Slow Down and Drink More

Welcome to the first week of your Simple Strategy for Nutrition Beginners course!  You’ll be receiving three emails this week:  today’s email, another email on Wednesday, and one on Friday that will be a weekend reminder of this week’s Simple Strategies.
 

This week, you’ll be practicing 2 Simple Strategies.

 

1.  Practice noticing your full signals.

 

2.  Pay attention to the amount of water you’re drinking each day.

Let’s talk about noticing your full signals first.

Did you know that a feeling of fullness isn’t from your stomach being full?  It’s actually from your brain reacting to hormones that are released when you put food or water in your stomach.  

It takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to register these hormones and send out the first signal of fullness.

This week, one part of your simple strategies is to practice eating slower to allow your body time to send out the signals, “Pssst…..I’m full.”
 

Simple Strategy #1: 
Eat to 80% full

The first full signal you feel is when you are approximately 80% full.  What does 80% full feel like?  80% full is that subtle signal that tells you, “I’m content.” You’re not stuffed, and you could easily keep eating. We know that if you pay attention and watch for it, you’ll notice a gentle sensation where your body is trying to tell you, “That’s enough for now.”

We understand that it’s not always practical to eat slowly. Just practice this simple strategy as often as you can.

Your first simple strategy is to slow down your eating this week and see if you can feel your 80% full signal.  Try to make meals last 15-20 minutes.  This is a simple strategy that you can continue doing for the rest of your life.

Simple Strategy #2:
Pay attention to your water intake.  

Next, let’s talk about the 2nd part of this week’s simple strategy. This is paying attention to the amount of water you’re drinking.  Drinking an adequate amount of water is one of the most important simple strategies you can do to achieve your fitness goals.  

Some benefits of being hydrated are: 
 

• decreased food cravings

• getting full sooner

• healthier skin

• improved digestion

• decreased headaches

• better mood and concentration

How much water should I drink?  One recommendation is half your weight in ounces.  For example: a 150 pound person would drink 75 ounces of water a day.  

Do you have a tough time drinking water?  Start with 64 ounces of water. That's 8 cups a day.

Already a water drinker?  Try for 80-100 ounces of water a day. 

There’s no perfect amount of water, but we do know that often we think we’re drinking more than what we actually are.

The other part of your Simple Strategies this week is to track your water intake.  Truly measure how much water you are drinking.

Choose 1 of these suggestions to practice this week:

1.  Track how much water you drink on an app. Some apps to track water intake are:
 

• MyFitnessPal

• Waterlogged

• Daily Water

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2.  Place rubber bands or pony tail holders around your water bottle.  

Every time you finish the bottle, move a band down.  Try to have all

bands at the bottom of your water bottle before the day is done. 

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                                  3. Write on a water bottle a list of times that you want 
                                  your water intake to be at throughout your day.

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