See what to be mindful of as you’re choosing your food portions for your meals so you can feel confident that you’re nourishing your unique body well. The post 8 Factors That Can Alter Your Food Portions appeared first on Nutrition Stripped. Your food portions will change from meal to meal, and day to day. It’s not only important for you to understand how to listen to your body’s hunger and fullness signals, but it’s also important for you to understand why your portion sizes change from meal to meal, so you can use those little insights about yourself feel more confident in how to best nourish your unique body. There are so many different factors that can influence how much you eat and if you’re not aware of these factors, it can cause you to eat portions that aren’t in alignment with your body’s needs. Having more awareness of why you’re feeling you need a larger or smaller portion will guide you to find the right amount of nourishment you’re needing. Keep reading to see what to be mindful of as you’re choosing your food portion sizes so you can strengthen your ability to use your hunger and fullness as a guide. Why Your Food Portions Can Change Keep these in mind when you check in with your hunger and determine what your food portions should be. 1. What You’ve Already Eaten (or Not Eaten) One common factor that’s likely to influence your food portions is what you’ve already eaten, or not eaten and how nourishing the food you’ve consumed was for you. For example, if you’ve intentionally or unintentionally undereaten throughout the day, this can cause your body to feel intense hunger that may lead to larger portions. These larger portions can often cause overeating because you’re just so ravenous. Additionally, when we undereat for an extended period of time, then consume a really large amount of food due to exceptional hunger, this can result in blood sugar spikes. These can lead us to feel less satisfied and satiated overall, perpetuating the cycle. On the other hand, let’s say you’ve eaten a substantial dinner and would now like to enjoy a dessert. That portion of dessert often times will naturally be on the smaller side because of your adequate intake at dinner. Eating a very small dinner before dessert can often lead to a larger portion of dessert because our hunger cues were never quite satisfied. It’s also important to consider how nourishing the foods you’ve chosen to eat are for you and how you balanced those during your meals. If you’ve eaten a well-balanced Foundational Five meal, you’ll feel more satiated between meals, but if your meal wasn’t balanced, you’ll likely find yourself hungry shortly after. 2. Activity Levels Our activity levels can also impact our food portions. On days when you’re more active, you’ll likely notice yourself needing a larger portion of food to support the level of activity you’re participating in. To accommodate this, aim for carbohydrates and healthy fats that will provide your body with the sustained energy it needs, alongside some protein that will help rebuild your muscle tissue. When you notice yourself being more active than usual, be mindful of that so you can ensure you’re adjusting your portions to meet your needs. On the other hand, if you’re normally very active and you’re resting or taking a break, your body won’t need as much nourishment, so you’ll want to pay attention to how your hunger changes on your less active days. 3. Environmental Triggers One common factor that can influence your portion size inadvertently is environmental triggers. These are anything in your environment that is triggering you to eat something or eat a certain amount. Some environmental triggers may be very supportive, such as having more nourishing food options at eye level in the fridge, rather than tucked into the produce drawers below. This can remind you to choose larger portions of vegetables and greens because they’re top of mind. However, some environmental triggers may not be supporting the type of eating habits you’re wanting to experience for yourself. For example, one of the members in our Mindful Nutrition Method program noticed that she was often snacking on chips or cookies in the afternoon. After some exploration, she realized this was because she was always walking by the office kitchen to go to meetings or refill on her tea, and she was simply grabbing a snack because it was out and available. Noticing your eating patterns to see when you may be influenced by your environment can help you identify if and when it’s impacting your portion sizes. 4. Stress Levels Stress can impact your food portions in two different ways. Smaller portions When stress initially comes on, your appetite is likely to go down because your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) puts your body is in “fight or flight” mode to respond to the stressful situation. Your brain tells your adrenal glands to release adrenaline which increases your heart rate, sending blood to muscles and your heart so you can take action, temporarily putting your hunger on hold (1). When the stressful situation passes, your SNS returns to its baseline. If you’re unaware that your hunger is suppressed due to stress, you may notice you’re undereating. While we use our hunger signals to guide our food choices, it’s important to recognize when those signals may not be working (i.e. due to stress) and nourish yourself well anyway. Larger portions The second way stress can influence your portions is when you’re experiencing chronic stress. If stress isn’t managed or alleviated, the SNS will remain triggered and responding to that stress. When this happens, your body releases cortisol, which is why it’s often referred to as the stress hormone. Unlike adrenaline which can put a pause on your hunger, cortisol can increase your appetite (2). If your stress response continues to remain “on,” your cortisol levels may remain elevated. If you’re experiencing this chronic stress,
Related Posts
Technical Analysis: 4 Stocks with signs of death crossovers to keep an eye on
HDFC Bank & 3 other fundamentally strong stocks trading above 200 DMA to keep an eye on
Falling Channel Breakout: Multibagger NBFC Stock Shows Bullish Momentum on Daily Chart
4 Fundamentally strong stocks to buy for an upside potential of up to 36%; Do you hold any?
