Food portions are body proportions. This is the biggest factor we have, taking in too many calories. Now, we might all have lots of programmes from our early years. And if you have got to a size that you do not want to be at, then it is quite likely some of them are the wrong programmes. And one of them might be that if you did not get in at the time everybody else was helping themselves, there was nothing left for you. So it might have been that this developed a programme that we would call greed, and you can admit to it, that you get that greedy programme that says, I've got to get this or else I won't get any. But this is a survival programme, and if it is a survival programme is deeply in seated into us. So you get that craving to do this without even realising it. So you will put more on your plate than you need. But it is the survival instinct that is doing it.
I have been to lots of events where there is an open buffet, I used to attend lots of meetings. And because I had driven down there that morning. So I would probably have an early start of about six or seven in the morning and spend two or three hours travelling to get to an event. Then what would happen is, I would not have had breakfast because it was too early to have breakfast. So I will probably grab the biscuits in the foyer and have lots of tea or coffee and biscuits. Then there would be mid-morning tea, coffee and biscuits again and I would grab lots of biscuits. And by the time it came to the dinner time, I am then full of sugary stuff. So I needed something savoury. So I would literally seat myself near this buffet table. And I have been to events where there has been several hundred people. And I am always first or second in the queue. Because the second thing is, I do not like queueing. So I would make sure I was near the food table, and I would go there. And I would then have the choice of everything that is there. People who followed me, they might see one of the trays getting empty, and that might be the very thing they like. And there's then this sort of urgency and a little bit of a panic of, oh Crikey, that's the only thing I like, and the last slice is there and what the person in front of me takes it, so that by the time they get there, if they do get that they grab the last bit, and they'll have a few more extra chips. So, we are in this sort of needy, greedy sort of mode when we are there. And how do you break that.
So this is how I broke it. And I did notice as well that I would eat what I could from the plate, and I pick through it and I could leave them the bits I didn't like as much as the other bit and I could have my fill. And there is quite a bit of food wasted. I then went, quite a few years ago now, but it was the first time I had heard about NLP and I went on an NLP course for weight loss. And mainly it was filled with people who were there for themselves. But I was there as a weight loss counsellor to learn how to help people who I was helping with the diet products. So I went on this. And when it got to the break time, the woman who is running the event just before the break, she said, “Okay, there is a buffet for lunch. But I will tell you, there are some rules. And these are the rules, what I want you to do is go in there. And I want you to understand that I've allowed enough food for everybody there to have sufficient and there'll be some leftover, and you needn't worry that you're not going to get what you want. And there's smaller plates than normal. And all I want you to do is get two or three items on it or whatever you need. Do not pack the plate up Come and sit down. Eat with a friend. But Eat slowly. And I want you to put the knife and fork down in between each time you chew. So cut a piece off or grab a sandwich, take a bite. Put it down, chat to your friend, allow yourself to chew and digest. And then when you are ready again, pick your knife and fork up or your sandwich up another bite and so on. When you finish that plate full, we are going to allow an hour for lunch, when you finish that plate for allow yourself about five or 10 minutes to actually see how you feel. So carry on with the discussion. And when you are ready, go back up and do the same again. Put a few things on the plate, bring it back. You can do that as many times as you like.”
So can you see what was going on here, this was the safety aspect, this was, you are not going to miss out on anything. You do not have to rush to do it, you will have as much as you need. Yes, everything there was right. And I sat next to the trainer and found that as we were chatting, I was doing what she said, and I was putting a knife and fork down. And by the time we finished, I had a plateful and probably went back for something sweet. But I had had a very small plateful. And then one item later, that was the sweet, and eating it had filled the whole hour and felt full. Whereas normally I would have had a vast amount of things. And then probably about half an hour later, I would have felt hungry again, because of the way the stomach processes things. But because there was not much to process and because it was nutritious, good, healthy stuff. And I was fine with it.
So the valuable lesson here that we've got to move away from the old panic, the desperation to have things, the “if I don't get it, somebody else will get it,” we can leave all that behind. And we can quickly train the unconscious to do this automatically for you. I left that event and went to see a friend that evening because I was not normally in his area. And he wanted some help and support from me. He made a lasagne and I got just that on the plate. And I was talking to him and eating and putting my knife and fork down. And I had one portion of the lasagne and that was all I needed.
So it really works, is that if we eat slowly and consciously and we consciously think about what we're putting on a plate, and we deliberately have smaller plate sizes, so we're not fooling our self that we're not getting much, everything works for us and it's very natural and easy and simple to do.