Overeating; The New Black

As I’ve stated many times, Australia follows trends set by our North American cousins; the good ol’ United States. We follow them into war, copy their fashion trends, and now have even taken to replicating their levels of obesity and unhealthiness. 

Human movement has changed significantly in the past decade or two; gone are the days of kids littering the streets and playing in the backyard. Now they are inside, watching their iPad, playing PlayStation and doing far less. The same goes for adults. If this isn’t bad enough, the amount of food we are eating, and the type of food, is also changed, for the worse.

Overeating is a broad subject, but today we will cover just 3 factors that you can address if you are putting on too much weight. 

1.

Food has changed: The use of preservatives, copious amounts of fat, salt and sugar and the fast food industry has changed the nature of food, and by result, the body shape of the human race. The worst thing our grandparents would have eaten in their early adulthood was potatoes of an evening and maybe (on a special occasion) some chocolate on the weekend. Now, with fast food, ready cooked meals, Uber eats and pre-packaged meals dominating the market place, vegetables, fruits and healthier meal options have been replaced with “tastier” alternatives. Unfortunately, tastier does not mean better, and this has lead to people choosing the easier options for both themselves, and those who can’t choose what they eat, their children. The result of this is a drastically larger person than that of half a century ago. People are continually eating out, pigging out and generally getting less healthy by the day. This hangs in food, and habit, leads us to point number two....

2

Overeating: With the advent of fast food, preserved food, high sugar and fat food comes chemical changes to both our body and mind. Foods devoid of nutrients are also devoid of chemicals that help our brain decipher when we’ve had enough. Many people can eat a whole pizza, block of chocolate or tub of ice cream in a sitting with ease. The same goes for fast food; I know people that eat a whole family box of McDonald’s. Know why? These foods have no nutrients, no fibre and no ingredients that actually satiate us (make us full and satisfied). These companies go to painstaking levels to make sure their food is addictive and easy to eat. After the euphoria of eating that entire tub of chocolate, or your third Big Mac, 20-30 minutes later you will feel sick, sluggish and regretful. However, many will do it again, and again, and again. 

Can you guess how many calories is in a medium sized Big Mac meal?

Around 1,100 calories! That's almost 2/3 of your daily calorie intake in 1 sitting.

3

The Fix: Firstly, knowledge is power, and you now have this knowledge. Armed with it, you need to make better choices. The biggest advice we can give is to eat whole foods. Without the high sodium, fats, preservatives and sugar you can better ascertain when you’ve had enough. Eat your vegetables first, before your meats, and drink lots of water with your meal. The vegetables and water have very few calories and will actually help elevate your metabolism instead of slowing it down. You’ll be fuller, more hydrated, and in quick time, lighter with less body fat. We know that making food instead of buying out can take more time, but this must be done if you want change. On the occasions that you do order out, or buy pre-made foods, make sure they are healthy. No one is saying that you can’t eat your favourite foods; what we ARE saying is that you must have a balance that is well and truly tipped in the favour of the healthy foods as opposed to the non-healthy ones. The supermarkets all have healthy pre-made meals, pre-cooked roasts and lots of canned stuff that’s actually quite good. Take out restaurants also have healthy meal options that many people don’t utilise. If you’re forever overeating, use this fix when you eat and see how you go. Yes, there are other steps to follow, but this is the most important first step. 

Follow this advice; it works....

Have a happy and healthy day.

MPT Transformations