Lesson 2
Saturday, March 11, 2017 – 6:20 pm EST
Lesson Two (of Nine) is about undereating by 20%.
In Lesson two, there are 10 Items (or tactics). Please find a quiet moment to read it.
80% Rule - Background:
Kamada Nakazato, a 102-year old woman living in Okinawa, Japan, says hara hachi bu before her every meal and that keeps her from eating too much. hara hachi bu is an old proverb inspired by Confucius in China some 2,500 years ago. It means “Eat until you are 80% full”. That’s because it takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it is full. Undereating, as the theory goes, slows down the body’s metabolism in a way such that it produces less damaging oxidants – agents that rust the body from within.
LESSON TWO STRATEGIES
To help follow the 80 percent rule in your Blue Zone, try the following tips:
Serve and Store
People who serve themselves at the counter, then put the food away before taking their plate to the table, eat about 14 percent less than when they take smaller amounts and go back for seconds and thirds. Learn to recognize when you have enough on your plate to fill your stomach 80 percent.
Make Food Look Bigger
People who eat a quarter-pound hamburger that has been made to look like a half-pounder with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions feel equally full after eating. Students who drank a smoothie whipped to twice the volume with the same calories ate less for lunch 30 minutes later, and reported feeling fuller.
Use Small Vessels
Drop your dinner plates and big glasses off at a charity, and buy smaller plates and tall, narrow glasses. You’re likely to eat significantly less without even thinking about it.
Make Snacking a Hassle
Avoid tempting foods. Put candy bowls, cookie jars, and other temptations out of sight. Hide them in the cupboard or pantry. Wrap tempting leftovers in an opaque container.
Buy Smaller Packages
When given large packages of spaghetti, sauce, and meat, Wansink’s subjects consumed 23 percent more (about 150 calories) than when they were given medium packages.
Give Yourself a Daily Reminder
The bathroom scale can be simple yet powerful reminder not to overeat. Put the scale in your way so you can’t avoid a daily weigh-in. In fact, weighing yourself is one of the most surefire ways to reduce your weight and keep it off in the long run. One study that followed 3,026 women who were trying to lose weight and keep it off found that after 2 years, women who weighed themselves daily lost an average of 12 pounds. Women who never weighed in actually gained an average of 5 pounds. In other words, at the end of 2 years, women who weighed themselves every day were (on average) about 17 lb. lighter than the women who never weighed themselves.
Eat More Slowly
Eating faster usually results in eating more. Slowing down allows time to sense and react to cues telling us we’re no longer hungry.
Focus on Food
A guaranteed way to eat mindlessly is to do so while watching your favorite show on TV or while emailing a friend at the computer. If you’re going to eat, just eat. You’ll eat more slowly, consume less, and savor your food more."
Have a Seat
Many of us eat on the run, in the car, standing in front of the refrigerator, or while walking to our next meeting. This means we don’t notice what we’re eating or how fast we’re eating it. Making a habit of eating only while sitting down —eating purposefully—better enables us to appreciate the tastes and textures of our food. We’ll eat more slowly and feel more nourished when we’re through.
Eat Early
In the Blue Zones, the biggest meal of the day is typically eaten during the first half of the day. Nioyans, Okinawans, and Sardinians eat their biggest meal at midday, while Adventists consume many of their calories for breakfast. All Blue Zone residents eat their smallest meal of the day in late afternoon or early evening. Some Adventists believe that if you eat a big breakfast with the right ingredients (whole grains, fruits, milk, nut butter), you’ll fuel your body for most of the day and have fewer craving for sugary or fatty foods.
Thank you.