As the saying goes: “Often eating eighty percent full prolongs life and longevity.” Nevertheless, Chinese people are very hospitable. It has become a habit to serve an abundance of food to guests so that many people overeat without noticing it.
However, overeating is not suitable for the body, leading to obesity, metabolic problems, and many adverse health effects. Eating to where you’re 80 percent full is the best for good health.
People nowadays have food to eat daily and eat well in every meal. Over-fullness, however, will overload the body and cause health problems.
7 adverse health issues related to overeating
1. Can lead to premature brain deterioration
Satiety induces a substance called the fibroblast growth factor in the human brain, which is proved to be the culprit of cerebral arteriosclerosis, a disease where the arteries in the brain become hardened from the buildup of plaque. The onset of cerebral arteriosclerosis will reduce oxygen and nutrients supplied to the brain, resulting in memory loss and even brain tissue atrophy, causing Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Can cause gastrointestinal diseases
Overeating over a long period will significantly increase the burden on the digestive system and cause indigestion. The human digestive system needs regular rest to keep working correctly.
If you eat a full meal, your digestive system will not get the rest it needs when the food from the previous meal is not yet completely digested, and the next meal fills up your stomach.
3. Can result in the ‘three highs’
Excess calories will also cause fat deposition in the body and increase triglycerides and LDL in the blood, which will quickly cause arteriosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the artery walls, and lead to hypertension and other diseases like fatty liver and diabetes.
4. Can lead to osteoporosis
Long-term satiety will increase the thyroid hormone in the body, which will quickly cause excessive decalcification of bones, resulting in osteoporosis.
5. Aggravates fatigue
After eating, all the blood in the body goes to the gastrointestinal system to “work,” which tends to keep people in a state of exhaustion and lethargy for an extended period.
6. May cause kidney disease
Excessive diet can harm the urinary system because too much non-protein nitrogen has to be excreted from the kidneys, which inevitably increases the burden on the kidneys.
7. Induces neurasthenia
If you overeat, your stomach and intestines will compress the surrounding organs, spreading the “waves” of excitement to other parts of the cerebral cortex and inducing neurasthenia. This disease leads to increased fatigue and exhaustion.
How to eat ’80 percent full’
Knowing the harm a whole meal can bring, how do we persist on eating 80 percent full then? The following are four guidelines for proper eating so you don’t overeat.
1. Grasp the time to eat
It is best to start eating when you feel a little hungry and to set a fixed time for each meal so you don’t get too hungry and overeat too fast.
2. Eat for a minimum of 20 minutes
It takes 20 minutes from the meal’s start for the brain to signal that you have eaten enough. If you eat too fast, you will probably overeat before your brain gets the latest information.
3. Concentrate on eating
The feeling of being full is intuitive and can only be felt when you are concentrating on eating. Avoid chatting, watching TV, or using the cell phone while eating.
4. Chew slowly
Cultivate a sense of “chewing slowly” to lengthen the meal time. Generally speaking, it is best to ensure each bite is chewed no less than five times.
In addition, getting a little less portion each time, drinking one or two glasses of water or a bowl of soup before eating, buying food in small packages, eating more coarsely fibered and satiating food such as beans and konjac, a root vegetable, using shallow plates and transparent tableware are all good ways to avoid overeating.
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