One way to avoid overeating

Do you sometimes go a little overboard when eating out or eating in on special occasions with friends or family? Perhaps you find it easy to overeat on a regular basis when snacking or during regular weeknight dinners.

I have a healthy appetite, but I don't typically find myself eating past the point of being full. But a few days ago I caught myself. I was in Miami visiting my family and we ordered takeout from a healthy-ish Asian restaurant. In the middle of dinner, Sydney (my 7 month old daughter) woke up. As I left the dinner table, I asked my family to leave my plate because I wasn't done eating. I then went to get Sydney back to sleep. It took a while to get her back to sleep and in the process, I realized that I wasn't hungry.

I've often heard that it takes 20-30 minutes for our brain to receive the message from our stomach that we're full, but experiencing this was much more powerful.

One way to avoid overeating: Once you've eaten a portion of food, go do something else (even if you feel a little hungry). You can check email, go for a walk, make a phone call, play with your children, clean the dishes, etc. If you're still hungry, give yourself permission to have a bit more to eat. If you're not still hungry, do something fun an relaxing other than eating.