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Main Concepts
BORGES ADVISES PARTICIPANTS in his program to eat until they feel about eighty percent full, then stop. Eating until completely full or overfull, Borges says, is the reason so many people are overweight, even those who follow relatively healthy diets.
The reason: most of us have never known what it is like to be truly hungry. We eat when we’re a little hungry, or bored, or sad, or out of routine or habit. A complete unfamiliarity with true hunger leads to overeating and consumption of processed, convenience foods. Borges does not ask that we starve ourselves, Instead, he wants us to be comfortable with a little big of hunger or, at the very least, with not being constantly satiated by an unending stream of food.
Furthermore, we know that when we eat, the body releases hormones to notify the brain that it is being nourished, and it can take a little while for the brain to receive and process these signals. Therefore, by eating until you’re eighty percent full and then stopping, you give your brain time to receive the signal from your digestive system that you are full.
Our Take
Regardless of whether the ultimate goal is to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your weight, our relationship with food and appetite and our ability to listen to our bodies are key to our health. In this case, where the objective is to eat until eighty percent full, rather than stuffed, eating mindfully and slowly is a practice worth adopting. When we eat slowly, we give our brains a chance to catch up with our stomachs. When we eat mindfully, taking the time to savor the smell, taste, and texture of our food, we enjoy our meals more and are more satisfied.
Obviously, there’s no way to know when you are precisely eighty percent full. It’s simply a guideline. The point is, stop eating when you feel sort of full, but could probably stand to eat a little more. In fifteen or twenty minutes, you’ll probably feel completely full after all. If not, that’s OK. It’s OK to feel a little hungry.
Further Reading