Here are some important lessons:
1. Eat when you're hungry
From the time they are born, babies know when and how much they need to eat – and they cry to let us know too! As they grow, this important instinct can be un-learned. By the time we are adults, most of us have learned to eat for many other reasons besides hunger – mealtimes, tempting food, advertising, free food, stress, anger, boredom, reward and celebration. By recognizing the difference between needing to eat and wanting to eat, adults can re-learn when and how much to eat too.
2. Stop eating when you're full
Infants turn their head away when they have had enough to eat, and toddlers will throw a plate of food on the floor when they’re done. But as adults, we clean our plates because "there are starving children" somewhere, out of obligation or just because something tastes good (even though it never tastes as good as it did at the beginning). I am not suggesting that we start throwing our plates on the floor again, but we need to remember that food is abundant in our society so there is no need to eat it all now.
3. Being hungry makes you grouchy
Being hungry, tired, or frustrated are sure to make a child crabby and they affect adults the same way. Become your best self-parent and take care of your needs – instead of taking it out on everyone around you.
4. Snacks are good
Kids naturally prefer to eat smaller meals with snacks in between whenever they get hungry. That pattern of eating keeps their metabolism stoked all day. Adults who need to fire up their metabolism should try this too.
Page 1 of 3 - find more great weight-loss tips on the next page.
Michelle May, M.D., family physician and author of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: How To Break Your Eat-Repent-Repeat Cycle, children make for the perfect teacher to help us eat more mindfully because children are born with the ability to eat instinctively as they are fully tuned-in to internal cues of hunger and fullness.
