Gulsah Kayar
We have all been there. Coming up with all kinds of excuses to eat another piece of cake? What does it matter? You can ‘burn’ that extra piece of cake by walking a few kilometres. Otherwise you will get that guilty feeling or you feel you have gained 10 kilograms and you are afraid you will never lose them again (which is complete nonsense). That extra piece of cake does not taste better to you than the first one, does it? Then why would you eat that second piece? Here is the answer!
Let us not talk about that delicious chocolate we fail to not buy in the supermarket. You cannot not stop ravaging that chocolate bar or that box of chocolate until you finish it entirely. But why do you have to eat it all? Every piece tastes the same, right?
It’s all about the endorphin
Let me tell you why. You have probably heard of the happiness hormone ‘endorphin’. It is basically a natural feel-good drug. Your body creates it in activities that you like to do, also when eating specific food. Advertisers make good use of this, because ‘sugar’ and ‘fat’ stimulate the creation of endorphin. Everyone knows which products we are talking about. It is the kind that usually belongs to the less healthy category.
But no worries! You can create this feel good drug on your own without the use of unhealthy snacks. Your body creates it during any type of exercise! So, you can save some money and stay fit at the same time! Sounds good, right?
I often hear people say that they are unable to lose weight even though they eat ‘less’. When I ask what they usually eat during the day, they will list everything except the soft drinks they drink between the meals. That is what I am looking for, my friend, because those are the killers. They seem so harmless because the sugars are hidden!
The example of the Prophet
We have to eat according to our needs. It is important not to eat more than that because we do not actually need more! The excess energy will be stored as fat in our bodies. The amount of energy needed differs from person to person. For men, it is mostly more than for women. But our energy need can be more or less compared with people from the past. Because who still hunts to get food on the table?
But how is it that we eat more than we actually need? This question is not difficult to answer. Look around you. It is very easy to get food. If you are hungry while you are outside it is not difficult to get some food (by that I mean fat food!). Because of that, more and more young people are liable to diabetes and many other ‘Western diseases’. Even India follows the trend, since the ‘food’ there has also become more accessible.
How quickly do we forget the lifestyle habits of the Prophet Muhammad? He filled his stomach for 2/3 with food and the rest with air. He gave us the example to live healthy and to be careful with our bodies.
Learn to listen to your body. I know that everyone can do this. It means that you should just stop eating when you feel it is enough. Because your body knows exactly how much you need!
