For someone like me, good food is the essence of life, and when I say good food, I do not just mean eating good food,
I really mean the pleasures I receive while planning what to eat, prepping for it, cooking and watching my food fantasy of the day (read week) culminating into reality!
All this gives me an innate sense of pleasure not a lot of things have been able to give me. While this took my culinary skills to a new height and motivated me to experiment more and more with food, it also made me gain quite a number of pounds on my body.
That was when I realized that curating interesting food had not only become my strength but was gradually turning into my weakness. I had over the years, started overindulging in my passion for creating and enjoying new food, particularly on weekends.
Starting Friday, my home kitchen would turn into a high-class restaurant kitchen churning out one delicacy after another, subsequently, adding layers after layers on my waistline.
While I tried to figure out why it was happening, I realized that it had a lot to do how the rest of my week went. If I had a stressful or an overly hard week, my urge to eat fancy food laced with fats (I always wonder why the tastiest things are always fattening!) spiked.
If I had been too strict with myself during the weekdays, I observed a heightened desire to indulge in sweets and savouries of all kinds on the weekends. That was when I decided to retrospect and here is what I could figure out!
If you have forcefully fed yourself with bland and flavourless food through the week, you are most likely to binge on weekends. In such situations, weekends seem like a parole when you are “allowed” to do whatever you feel like – for a limited time!
What you need to do to fix this is to prepare a healthy version of your favourite foods and enjoy them through the week.
Weekends will then not seem like “reward” days for the fact that you have been able to make through the week and boring food! Instead, gorge on limited portions of your favourite grub through the week and enjoy life! A controlled portion is the first key to avoid weekend bingeing.
While I agree that preparing weekend meals in advance may seem like an impractical idea, let me tell you it works wonders and I will tell you why! Most times, we (particularly I) end up eating unhealthy stuff is when I am not prepared while hunger strikes.
When hunger calls, we tend to grab whatever falls in sight and there you go – weekend bingeing starts! Planning ahead allows you to munch on something healthy yet tasty when you are hungry.
Keeping healthy snacks handy is also a great way to steer clear of unhealthy stuff. It seems hard in the beginning, but once you make it a part of your routine, it becomes your routine!
Though it is quite understandable that weekend is the perfect opportunity to chill and complete your errands, which may leave you with no or little time to exercise, make time to work out – even if it means working out for half an hour. Push yourself, involve your spouse, kids, friends, family and make it happen.
Even if your kid has an exam to take the following Monday and as a devout parent, taking out time for yourself seems like a crime, commit that crime.
You owe it to yourself! You will get good feelings through endorphins that come from exercise and with time, you will realize that exercising motivates you to opt for healthier foods.
Weekends are a perfect opportunity to turn exercise into an interesting activity you can involve your close ones into.
There are so many thing you can do – go swimming, go hiking, play a football/badminton/cricket match with your spouse, kids or friends. Take up a dance class, there is nothing more satisfying than burning calories while dancing to your favourite tunes.
Feeling a rumble in your stomach every few minutes – even after eating? Time to drink water. We often confuse thirst with hunger and game over! If you feel hungry at an odd time, drink 1-2 glasses of water. You may just start feeling full! This is one of the foolproof ways to avoid bingeing.
So the crux of the matter is that if you want to avoid weekend bingeing and those unwanted layers in your waistline, follow these tips, enjoy your food and enjoy your life!
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques. How can I stop overeating?
Ans. There are a number of ways that help you curb your habit of overeating. For instance, focusing on food while eating, staying away from distractions while having your meals, drinking water at regular intervals, having a protein and fiber rich diet, not over restricting yourself from gorging on your favourite foods, avoiding eating straight from containers, reducing stress, etc.
Ques. What does binge mean?
Ans. The term “binge” literally means to engage excessively in an activity, particularly related to eating and drinking – basically mindless eating!
Ques. Why do I binge?
Ans. There are various why you may be bingeing. You may be suffering from an eating disorder, you may have starved yourself in the name of dieting, you may be suffering from depression or just plain boredom or you may be suffering from stress and anxiety. If you experience a one off case of binge eating, you can let it pass but do see a doctor if it becomes a recurrent practice.
We at Possible aim at motivating and helping you lead a healthy lifestyle.
For more insight to nutritious foods and health, talk to our expert Possible Nutritionist today. The first consultation is on us. Click here to avail!
Also, leave your comments below to let us know how you liked the article. Until then, happy living!
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