How to Balance Abundance With Weight Loss
Abbondanza is a word Italians use to describe plenty, like a table overflowing with food. In general it's good to hold an attitude of abbondanza in life. It really is an abundant world, and we should happily reap its richness.
However, what is considered abundant in Italy is different than our concept of abundance. Amongst discriminating Italians, enough is a good as a feast. We don't need to overdo it in order to feel satisfied.
Have you ever gone out to dinner and eaten too much? Who hasn't? The thing is, it kind of ruins the experience because you go home feeling uncomfortable. I don't know about you, but what's worse is that I've occasionally had too much to eat, only to wake up the next morning wanting even more food than usual.
All I can think is that I've temporarily stretched my stomach so that it wants more food. I'm not sure if that's really possible, but Dr. Eldo E. Frezza, former director of the Bariatric Weight Loss Center at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, says in his own weight loss book that over a period of years, your stomach actually grows if you eat too much. He says he's seen it with many of his patients.
When you eat too much, your stomach becomes accustomed to an inflated version of abbondanza and won't be satisfied with normal portions. Your mind also gets into the habit of expecting an exaggerated version of abbondanza. Then you have to retrain it to get it back under control.
What's the least painful way of doing that? In my opinion it is to eliminate all those "diet" foods that don't satisfy you anyway and end up making you hungrier than normal because you're not getting the nutrition you should. Give yourself something better. Feed yourself high-quality real food so you don't feel deprived.
And eat it slowly so that you savor each and every bite and glean every bit of goodness from it. How can you make yourself eat slowly? By chewing every mouthful forty times. I know that sounds like a lot, but that's how you slow yourself down and extract every ounce of nutrition from your food. When you eat that slowly, your digestion has a chance to catch up with your consumption and you'll be satisfied with smaller portions.
This is one way that less can seem like more. Once you start forcing yourself to "chew your food," as your mother no doubt told you many years ago, you will find yourself better able to push away from the table as you start to feel full -- not when it's too late and you're stuffed.
And as you refine your palate and become accustomed to the healthful, tasty flavors of fresh, high-quality food, junk food will become less attractive. Healthy food is very attractive when you're a healthy eater.