health tips

All the major reasons why you should eat slowly
Barry Allen (or The Flash) might be the fastest human alive, but I can definitely eat faster than he ever will. There are many potential explanations why I eat that fast.

It might be because my parents ate fast. It might be because the oldest 0-type blood runs through my veins, remembering the ancient times when fridges hadn’t been invented yet and you had to immediately eat your whole catch. Or it might just be gluttony. It’s probably a combination of all those things.

There’s one thing that could put me in the Guinness book of world records (I can eat 4 bananas under 1 minute), yet eating slowly is some of the best health advice ever when it comes to diet and nutrition. How unfair can life be?

I must put tremendous effort into eating slowly; and to be completely honest with you, I manage to do it approximately half of the time. To stay optimistic, that means I’m halfway there.

Based on my own observations and some research, let’s look at the main reasons why you should eat slowly; or at least torture yourself to do so.

Why to eat slowly?

You will eat less food

It takes around 15 to 20 minutes for your brain to become aware that your stomach is taking in food. If you eat the whole plate in like 5 minutes, you still feel hungry. Your brain assumes that your stomach is still empty. Try it.

I did it several times, and it’s true. When I eat slowly, namely for more than 20 minutes, the feeling of being fed kicks in. And eating any food in less than 20 minutes keeps me hungry. I’m like: I just ate, what the heck is going on with my appetite?

A trick you can do is to start with a hot soup or a salad. It’s impossible to eat salad fast. You need to chew all the leaves. A cow has four stomachs, and still needs to chew grass for a long period of time. You only have one stomach. That means even more chewing.

It’s similar with a hot soup. You need to eat it very slowly, waiting for every spoonful to cool down; or else you burn your tongue. In summary, eating slowly is the best advice when it comes to portion control. And portion control leads to losing weight.

You don’t overclock your stomach

I have very sensitive stomach acid. If I eat very fast, my stomach acid gets irritated immediately. Too much food at once keeps you bloated, clogged, tired and with too much stomach fluid. If you eat slowly, on the other hand, you give your stomach a manageable workload. That has several side benefits.

First of all, with slow eating you properly chew the food. Since digestion already starts in your mouth with saliva, that saves additional work for your stomach. Secondly, with slow eating all the food gets properly digested, which leads to fewer digestive problems. And you avoid burping, which is very nice, especially if you’re in public.

You can enjoy the food and practice mindfulness

Pay attention to food!

There are at least two aspects to food. One is to survive and the other is to enjoy it. Food has always had an important role in all kinds of pleasurable and social activities.

But here’s the thing. If you eat quickly, it’s kind of impossible to really enjoy food; or your company. Only eating slowly gives you the chance to dedicate part of your attention to the food – taste, texture, mixture of tastes, decoration, and so on.

There’s also a thing called mindful eating. You strive to be completely present in the moment, with your attention completely focused on every bite that you take in your mouth. You try to observe and sense as many things about the food as possible.

That way you practice being present in the moment, you train your attention span and, of course, you eat slowly, which brings many other health benefits we mentioned above.

Taking slow bites calms you down and makes you be present in the moment.

Surround yourself with slow eaters

In my country, we have this stupid game for kids, in which the one who finishes the meal first is called “the golden bird”. The competition forces kids to eat quickly from a young age.

I’ve been raised in a fast-eating family, so we all competed to see who the golden bird would be. I always won, of course, so no wonder that I was extremely obese when young.

Today, the situation is quite different. My girlfriend is an extremely slow eater. When I’ve already finished the whole meal, she’s still chewing her first bite. And then I feel kind of awkward.

Watching her eat slowly absolutely has a positive influence on me eating slowly. And if I’m in a fast-eating mood, I take longer breaks between the dishes, waiting for her to “catch up”.

As always, your environment has a great influence on your habits and who you become. Surrounding yourself with slow eaters will force you to eat more slowly.

It’s the ultimate training for self-discipline

We all need food to survive. Food is something very primal that plays a central role in our lives. That’s why it’s so hard to be disciplined when it comes to eating habits, especially to your sugar intake. No wonder the world is getting more and more obese.

Consequently, fasting and slow eating are the ultimate exercises of self-discipline. If you can train yourself to go without food for a longer period of time (with a healthy limit) and if you can train yourself to eat slowly, you can achieve anything in life.

The whole world lies in front of a person who is disciplined, persistent and focused. Luckily, you can start training your self-discipline with your next meal.

Trick yourself into eating slowly

In the fast food society, slow food is absolutely the way to go. Your digestion will improve, you’ll eat smaller portions, you’ll do your digestive track and overall health a great favor and in the end, you might even lose a few pounds of fat. And let’s not forget that you’ll also enjoy life more.

What more can you ask for?

But if you are like me, eating slowly is not something that comes naturally to you. So, it makes sense to trick yourself into lazy chewing. Here are a few ideas how:
- Count to 20 chews every time you take a bite (it won’t work with soup)
- Practice mindful eating (you know, observing every possible detail of every single bite)
- Set a timer to 21 minutes and adjust the eating pace accordingly
- Drink a glass of water before you start eating
- Don’t eat in front of the TV
- Take 10 very deep breaths before you start with your meal
- Use several smaller plates
- Always sit down behind a table to eat
- Eat more foods that are high in fiber or protein (salads etc.)
- Put the fork down in between bites
- Use small spoons or chopsticks
- Avoid sugar to prevent insulin spikes
Your stomach pays more attention to the food’s volume than calories.

Pay attention to the “fast food” triggers

Pay attention to the situations in which you repeatedly eat really quickly. I noticed there are some situations that trigger in me the need for eating speed. Examples of my triggers are:
- If my blood sugar drops after not eating for a longer period of time
- When I get emotionally upset, which leads to emotional eating
- If I have a really busy day and I try to be very productive
- When I don’t pay enough attention to my basic needs, because of “higher goals”
- If I’m really excited about something
Some triggers can be easily removed. In my case, a good example would be the sugar spikes. If I follow a consistent eating schedule, I can easily avoid any extreme hunger. Sometimes when I’m busy, working in the flow, I simply forget to eat. So, I aim for 80 % perfection. That’s a good enough goal for me.

And some triggers, like emotional hunger, can’t be easily removed. I have no idea who or what will piss me off tomorrow. In such cases, I either find a healthy surrogate for food or sometimes I just eat fast, forgive myself, and make sure that I eat my next 20 meals or so very slowly.

It’s much better to forgive yourself than burdening myself with additional guilt. Just don’t forgive yourself every single meal.

Knowing yourself is the best way to teach yourself slow and mindful eating. If you aim for 80 % perfection, you’ll be just fine. Your next meal is a great opportunity to start practicing slow eating. All hail slow food!
Sugar is poison for your mind and body
I put a lot of effort into eating an extremely clean diet. It’s not only good for keeping the fat percentage low, a clean diet also optimizes your energy levels, you feel better overall and you get sick less. I see my body as a temple that deserves the best, even though I sometimes push it too hard and too far.

But it’s impossible to be disciplined 100 % of time. There are various reasons that dampen your discipline and strong spirit. Sometimes you just slip. Sometimes life forces you to take a step back. And sometimes you must break the rules that you persistently follow to restore the power of iron will. When it comes to a diet, I call breaking the rules a pig-out day.

I have a pig-out day approximately once a month. I don’t put it on a calendar, it’s not something planned. It comes by itself. I feel the inner tension slowly building up, and that’s the first hunch that the blowout is near.

I tried not to listen to myself several times, and ignored the need for a cheat day, but it only caused more damage with all the tension that quickly escalated.

The sugar treat

Not long ago, I had a pig-out day. This time it was a special kind of a pig-out day. It wasn’t based on junk food, fried food or any other highly processed food. It was based on sugar.

It happened at a big birthday party, where everybody brought home-baked sweets. There were so many delicious biscuits, cakes, pastry and other sweets, I simply couldn’t resist.

I don’t remember when was the last time I ate so many sugary foods at once. To find something good in everything bad, a sugar overload represented a great opportunity for me to observe what kind of an effect it had on me.

The moment I realized it was time for a sugary pig‑out day, I also decided to pay special attention to my body, mind and spirit. Well, I didn’t need to eat high amounts of sugar for weeks to note the bad side effects. One day was more than enough.

An extra stomach effect

The birthday celebration didn’t start with sweets. It started with soup, followed by another appetizer and then continued with two main dishes. We haven’t even gotten to the dessert yet when I was completely full.

There was no room in my stomach for any additional food at all; not even a bite. For a second, I naively thought that I might not eat as many sweets as I assumed when I first saw all the delicious stuff that made my mouth water.

Then the sweets were put on the table. I somehow managed to take a small bite of a cupcake; and then some kind of dark sorcery happened. I didn’t feel full anymore. The cravings for sugary food took over and my stomach suddenly felt empty. The room for a sugar fest was made.

Interestingly, that happens to me every single time. The first bite of any sweet food gives me an extra stomach. Even if I feel completely full, the feeling of fullness goes away with the first bite into a sweet course.

Just one more bite

I admire people who eat one small piece of chocolate, foil it back into packaging and put it into the pantry for next time. When I open a bar of chocolate, I need to eat the whole damn thing. Even if it’s extra-large. That’s why I rather don’t eat sweets at all.

If I have to eat the whole chocolate when I open it, imagine how hard it is for me to set limits when I have an unlimited supply of homemade delicious sweets on the table. In two hours, I ate one sweet thing after another. When everything went way too far already , I said to myself “just one more bite”.

And then one more and then one more. I already felt ill from all the sugar, but after 10 minutes, there was one more thing to try. I ate like 1,500 calories of real food before I even touched the sweets.

With all the sweets that I consumed, I easily ate another 1,000 calories or probably more accurately 2,000 or even more. That’s 3,500 calories altogether. You need to run for 6 hours to burn that.

When it comes to sugars, it’s never just one more bite for most people. It’s actually one more bite and one more bite all the way until everything sweet is gone. It’s like having an endless stomach. That’s why you need an extra smart strategy and extremely strict limits in your diet for sugar intake.

A foggy mind and low levels of energy

The next day I felt terrible. My mind was foggy and my energy levels were low. My body felt exhausted. I couldn’t think as clearly as usual. It felt like having a big hangover; and I didn’t drink a droplet of alcohol. Sugar messes with your insulin levels, it causes sugar crashes and over‑stimulates your body.

It feels like pushing the break and gas pedals at the same time. It’s not healthy and it isn’t good for your body or your mind. The next day, that was more than obvious to me.

Your body needs a steady source of fuel without big ups and downs. There is no comparison between how good it feels when a body is fueled with complex carbs or healthy fats and the dreadful energy roller-coaster caused by sugar.

The horrible addiction – sugar is poison

Sugars is a horrible addiction. It’s a drug. Even though I felt bloated, craved even more sugar the next day. I had to eat a few tangerines when I woke up. After I ate fruit, the craving for more cakes and biscuits from yesterday got evoked. While my body was kind of saying no, my stomach and mind already pushed me toward a new portion of sugar.

I immediately stopped the vicious circle. The pig-out day was over and it was time to go back to eating clean. Nevertheless, it was obvious how easily I could go on and on with a bad, sugar‑based diet.

“Just one more day” that never ends and turns into a catastrophically bad diet. All the sweet food, processed food, and the simplest carbs, they’re all so addictive.

There is sugar everywhere, even in plain yogurt

Only when you deliberately try to minimize your sugar intake do you realize that there is sugar basically in almost every food. A glass of apple juice – filled with four tablespoons of sugar. Plain yogurt. There’s sugar in it. Ketchup, tomato sauce, salad dressings, there’s sugar everywhere.

The irony is that there is usually a lot of sugar added to “low fat” foods. You might think that you are eating healthy, because of the “low fat” label, but you’re probably not. People bought the idea that fat makes you fat. That’s a myth. Your body needs healthy fats. Eating too much of anything makes you fat.

And eating too much sugar makes you unhealthy and fat. The main problem with sugar is that even when you’re full, it still causes cravings and you’re quickly hungry again. It’s easy to overeat on sweet foods.

They are packed with empty calories. The math simply doesn’t work out. And on top of that, it’s so easy to reach for sweet foods when you’re bored, stressed out or need to diversify your life. Sugar is an ideal poison for emotional eating. But you are only doing damage to your body and your mind.

Try to avoid sugar for a week, just to get a feeling of how much sugar there is in everything. Read the label before you eat anything and calculate how much sugar you eat in a day. You’ll be surprised. It can add up to 20 tablespoons a day or even more. That’s like 30 kg of sugar consumption per year.

The damage sugar does to your health

Sugar has no real nutritional value. There’s no fiber, protein or healthy fats, no vitamins or minerals. Just empty calories that spike your blood sugar and accelerate your appetite; and the effects on your health are devastating.

It has been scientifically proven that too much sugar destroys your health over and over again. Sugar is poison. It’s perfectly normal and healthy to eat a very limited amount of sugar per day, but 20 tablespoons or even more lead straight to several very brutal diseases.

Cavities, diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart diseases, non-alcoholic liver diseases, bad skin, low energy levels (adrenaline fatigue), brain fog, anxiety, addiction, the list goes on and on. There is extremely big long-term health risk for very small short-term pleasure when it comes to sugar.

It’s the definition of a stupid decision. High risk, low reward. Like smoking or drunk-driving. If you want to be fit and healthy, you must limit your sugar intake, there is no other way. Period.

How to win the sugar battle

I know. Life is too short for not eating anything sweet. Nevertheless, you want to have control over the sugar, not vice-versa (except on pig-out days, maybe).

You want to have a smart strategy when you encounter sugar cravings and you want to have strict limits you don’t cross. Actually, there are two ways how to reduce your sugar intake and take it under control.

The first way to reduce your sugar intake is to immediately minimize the level of sugar intake. You educate yourself about macro- and micronutrients of every single food you eat and you eliminate everything that contains too much sugar, especially sweets, cakes and desserts.

Pastry, processed food, junk food, fruit juices, sodas and white flour (and other simple carbs) should also end up on the list. That approach is especially a good fit for people like me, who have a hard time setting limits when it comes to eating sweet food. Go for a 30-day challenge, not eating sugar at all.

The second approach is to slowly reduce the amount of sugar you consume step by step:
- Start by eliminating sodas and fruit juices, and drink only water and herbal tea.
- Make a list of sugary food you don’t even like that much and have no problem excluding from your diet (gummy bears for example) and then permanently exclude them.
- Switch from “low fat” sugary food (or simple carbs) to a healthier version of food with less sugar. Instead of fruit yogurt go for plain Greek yogurt. Instead of white bread go for buckwheat, brown rice or quinoa.
- If you have a habit of eating sweets several times per day, reduce it to one time per day; and make sure you don’t eat the same amount of sweets that one time as you would in the whole day. The idea is to reduce your sugar intake, not to concentrate it.
- Instead of a dessert go for a piece of fruit or a small fruit salad with local, seasonal organic fruits; or maybe eat a small protein bar.
- Don’t have any sweet foods at home. Increase the transaction costs for consuming sugary foods. And the best time to eat sweet food is after a workout.
- Don’t be fooled by “natural” alternatives like honey, agave syrup or brown sugar. They are sugars, nothing else.
- When you get sugar cravings go for a walk, take a bath, brush your teeth, or try to use any other trick for eating less.
Like with every addiction, it’s hard in the beginning. You have to persist a few days. But then a whole new world opens. The brain fog goes away. Your energy levels stabilize. Cravings are gone. You take over control. A few days of internal battle are absolutely worth the benefit you can enjoy later.

Make sure sugar is not bossing you around in your life.

Nevertheless, sometimes cravings can be too strong and you must eat something sweet. There’s nothing wrong with that. Go for a piece of organic, local, seasonal fruit; or even two pieces.

Fruit does contain sugar, but it’s in a natural form and it comes with fibers and vitamins. 2 – 3 pieces of fruit per day are a good way to sweeten your life. You can add a piece of dark chocolate (70 %+ cacao) too. Dark chocolate is a brain food that will give additional power to your mind sharpness.

So, what will be your next step in cutting down on the sugar intake?

Don’t blame only sugar for being fat

If you want to lose weight, you have to mind the quality and quantity of your food intake. By limiting the amount of sugar that you eat, you drastically improve the quality of your diet; assuming you replace sweet foods and simple carbs with healthy foods like green veggies, lentils, healthy grains, healthy fats and proteins.

But if you want to lose weight, you must also mind the quantity of the food you eat. You can gain weight, even if you cut out most of the sugar from your diet. That’s because you gain weight when you’re in a caloric surplus.

You can get in the surplusby eating either too many sweets or too much clean food. It’s probably much easier to overeat on sugar, but for being lean you must pay attention to both – the quality and quantity of the food you eat.

So, while you are scanning the label for how much sugar there is in the food you are about to eat, also pay attention to the calories.

Additional reading:
- Why sugar is the worst thing ever for you by Nerd Fitness
- Top 9 Reasons to Avoid Sugar as if Your Life Depended on it by Authority Nutrition
- You’ll stop worrying about sugar when you read this by Muscle for Life
- The Sugar Film – A documentary on what sugar does to your health
The best foods for your brain – to improve memory and focus
Taking good care of your brain should be an important part of your healthy lifestyle strategy. In today’s creative society, smart is the new sexy.

Your brain has enormous potential to create, innovate, analyze, learn, and perform different respected, well-cherished and paid intellectual tasks. That’s why you want to squeeze the maximum potential out of your brain, even with the diet.

Your IQ might be more or less fixed, but there are so many ways how you can get more out of your brains:
1. By mastering learning skills you can become dramatically more productive student
2. By optimizing your working memory you can be more creative and work with more pieces of information at the same time
3. With constantly learning new things you have a chance to develop greater crystalized intelligence
4. By repeatedly performing specific intellectual tasks (playing chess, practicing IQ tests etc.) you get really good at that tasks
5. And then we have the good old diet…
Now, eating brain foods won’t double your smarts, but it might fine-tune your mental performance just a little bit. Most of all, you will have more energy to perform mental tasks during the day.

Imagine your brain like a high-end car that needs the best gas and oil. Your brain deserves the best, like you do with all the other things in life.

Taking good care of anything in life (computer, home, body, brain, relationships etc.) increases its longevity and makes it work better. That is one of the best practical advice ever – take good care of things in your possession.

Taking good care of your brain with proper foods will increase the chances of your brain staying healthy with aging, it will prevent cognitive decline and you will make sure its performance is maximized.

The great news is that foods which benefit your brain are also good for your health in general. That means you should eat them anyway.

In addition to a healthy diet and brain foods, there is one more thing that will greatly benefit your brain, and your general health– exercise. So don’t forget to exercise and make sure that the foods listed below are on your platter daily. Your brain and body will be super happy.

The big picture of why certain foods are good for your brain

Before we go to specific foods, let’s look at the big picture of why a certain food brings benefits to your brain. The foods good for your brain more or less consist of either:
1. Many healthy fats (nuts, seeds, avocados, salmon), since the brain is your fattest organ (and for ketones).
2. Antioxidants, vitamins and minerals (blueberries, olive oil, green veggies) that have an anti‑inflammatory effect and help the brain to get rid of different toxins.
3. Complex carbs that are transformed into glucose and provide fuel for your brains (oats, legumes).
4. Gentle stimulants that boosts your focus (dark chocolate, green tea).
5. Many best foods for your brain combine several of these nutritional ingredients mentioned above.
Knowing that, there are several things you want to achieve by eating brain foods:
- Provide a steady flow of fuel for focus and concentration, without any major sugar spikes.
- Make sure the brain gets all the macro- and micronutrients to create, protect and repair brain cells.
- Add micronutrients that might help slow down cognitive decline with age.
- Keep proper blood circulation that supports the brain’s nutritional, hydration and oxygen needs.
- Stay healthy in general, as this also leads to a healthy brain.
Although you should eat brain foods every day, you should also be careful not to eat too much of them. Everything becomes toxic in excess, even the healthiest things.

Healthy fats are packed with calories (being in caloric surplus will make you fat), some fruits with sugars (you will get energy crashes or carvings) and you can get quickly addicted to any stimulants (caffeine, sugars – you won’t be able to function without them). So please keep moderation in mind.

It’s not like you’ll become twice as smart if you eat more of these foods. Have a few (3 – 5) moderate portions (a piece of fruit, a palm of nuts etc.) of any food from the list daily as part of your meal plan, and you will be well off.

In every meal, include one of the brain foods, that’s it. There are no real additional benefits beyond that.

The 10+ best foods for your brain that you must eat daily

And now, here they are. The 10+ best foods for your brain that you must eat daily in order to stay super smart and to maximize your intellectual potential:

Nuts & seeds

If you look at a walnut, what does it remind you of? Brains, exactly. That’s because nuts and seeds are an awesome food for your brain, especially due to high levels of healthy fats and Vitamin E that prevents cognitive decline.

No wonder that a big pack of nuts is also called student’s food (at least in many European countries). There are so many different types of nuts to choose from and they taste delicious. The only downside is that nuts are filled with calories.

Here is a simple rule to follow. Eat one palm (10 – 15) nuts per day. They can be walnuts, almonds, pistachios, brazil nuts, cashews, it doesn’t matter. Peanuts (they are technically legumes, not nuts) aren’t as good as other types of nuts so make sure you don’t eat only them.

Go for variety. Also, make sure that nuts you eat are organic, raw and unsalted. You want to eat food that’s processed as little as possible.

Besides nuts, seeds are also great for your brain. They don’t come as handy as nuts, but there is one very practical and tasty way to consume seeds – add them to your salad. You can buy a seed salad mixture made of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds and other seeds.

They will make your salad super tasty (and you should eat a salad every day anyway). Oh, and flax seeds or chia seeds are a great option for you to mix in your green smoothie.

Blueberries – you can call them brainberries

Research shows that blueberries are packed with antioxidants (flavonoids) that protect your brain from oxidative stress. They contain a lot of fiber as well as vitamins A, K and C.

Besides that, they taste delicious and are packed with a low amount of sugar (which is rare for such delicious food). It’s best to go for fresh blueberries, but you can also use frozen ones.

A study (unfortunately done only on rats) has shown that blueberries slow down the decrease of learning capacity and motor skills that comes with age. Another study showed that blueberries may reverse memory loss. Make nuts and berries your favorite snacks for a super healthy brain.

Broccoli & Green Leafy Veggies

Broccoli is my favorite food. Like walnuts, broccoli kind of looks like a brain, just in green. Broccoli is full of vitamins A, C, K, choline, folate, fiber and antioxidants – all good for your thinking organ.

But here’s the main thing, broccoli has high amounts of glucosinolates and acetylcholine, which make the nervous system work properly by preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

While broccoli is my number one green food, we must not forget about other green foods packed with vitamins A, K, folate, lutein and other antioxidants. Spinach, kale, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, they are all super beneficial to your health and your brains.

Once again, nature gave you a hint – Brussels sprouts look like small brains that will superpower your brain. A single serving of leafy green vegetables each day may help keep dementia away.

Wild salmon and other oily fish

Wild salmon is a premium source of healthy fats – Omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats are essential for a healthy brain. Firstly, your brain consists 75 % of water and then your brain is made 60 % of fat.

Omega-3 fats are a structural part of brain cell membranes and nerve cells. They work anti‑inflammatory and are linked to high alertness, improved cognition and memory, and improved mood. Besides that, wild salmon has high amounts of magnesium, vitamins B and D, choline and zinc.

You only have to make sure that the salmon is really wild and not farmed. The best way is to eat it steamed or lightly grilled, to preserve as many healthy fats as possible.

As a good alternative to salmon, you can also go for sardines, trout or mackerels. When you’re choosing, just make sure you choose the wild ones with low mercury levels.

Avocados – the green powerhouse

The number one superfood are avocados. Some scientists claim that the avocado is the most perfect food. Same as nuts, they are filled with health fats (and low sugar amounts) that make the blood run smoothly and consequently lower your blood pressure.

Better blood circulation means healthier brains, of course. They are also good for your eyesight, so you will be able to read more even in the old age. Avocados are rich in vitamins A, B, C and K and folate, all good for your health.

Avocados are a great core ingredient for a green smoothie, but you can also add them to a salad, make guacamole or eat them au naturel if you like the taste.

One downside is that avocados are packed with calories, so make sure you eat them in moderation. It can also be quite hard to find a perfectly ripe avocado. Nevertheless, make sure avocados have an important place in your diet.

Complex carbs – oats and beans

Your brain runs on glucose or ketones, depending on your diet. If you aren’t on the keto diet, you need a steady flow of glucose to your brain.

The best way to do that is to eat complex carbs filled with fiber and with a low GI/GL (Glycemic Index and Load). That makes sure you don’t have any insulin spikes and energy crashes.

Besides a well-functioning brain, complex carbs will provide you with steady levels of energy in general, good digestion and metabolism, you will feel fuller for a longer time than when eating simple carbs (white bread, sweets, etc.) and your nervous system will be calmer, since sugar makes you anxious and hyperactive.

Examples of healthy complex carbs are:
- Oats
- Brown rice
- Sweet potato
- Beans, lentils and peas
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
- Millet
- Chestnuts
Green tea & dark chocolate

Green tea is a beverage filled with antioxidants that flush away all the toxins that are very harmful to your brain and body. A cup of green tea also has a small amount of caffeine and theine that boost focus and mood when you need to get the most out of your brain.

You should just make sure you don’t get addicted to the stimulants and abuse green tea (or coffee for that matter). Also make sure you drink green tea between the meals, not with them, since green tea prevents absorption of some micronutrients like iron.

Limit green tea consumption to one or two cups per day, just before you start working on the mentally most demanding task of the day. Also, don’t drink green tea too late if it messes with your sleeping pattern.

Adding a piece of dark chocolate can further boost your brain performance. Dark chocolate is full of flavonols, which are antioxidants and work anti-inflammatory. But make sure you go for dark chocolate, not the regular one. The darker the chocolate is, the more health benefits you will enjoy.

Other healthy foods for your brain

Here are a few other healthy foods for your brain that you can add to your meal plan:

Olive & Coconut oil: Make sure you use olive oil when you make yourself a salad. Olive oil improves memory and helps prevent cognitive decline. It’s a great source of healthy fats, vitamins K and E, and many other antioxidants. Coconut oil is also great for your brain (creating ketones), besides helping you burn fat.

Beets & Carrots: They both contain high levels of luteolin, which could reduce age-related cognitive decline. Beets improve the blood flow, which is essential for a healthy brain (everything that helps heart and blood circulation also helps the brain). And carrots will help you with sharp eyesight, which you especially need for long reading hours.

Celery & Rosemary: Celery contains more than 20 anti-inflammatory compounds that help the brain function properly. And rosemary has a great reputation for boosting memory, because it improves the blood flow to the brain.

Eggs: Eggs are packed with healthy fats, protein, vitamin B12, minerals and choline. Choline has an important role in keeping the memory strong. Eggs have a bad reputation because of the cholesterol, but your brain needs it to function properly. Just make sure you eat free-range eggs. By eating two to six eggs per week, you will enjoy all the health benefits eggs provide.

Drink enough water

The last advice for keeping your brain healthy and your attention span strong with a proper diet is – drink plenty of water. 75 % of your brain consists of water, so being hydrated is extremely important for your brain to work properly.

Dehydration causes a decline in attention span, reasoning ability and overall cognitive function. Drinking enough water will also flush toxins out of your body. Drink plenty of water, a cup of green tea every day, and forget about sodas, fruit juices and other sugary foods and drinks.

Now you know what to eat to keep your brain healthy, focused and fresh.
Super healthy foods you simply must eat every day
If you’re a complete newbie to the healthy lifestyle like I was a few years ago, not to mention that I was super fat as a kid, there are two pieces of advice that helped me the most to start taking care of my body better.

The first one is go for a type of exercise you dislike the least. That helped me go from hating exercise, to being okay with it, to loving it a few years later. By using the search mode principle, I found some exercise I was okay with it, and then continued from there.

The second advice is: add a few healthy foods to your diet, to slowly start transitioning to a new healthier lifestyle. Luckily there are a few types of foods that are super healthy, tasty, don’t need lots of preparation and are inexpensive.

These foods will provide you with the perfect package of micronutrients – antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, minerals and other healthy nutrition properties.

Even more importantly, they will trick you into slowly starting to love healthy food instead of junk food. Here are super healthy foods I eat almost every day (at least 4 of them in a day):
- Berries
- Avocados
- Nuts
- Broccoli
- Olive oil
- Green tea
Blueberries or any other type of berries

Number one on the list are blueberries. Berries are a type of fruit that contains the lowest amount of sugar and high amounts of antioxidants, fiber and vitamins A and C. Next to that, they are delicious and don’t need any heavy preparation.

You just wash them a little bit and enjoy their superior taste; or you can add them to many other foods like yogurt, oatmeal, on top of protein pancakes, and so on.

Blueberries are great for your brain and prevent memory loss, they help prevent urinary tract infections, and are generally delicious for your health. The only downside is that they aren’t the most inexpensive food, but they’re absolutely worth the cost.
- Every day, eat a small cup of blueberries as a snack
- Sprinkle a palm of blueberries on some of your favorite dishes
- When it’s hard to get fresh blueberries I use frozen ones, which is not ideal, but still an option
- Alternatively, you may go for raspberries, goji berries, acai berries or blackberries (but those cost more)
Avocado

Avocados are considered to be one of the best superfoods. They contain lots of healthy fats, soluble fiber, vitamin E, folate and potassium. They help keep your blood sugar levels stable and your eyesight sharp.

The downside is that they have a very specific fatty taste, they’re rich in calories and they can be a bit expensive if you go for the organic ones.

I don’t like them so much that I would eat them alone or in a salad, but I eat them daily in a smoothie that I make for myself. Well, to be completely honest, my girlfriend makes it for me.
- Avocados are a great basic ingredient for a smoothie
- You can also add them to a salad or make yourself delicious guacamole sauce
- Just eat them in moderation, since they’re packed with calories
Nuts

Nuts are a great source of healthy fats, they taste delicious and serve as a very handy snack. They help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and raise “good” HDL cholesterol, they’re generally considered as one of the best brain foods (trail mix) and you can take them with you everywhere you go.

There are many different types of nuts – almonds, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, brazil nuts, cashew, macadamias, and so on, so your taste buds will never get bored.

As you probably know, nuts are considered to be allergenic food, so be careful about any potential allergic reactions. Peanuts are the most delicate ones, because they aren’t even technically nuts. And most importantly, don’t eat too many of them, because they’re rich in calories.
- Eat a handful or 20 – 25 nuts every day as the perfect snack
- Try different types of nuts and find the ones that work best for you
- Always add a few of them to your favorite smoothie, together with chia and flax seeds
- If possible, buy organic nuts, but don’t eat too many of them if you want to lose weight
Broccoli

The two foods I used to hate the most are broccoli and olives. I was flicking olives off my pizzas and I thought to myself: who eats this weird green alien tasteless vegetable or whatever the hell it is. Today, broccoli is my number one favorite food. I couldn’t survive without broccoli now.

If you’re wondering how I started liking broccoli, it’s simple. For a week or two, I forced myself a little bit to eat it, and then your taste changes. You can really reprogram yourself quickly for whatever you like. We’re able to adjust really quickly (especially your brain), the only unfortunate thing is that we usually adjust to worse habits.

But now back to broccoli. It contains sulfur compounds, which help fight cancer. It’s rich in protein and antioxidants. It contains a lot of vitamins A, C and K as well as folate. You can steam broccoli really fast to use it as a side dish, add it to a salad or make a soup out of it.

It keeps your tummy full for a long time. Already by only looking at a nice piece of broccoli, you immediately know that it’s super healthy.
- To every main meal, add broccoli as a side dish
- You can make a fast and easy delicious broccoli soup a few times per week
Olive oil

Olive oil is packed with healthy fats. It helps lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and raises “good” HDL cholesterol. Olive oil keeps your artery walls smooth and cholesterol-free, and it’s also rich in antioxidants. I use exclusively organic cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil.

For cooking, I use coconut oil, and as salad dressing I always use tons of olive oil. If I somehow don’t eat a salad in a particular day, which rarely happens, I eat a small tablespoon of olive oil or flax oil. My girlfriend is always surprised at how fast I can empty a big bottle of delicious olive oil.
- Add a little bit of lemon and tons of olive oil to your salad
- Eat a tablespoon of olive oil with your lunch
- Only adding olive oil to your diet is far from as healthy a lifestyle as many imagine, but it’s one small step towards it
Green tea

Green tea is an extremely healthy and tasty beverage, filled with antioxidants and just a strong enough stimulant to wake you up and brighten your mood without messing with your sleep pattern, as long as you don’t drink it in the afternoon or before sleep.

Studies show that green tea helps fight heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and keeps your gums, teeth and bones healthy.

Green tea also helps burn fat and improves physical performance. Green tea has also been shown to improve blood flow, lower cholesterol and help with other health issues. There are mixed opinions regarding coffee, but everyone agrees that drinking green tea is very beneficial to you.
- Drink only water, fresh-made mild lemonade, green tea, green drink, nothing else
- Drink one cup of your favorite green tea between breakfast and lunch, and one between lunch and dinner but not after 4 or 5 PM, if you want to get quality sleep. Green tea may interfere with absorption of some minerals, especially iron, so drink it between meals instead.
My super healthy food pack for 2 days.

Other super healthy foods

There are many other healthy foods I eat almost daily. I eat different kinds of seeds, lots of eggs, oatmeal, quinoa, yogurt, tons of green veggies (salad, kale or spinach), a piece or two of seasonal organic fruit, and some types of beans and lentils.

I add cinnamon to some foods and to lemonade. Sweet potatoes are also considered to be a nutrient-rich food, but I don’t eat it since it’s not popular in my country. I also take a few core supplements daily with one of my main meals.

But these are add-ons. The first step you can make is to add the six mentioned foods to your diet. When you go grocery shopping, just add them to your cart without even thinking. Most of them don’t need much preparation and you can consume them immediately. And all of them taste delicious.

Homework
For one of the snacks during a day, eat a palm of blueberries and nuts.

With one of the main meals, eat a cup of broccoli as a side dish or add it to a salad.

For a salad always use olive oil or eat a small spoonful of it during lunch.

Between meals, make yourself a green tea or two.

Make yourself a delicious green smoothie with avocado, seeds and a few green veggies. Just don’t add too much other fruit in it. This takes the most effort, but it will also benefit you the most.

From this point on, slowly improve your diet by removing juices, sugary food, fried food and so on, step by step. But first learn to love a few super healthy and super delicious foods.
Add these things to your shopping list and start eating them daily or almost daily. Your body and your brain will be super grateful to you, your mood and your energy levels will improve including your overall health.

It really takes zero effort to add these things to your diet, and they do taste delicious. If not for the first few times, then after a week or so. Bon appétit. Enjoy there super healthy foods every day.
Daily cold showers will make you healthy, attractive and sharp
We live in the most peaceful and comfortable times ever; and let’s hope that the future will get even more comfortable with all the technological development, progress in medicine, and social collaboration. Nevertheless, there is one downside to these softer times. We’re all also becoming too soft.

No matter how comfortable life is, it will never be completely devoid of problems, failures, challenges, collapses, stress and other downfalls. No matter how comfortable life is, time comes when you have to protect yourself, fight, stand up or persist and not give up. No matter how comfortable life is, it’s impossible to stay calm and happy if you have low tolerance levels.

So even if you have an A/C, anti-mosquito repellent, working toilet and unlimited supply of toilet paper, and even if you don’t have to hunt for your own food anymore, be hungry for days, run for hours from tigers or sleep on a dirty and hard floor in a wooden cottage, and even if you can put on a sweater when it gets cold and take medicine when you have a cold,…

…you have to build up your stamina and tolerance capabilities – on the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual level. Because sooner or later, time will come when you’ll need those capabilities.

No matter how comfortable life is, you can’t just lose your temper for every small thing that causes you a little bit of discomfort. You simply can’t be a wussy or a sheep if you want to live a happy and successful life.

Thus you have to regularly expose yourself to moderate amounts of stress. That will help you to keep your “peaceful warrior” spirit strong.

Soft times make people soft, and you don’t want to be soft. You want to be tough, but also nice and fair to others. Luckily there is one simple thing you can do every day to build up your tolerance levels. You can make fun of the winter (problem) with a cold morning shower (being tougher than the problems you have to face).

Make fun of the winter with a cold morning shower.

A daily cold shower will evict the wussiness straight out of you

A cold shower is a very uncomfortable thing. It’s totally unlike a nice hot shower that relaxes you and reminds you of how comfortable and nice life is. But in a matter of seconds, a cold shower evicts any wussiness from you. It makes you alert, your stress levels drop and you can feel it in your gut that there is a real warrior somewhere deep in you.

After a cold shower, you know that you can do it. You feel that you can go after any goal. You find a new kind of strength in you.

Softness goes away and the way you look at the world changes – the world is suddenly at your disposal and you’re ready to go after your goals, no matter how big they are. You only have to make sure that the water is cold enough.

It feels great to take a cold morning shower, even if the first few ones are really tough. Besides evicting the wussiness out of you, cold showers have many other benefits. Let’s look at a few key ones.

Your energy levels will go up

After the initial cold shower shock, you will start to breathe more deeply and your body will get filled with oxygen. In addition to that, your heart rate will increase and speed up your blood circulation.

You can feel all that very well. If you’re sleepy, you will immediately wake up after feeling the first drops of cold water on your skin. Yes, coffee is for pussies. :)

Sometimes when I’m quite tired, I even take a cold shower a few times per day. It wakes me up immediately. It doesn’t last for a very long time, but the kick is good enough to begin a new activity with a fresh start.

Then I add a cup of green tea to it and I can work for hours afterwards. Now you know what to do when you need to wake up – first a cold shower and then a cup of green tea.

Cold showers will help you build strong willpower and resilience.

It will build up your immune system and help with your muscle recovery

Besides feeling more alive, the main benefit of cold showers is that they’ll help you build up your immune system. My immune system was always a bit fragile.

Healthy diet, regular exercise, managing stress properly and cold morning showers helped me a lot in strengthening it.

Cold showers also help with muscle soreness after severe training and they speed up the recovery. Many professional weightlifters do a few minute switches from cold to hot water.

Hot water relaxes the muscles and cold water helps with recovery – they start with hot water and finish with cold, to prevent cramps or any shock.

I personally don’t like that, and I also don’t take cold showers immediately after a workout because I get a headache. I prefer to wait 20 minutes to really cool down, but you have to find what works for you.

In addition to that, cold showers are also supposed to help increase testosterone levels and help with fertility in men. Yes, cold showers will make you a strong animal.

Your skin will become so soft and smooth

Many people on different forums report that after taking cold showers, their skin became much prettier.

The science behind it is that hot water makes your skin dry and on the other hand, cold water helps keep pores unclogged by not shrinking them like hot water does. Cold showers are also supposed to do wonders for your hair.

As a man, I don’t pay that much detailed attention to my hair and skin that I could tell the difference. Nevertheless, you can find many witnesses, male and female on different health and fitness forums. If you want to improve the shine of your hair and skin, give it a try.

Not completely convinced?

If you aren’t completely convinced, let’s list all the benefits of cold showers in hopes that you see how the benefits outweigh a few minutes of pain. A cold shower:
Evicts the wussiness straight out of you and builds up your tolerance levels

Wakes you up (who needs coffee)

Increases your energy levels

Makes you more alert

Strengthens your immune system

Boosts your blood circulation

Helps with muscle recovery (it can be done in combination with hot water)

Increases your testosterone levels naturally (in men)

Makes you more fertile (in men)

Makes you more courageous and builds up stamina and resilience

Flushes toxins away from your skin and makes your skin and hair shiny, strong and healthy

Decreases stress levels, brightens the mood and can even help with depression

Contributes to longevity and general health

It’s even supposed to stimulate weight loss (body burns energy to keep you warm and there is the white fat, brown fat thing)

Helps you save on your energy bill and decrease shower time, if that means something to you
There are many scientific studies supporting these claims, I linked a few of them, but if you do more research on your own, you’ll get the whole picture.

Hydrotherapy

To take a step further into science, there is a thing called hydrotherapy in medicine, which uses water for different pain relief, stimulation of blood circulation and disease treatment. Therapy uses different water temperatures and pressure as the basis for the treatment.

The most popular types of hydrotherapy are water jets, water massages and different types of baths – hot ones and cold ones. I’m sure you know most of these and love to take baths in hot Jacuzzis.

But cold water has had a special place in hydrotherapy ever since its beginning in the 17^th century. From back then to nowadays, ice baths, cold water immersion and cryotherapy have been used in physical therapy, rehabilitation and sports medicine.

Cold treatments in medicine can especially have four physiological effects – they can serve as painkillers, vasomotor, have an anti-inflammatory effect and help with muscle relaxation.

There is no reason why you wouldn’t give yourself a nice cold treatment purely as precaution.

Homework

How to start with cold showers

There are two ways how to start with cold morning showers. You can either gradually decrease the water temperature with every shower you take or you can decide for a shock therapy and go all in.

If you decide for the step-by-step approach, every time you shower simply decrease the water temperature to the point where you feel uncomfortable. If you decide for the shock therapy, you know what to do.

I decided to go all in. Here are the steps, if you insist:
- Step in the bathtub or under the shower
- Open cold water
- Don’t hesitate or think for even a second, just do it (if you hesitate for a second, it may take minutes before you start showering or you may even change your mind)
- Apply shampoo and shower gel
- Do it again, this time even with slightly colder water
- Rub off the water and look at the winner in the mirror
Hydrotherapy

Please be careful if you have any medical conditions

If you have certain medical conditions like heart disease, blood pressure problems or any related issues, or if you’re pregnant, you must absolutely consult your doctor before taking cold showers.

If you don’t feel good after taking a cold shower, if you get dizzy or experience any other real health issue, stop. There is a time to push yourself and there is a time to stop. You don’t want to do anything stupid or hurt yourself. Preserve what works for you and pivot away from things that don’t.

Now, if you don’t have a medical condition, get out of your comfort zone and give the cold shower a try. Don’t do it later tonight or tomorrow morning, do it right away; unless you’re in the office, in which case you should be working, not reading.

Do it and be proud of yourself. Achieving anything worthwhile always requires at least some discomfort. Now go practice how to be comfortable in discomfort.
Tricks to eat less that will help you lose weight without any suffering
There is a very important fact in the fitness and weight loss industry, emphasizing that you can never out-train your diet. Your losing weight goals are 80 % done in the kitchen and 20 % done in the gym.

Regular exercise is absolutely important and you have to do it if you want to be/look fit and gain some muscles, but for losing fat, an elaborate diet is what counts the most. There is some simple math behind it.

Here’s how many calories you burn (rough estimate) in 30 minutes of exercise:
- Walking: 150 kcal
- Weight training: 220 kcal
- Cycling: 250 kcal
- Swimming: 300 kcal
- Running: 300 kcal
And here are the calories in some relatively small meals and snacks (again, only rough estimates):
- Egg: 80 kcal
- Banana: 100 kcal
- One slice of pizza: 240 kcal (yes, one slice)
- Snicker’s Bar: 250 kcal
- Big Mac: 563 kcal
You can eat a Big Mac in 3 minutes, and then you have to go running for an hour to burn it. If we take a step further, 7,700 calories are roughly 1 kg of fat together with water (or 3,500 kcal equals 1 lb of fat). So if you eat 500 calories over your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), you will gain 1 kg of fat in two weeks.

Now, there is a lot of debating going on out there over how accurate these calculations are, but at the end of the day, if you eat more than you burn, you get fatter and if you burn more than you need, you lose weight. It’s a simple rule that can’t be avoided. And it’s much easier to dam up calories than trying to burn all the excess you consume with exercise.

It’s so easy to eat 500 calories. It’s so hard to burn 500 calories.

The main problem is that when you start to exercise, your appetite goes up. That’s why many people get disappointed when they start to take care of their bodies. They feel much better after exercise, they put in the hard work, but their appetite also goes up and consequently they eat much more and don’t see fat loss as quickly as they would desire.

And even if you stuff your face with healthy food, you gain weight. If you want to lose weight, you simply have to curb your eating appetites. There is no other way.

Tricks to eat less

If you want to lose weight, you have to control how much (quantity) and what (quality) you eat. You do that by making smart big and small eating decisions.

Big smart decisions are the decisions of how you design your eating pattern in general – the number of meals you eat, what time you eat them, the typical meals you like and their size. You have to know your macros and how you will meet them. Besides that you have to know your body very well and how it resonates with different diet approaches. You do that by testing.

Small smart decisions are all the small things that prevent you from eating that one banana or chocolate bar too many per day. They’re small tricks that help you keep the discipline and really stay within the bigger plan (macro calculations, eating pattern). Small decisions are the details you have to be careful about. As they say, God or the Devil are in the details. Diet is no exception here.

Now let’s look at 15+ tricks to eat less that will help you eat less in order to lose weight and be healthier. If you are prone to overeating as I am and your body weight fluctuates like the tide, these tricks may actually change your life.

How to lose weight? Portion control, portion control.

Be smart about shopping

There is a saying that fitness professionals repeat over and over again: “5 minutes of willpower in the grocery store is much easier than a week of willpower in the kitchen”. Make sure you aren’t hungry when you go shopping, and buy only healthy food.

Have a list of things you need to buy and don’t get tempted to buy anything that will lead you to a temptation later on. Have a rule to not have junk food or sweets at home at all!

Skip a meal or do intermittent fasting

One great way to eat less is to skip meals. If you ate too much at your last meal, skip the next one. From time to time, skip breakfast or dinner for a few times in a row. Not eating after 6pm at all may also help you a lot.

As an alternative, you can also do intermittent fasting and introduce periods in your days when you don’t eat at all. Test a few different approaches to skipping meals and find the eating pattern that works best for you.

Brush your teeth

When you crave a snack in the evening, go and brush your teeth. It’s a signal to your brain that the time to stop eating has come. Your hunger can go away like that. And if you are a little bit lazy, you know that after eating, you’ll have to brush your teeth again, and who wants to do that?

Drink plenty of water

If you get really hungry, drink lots of water. Well drink lots of water anyway, but when you are hungry, drink it even more. It can also be with a few drops of a freshly squeezed lemon.

Just know that if you do it before sleep, you will go to the toilet several times and that may disturb the quality of your sleep. Drinking a glass of water before every meal can also help a lot. As mentioned the good news is that drinking water is extremely healthy for you anyway.

Always have broccoli in your belly

Organic broccoli is the most awesome and healthy green food in existence. You can see how healthy it is even by only looking at it. Half a kilo of broccoli only has 170 kcal and 15g of protein.

And trust me, you feel very full after eating 0,5 kg of broccoli. If you’re feeling hungry, just eat some broccoli. Make sure you always have some broccoli in your stomach. It’s that simple.

The hunger test

Imagine a really healthy food you like, without sugars or fats (fruit doesn’t count, except for avocado). Preferably a green vegetable – broccoli, spinach, salad, whatever. If you feel real hunger, you’ll have no problem eating your favorite green vegetable.

But if you just go “no, no”, I want pizza, a chocolate bar, French fries, chips or whatever, you’re probably not really hungry. It’s emotional hunger.

If you are really hungry, slice some carrots and pickles and eat them with some hummus. No? Then you aren’t really hungry.

Go for a walk

Feeling super hungry? Distract yourself with a productive and healthy activity. Go for a walk and eat something healthy when you come back. Sometimes distracting yourself works.

Just make sure that you don’t overeat after you finish with the selected activity. There is a thin line when you go too far with hunger and you just want to eat everything afterwards.

Eat slowly, especially when you cheat

This is the hardest one for me, but it does wonders. There is a thing called mindful eating. It means that you eat really slowly, paying full attention to the food. You do slow bites and try to engage yourself in the eating activity with all of your senses.

When you do that, not only do you eat more slowly which is super healthy, you usually also eat less. You pay more attention to when you’re really full.

There are a few tricks you can employ to eat more mindfully:
- Closely examine every bite of food before you put it in your mouth – texture, color etc.
- Keep switching the spoon from one hand to the other or eat with your non-dominant hand
- Take a few bites with your eyes closed
- Eat with chopsticks
- Make sure you take one bite at a time
- Take a break during your meal
- Chew 25 times every bite
- Be thankful for the meal before you start eating – say a prayer or just think about how lucky you are
The signal to your brain that your stomach is full comes with some delay, so eating slowly helps that the signal doesn’t come too late, when you already eat twice as much as you should.

Always put your food on a plate

To better control how much you eat, always put your food on a plate. Never eat out of a bag. Never just take food out of the fridge and put it in your mouth. And never do it above the kitchen sink, stuffing yourself with fruit, for example (like I do sometimes and my girlfriend doesn’t like it).

On second thought, don’t just put food on a plate. Prepare it. Slice it, cook it, decorate it, whatever. Give yourself time to play with the preparation and while you do it, think about a reasonable portion size.

Always put your food on a plate and always eat only sitting at the table with no exceptions. Especially don’t eat in front of a TV. Eating in front of the TV is the opposite of mindful eating. You get lost in a TV show and just eat and eat, with no idea of how much you ate.

Using smaller plates may also be used as a psychological trick to not put too much food on a plate and to see small portions as big enough.

Under 200 calories snacks

Always have a few “healthy snacks under 200 calories” with you for an emergency if you are really hungry or your sugar levels drop. Never wait until you’re extremely hungry and then eat twice as much as you should.

Instead control your appetite with small non-caloric healthy snacks. Examples of those kind of snacks are:
- Small banana with a few almonds
- Greek yogurt with a piece of fresh fruit
- Carrot with hummus
- Cup of blueberries
- Avocado
- Cucumber salad
- Olives and a few slices of cheese
- Apple
- Shrimp cocktail
- Protein bar
Tracking calories

The number one thing weightlifters and gym rats usually regret is not paying more attention to their diet when they started exercising. Most weightlifters claim that tracking calories changed their life and the speed of progress.

Tracking calories significantly helps you stay within your macros (protein, carbs, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals intake), stay in a moderate deficit (if you are cutting) or surplus (if you are bulking), and it always gives you a chance for a second thought over whether you should eat something or not.

Now, I don’t track my calories daily, but I have a big spreadsheet with all the calculations for my typical meals that I usually eat in a day. Since I like to simplify my life, I have a few typical meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and I have a standard meal plan for high-carb and low-carb days.

I know exactly when I overeat, and I try to balance that by skipping meals. Going through the macros of my typical meals really opened my eyes as to why I had such big problems losing weight. Because food contains so much more calories than you think.

It’s so easy to overeat. A good rule that can help you eat less is: don’t put anything in your mouth before you log it.

Get enough sleep

Getting enough quality sleep is very important for your health in general. A lack of sleep causes stress, puts additional pressure on your body, you usually feel hungrier and it messes with your self-discipline. So if you want to eat less, go to bed early and make sure you get enough sleep.

If you stay up late, you will want to eat more, especially unhealthy snacks. Who likes to cook at midnight? If you’re tired because of a lack of sleep, you will want to eat even more the next day.

Because your self-discipline will be poor, you’ll have no problem eating lots of unhealthy food. You have to be smarter than that. Get enough sleep and your appetite will go down.

Your picture on the fridge

You can also go a big step further to stop yourself from overeating. You can take a photo of yourself in a swimming suit, nicely showing your excess of fat. Make sure that the picture is as unattractive as possible. Stick a photo of you clearly showing the excess of fat to the fridge and it’s going to be a nice reminder to walk away.

Make yourself a cup of green tea

Interestingly, I often overeat because I feel a lack of energy. I want to operate at 100 % capacity all the time, which is ridiculous. My underlying assumption is that if I eat more, I’ll immediately have immediately more energy. It doesn’t work that way, except maybe with sugar, but soon a sugar crash comes and that makes you even more tired.

If you’re like me and you want to eat only because you’re tired, get yourself a cup of green tea or coffee instead, if it’s not too late. A piece of dark chocolate also picks me up nicely and the desire to overeat slowly goes away.

Many people also reported that a chewing gum helps a lot when they’re hungry. Find one caloric acceptable snack that picks you up when you’re tired. Assuming you are already following a healthy diet throughout the day.

My wrong underlying assumption is that I will have more energy if I eat more. What are your false assumptions and beliefs?

Wire yourself to enjoy hunger

If there is one thing I hate, it’s being hungry. Nevertheless, I try to rewire or reprogram myself not to hate it. Much like I hate hunger, I also used to hate broccoli and olives, and now I love them.

Fasting has always been an important part of a healthy lifestyle and even spiritual life. There are many physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual benefits of fasting, if you do some research on it.

With intermittent fasting, I’m slowly learning to love being hungry and enjoy it. I focus myself on feeling light, I can feel how my discipline is building up, and at the end of the day I am very proud of myself for having stayed in a caloric deficit.

If you learn to enjoy hunger, you can always control your portions and how much you eat throughout the day.

Minus 20 % rule

A good trick you can use that will help you get in that 500 kcal deficit is to serve yourself 20 % less food. When you have food on a plate, cut away 20 % and throw it away, give it to your dog, share it among others or whatever. At every meal, prepare yourself a full portion and then cut off 20 %. Be proud of yourself when you do that.

If your TDEE is 2500 calories and you do that, you will eat 500 calories less. A 500 calories deficit every day will lead you to losing 2 kg (4 lbs) in a month. That’s the healthy limit of losing weight.

When you do the “minus 20 % rule” just make sure you don’t add additional meals to your eating pattern or somehow else compensate for the food you cut off.

Eat foods that fill you up first

As we said, drinking a glass of water before a meal may help you eat less. Similarly, you can eat a salad or a soup before the main meal. They are both light in calories and fill your stomach quite a bit. Foods with lots of protein and fiber also keep the hunger away for longer.

Avoid empty calories

Last but not least, avoid empty calories at all costs. Empty calorie foods are all foods that contain high amounts of calories and sugars, but have zero nutritional value (protein, vitamins etc.).

They are also very easy to consume as main meals or snacks, and you can almost eat unlimited amount of them. One bite like that too many and you can already be in a caloric surplus. Make a rule to simply not eat foods and drinks with empty calories.
- Drink water or herbal tea instead of juices, sodas and other sugary drinks
- Don’t eat fast food at all, or only do it on rare occasions
- Drink alcohol in moderation
- Be really strict about how much sweets and desserts you eat
- Watch out for unhealthy salty snacks like chips and pretzels
People really use these tricks to eat less

You may be thinking that this all sounds nice, but these eating tricks are only in magazines to entertain people. That isn’t true. Go to the gym, talk with athletes, join online health and fitness communities, and you will soon realize that people who are fit or lost weight really employed these kinds of tricks. They work, you just have to do it.

I do most of them and they help me lose weight nicely. So pick a few tricks to eat less you like the most and start them doing immediately. Don’t wait for tomorrow or next Monday, don’t wait for the next summer or the perfect moment, do it with your next meal.

Your next meal is an opportunity to make smarter eating decisions and to be more kind to your body. Just do it and good luck. Now you know all the major tricks to eat less.