Visual and Attentional Control During Meals: Using Plating Art and Attention Diversion to Control Your Appetite

Lay all the food on the table at once. If you eat little by little, your body won't be able to register how much you've eaten. Having everything laid out makes it easier to feel full. When dining, let's lay out all the food before we start eating.

Some people think, "I'm trying to lose weight, so I should eat less," and then only serve themselves small portions of rice and vegetables. But after finishing those, they still feel hungry and need to ask for more rice and vegetables. This is a very common situation. As a result, although they want to eat less, they end up eating more because they feel "I'll be full after eating just a little more."

Because you eat little by little, it's difficult for your body to feel "full." However, if you lay out all the food you're going to eat from the beginning, you'll have the thought, "I can eat this much!" This makes it easier for your body to judge that you're "full." When you're starving and go to a restaurant, you should definitely try the "trick" I'm about to teach you.

When looking at the menu, everything looks delicious, and your eyes are dazzled. At this point, don't worry about what you can't eat or what you can't eat; just order whatever you like. Please note that you should wait until all your items have arrived before you start eating. And after everything has arrived, carefully observe what you want to eat before you begin.

Contrary to what you might expect when ordering food, you might find that you can't eat that much. Have you ever felt "full" while preparing dinner? You might have tasted some of the food while cooking, but it's impossible to eat much. So why do you feel "full"? Also, we often feel "full" when we see others eating.

When eating, "looking" is very important. Before saying "I'm going to eat" and starting to eat, please double-check "Do I really need to eat this much?" and "Is this what I want to eat right now?" Doing so will make you feel like you don't need to eat so much.

Try to shift your focus and calm your appetite before eating. Distracting yourself before eating can help control hunger. This way, you won't rush the meal and can calmly enjoy it. Returning home hungry from work or school to find a hot meal already laid out on the table brings immense happiness and joy.

However, if you immediately rush to the table like a hungry wolf and start eating, you're likely to overeat. In this case, you should shift your focus before eating and do something else. For example, you could take a bath. A slow, warm bath can dull your stomach's sensations and reduce hunger.

Furthermore, because taking a bath can improve your mood, you won't be in a rush when you eat, and you can sit down and slowly enjoy your food. If you can develop the habit of taking a bath first thing after getting home, you won't have to worry about overeating and stuffing everything into your stomach. In other words, it's enough to calm down the feeling of "I'm so hungry! I really want to eat something!"

Simply shift your focus away from eating and concentrate on other things. For example, you could reply to emails from friends, prepare for the next day's work, prepare food for your pet, or paint their nails. I suggest doing things that are absolutely necessary or require a certain level of concentration.

If you don't do this, your appetite will take precedence over other things, making you feel unwilling to do anything or unable to distract yourself from your appetite. This can be 5 minutes or 10 minutes. These 5 minutes of deliberate distraction to prevent overeating are a crucial "secret" to weight loss.

The "trick" of "distracting attention" is also effective during meals. Consciously putting down your chopsticks a few times and eating slowly can help you achieve the feeling of being "full" more quickly. Furthermore, by diverting your attention, it's easier to focus on eating and thus more readily receive the signals from your body that you're full.

Try changing your taste preferences. Before eating, talk to your body and ask yourself, "Is this really what I need right now?" This will allow your body to naturally tell you to choose healthier foods. Let's say your favorite foods are grilled meat, fried food, fried shrimp rice bowls, hamburgers, and cakes with lots of cream. It would be painful to restrict yourself from eating these things if you were trying to lose weight.

However, if you pay attention to asking yourself "Do I really need to eat this right now?" or "Do I really want to eat this?" before eating these things, the answer will sometimes surprise you. You might think, "Actually, I don't really want to eat this." In this process of constantly confirming whether you "really need" something, your taste will actually change gradually.

When you eat ice cream, you gradually start to think, "I can skip it today." When you go to a restaurant, you also start to order some low-calorie foods that are good for your health. Even without consciously thinking about it, you'll think, "I won't have cream cheese pasta today, I'll have a bowl of Japanese-style plum bonito noodles instead."

By engaging in dialogue with your body, you'll naturally seek out things that are beneficial. If you live alone, try to eat out less or buy takeout from convenience stores and cook for yourself instead. Cooking for yourself raises your awareness of food, prompting you to think about things like, "How can I reduce the calories in my food?" or "I've been feeling tired lately, should I eat more meat and vegetables?"-questions that contribute to your health. Furthermore, if you prepare a meal with care, you'll naturally savor it more. Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly helps prevent overeating.

When ordering food at a restaurant, it's easy to just pick what "looks delicious." But when you cook for yourself, you're not distracted by visual appeal and can choose foods that are good for your health. Plus, cooking can be enjoyable. The process of cooking relaxes your mind, which is also very beneficial for weight loss.