wasted food (me too), then use small servings and give any extra to the doggie (but not too much...too much human food is not good for them either).

• It's okay to have leftovers. I have a friend who refuses to serve leftovers. Whatever. That is why everyone is so big in that family. There is no law saying you can't serve leftovers...at least once. I know it's many of the husbands that are resistant. If you have to, dress it up a different way or serve a new side dish or vegetable with it. They'll get over it, and they'll eat it.

What do you do to fool yourself?