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Still Need Some Help With Midlife Eating? A Simple 3-Step Formula To Evaluate Your Hunger Level So You Can Feel Satiated, Not Stuffed

Episode 28 | (00:00):
Hey there, friend. Do you still need some help with your midlife eating? Well today, I'm gonna give you a simple three-step formula to evaluate your hunger levels so you can walk away from the table feeling satiated and not stuffed.

(00:14):
Don't you hate that stuffed feeling? Ugh. I hate when that happens. So this will help you monitor your midlife hunger levels so you'll be able to stop eating a little bit earlier and walk away feeling really good and having some energy for the next activity in your life. You ready to go? You ready? All right, let's do this!

(01:14):
Hey there, Easy Ager, before I get started today I wanted to remind you: if you are not already an Easy Aging® Insider, why not? You need to go join the list and be part of the Insider group, and you can do that really simply and easily at theeasyagingshow.com. So make sure you go right after this episode and sign up, okay?

(01:36):
So last episode, I gave you an acronym to help you get clear on the why behind eating, it's episode 27. If you haven't heard it yet, make sure you go listen to it right after this episode because in it, I was talking about how the time change had just totally messed up my system.

(01:55):
My schedule was off. I was eating everything in sight, and I went back and started using this acronym to help me get clear and get control over the massive food volumes that I was taking into my body.

(02:09):
Since we're on this topic, I wanted to give you another idea on how to talk to yourself about your midlife eating. It's a little life hack, just a little one, and it's two or three parts.

(02:20):
It's a simple 1, 2, 3 steps. And it may be just enough to get you to start thinking a little differently about your midlife eating, okay?

(02:30):
In a book called Food Rules, An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan — It's an older book, it's been around forever. I had a copy that was actually turning yellow, I had it for so long. I have no idea if it's still even available on Amazon.

(02:45):
But in this book, he talks about the way we ask ourselves about hunger. And one of the things that stuck with me from many, many years was: stop eating before you're full. He went into some specifics saying that people around the world have had this wisdom and this advice about eating.

(03:04):
The Japanese say hara hachi bu — I believe that's how you say it — which basically means stop eating when you're 80% full. And the Ayurvedic tradition in India, that advice is stop eating when you're 75% full, and the Chinese say to stop eating when you're 70% full.

(03:22):
There is even a German expression that says "you need to tie off the sack before it gets completely full." No matter how they're saying it around the world, we are all advised to eat until we're 70 to 80% full, right? How do we do this? That's a lovely sentiment, Michelle, but how do we go about doing this?

(03:43):
Well, first of all, you pay attention to how you're feeling as you eat. You're gonna need to slow down a little bit, start savoring the food, enjoying the taste of the food, and pay attention to how you're feeling as you're eating. Why do you wanna do this? Because it takes 20 minutes for your brain to know that you're full.

(04:02):
Here's what I do: I'm paying attention. I'm becoming more aware when I'm hitting 70-80%. I say, "Let me think. Okay. Am I hitting that 70 to 80% mark? Okay. Yeah, I think I'm there. I'm getting there. Okay. "

(04:12):
And then I tell my Amazon device — I'm not going to say her name because you know, she's gonna start talking to me — so basically I say, "A-L-E-X-A, set the timer for 20 minutes." And then I go off and do something else.

(04:29):
I walk away from the food just as it's sitting on the plate, walk away, do something for 20 minutes. And at the end of that 20 minutes, I check in with myself and it never fails: every time I give myself 20 minutes and I check in, I realize, "You know what? Okay, let me think. Yeah, I feel full. I feel satiated, but I'm not stuffed."

(04:48):
You know that feeling. You're like, "Oh, why did I eat so much? What was I thinking?" You know, where you're unfastening not just the belt, you're just kind of unbuttoning the first button on your jeans or something because you're so uncomfortable. You don't want to get to that.

(05:07):
When you're 70 to 80% full, you're going to feel satiated but not stuffed, okay? And you're going to need that 20 minutes to let your brain catch up with the rest of your body to figure out if your full or not.

(05:18):
In this book, Food Rules or, as I like to call it, Food RULES! (Look at that. I just made myself laugh.) 😉

(05:27):
Anyway, Pollan, the author, says we should be taking a lesson from the French for our eating. Instead of saying, "I am hungry," they say, "I have hunger." And instead of saying, "I am full," they say, "I have no more hunger."

(05:43):
When I read this, I thought, "You know, this is a completely different way of thinking about satisfaction, about the fullness in my tummy, about whether I've eaten enough or whether I need more." I mean, it really made a huge difference when I changed the question from "Am I full?"

(05:58):
Instead, I started asking, "Is my hunger gone?" Asking the question in this way kind of feels like it separates me a bit from my hunger. It feels like it's kind of an event that is happening to my body. There is hunger and I am experiencing it in my body.

(06:15):
But when I put it outside of myself by asking the question, "Is my hunger gone?" or "I have no more hunger" or "I have hunger," I feel less connected to it. There is a lot less emotion going on and a lot more rational thought by just rephrasing the question.

(06:31):
I know that may sound kind of crazy, but it's true. Let me give you some things to think about. If you wanna grab a piece of paper and a pen or put this into your phone, here's what you're going to do.

(06:41):
Step one, pay attention and be aware of how you're feeling as you're eating. Step two, eat to 70 to 80% full and then wait for 20 minutes.

(06:52):
And number three, at the end of that 20 minutes simply ask yourself, "Is my hunger gone?" It's going to be a yes or a no, that's it.

(07:00):
Now I'm saying this like it's a simple 1, 2, 3, and it really is. The formula for this is pretty simple, but it is going to take you some practice to figure out if you're in that 70 to 80% full mark. But I tell you, waiting the 20 minutes is huge in helping you figure some of this out.

(07:19):
So that was short and sweet, eh? That's it for today, my friend. I hope you get a chance to check this out. You can go over to The Easy Aging® Facebook group if you wanna let me know how this is working for you.

(07:31):
If you make a commitment to practice it for at least one meal a day every day, then you can eventually increase to two meals and three meals.

(07:38):
But just make a commitment to yourself to pay attention, go to 70 to 80% full, ask yourself, "Is my hunger gone?" Very simple, very straightforward, but it's gonna take some practice, okay?

(07:49):
But I know you, Easy Ager. I know if you wanna kind of get to the bottom of this eating thing, you're going to make the effort, and that's what this is about, right?

(07:59):
Once again, if you are not already an Easy Aging® Insider, go to theeasyagingshow.com and sign up now. Until next time, peace, love and blessings to you and yours. Take care. Bye-bye!

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