Eating healthily requires you to meet, but not exceed, your body's need for food. When you're hungry, your body signals through hunger pangs that it's ready for nutrients. Once your body recognizes your stomach is full, it signals you to stop and the hunger pangs disappear. But you can't always trust your body to tell you when you've eaten enough.
Problem
Sometimes there is a delay between the actual point of satiety, or fullness, and your body's recognition of it. For example, you might not experience feelings of fullness until 10 or 15 minutes after you have eaten enough. If you continue to eat during that interval, you are adding more food to your already-full stomach, which can leave you feeling full, bloated and uncomfortable after your meal.
Solution
The solution is to limit yourself to a healthy amount of food that meets your body's needs but won't cause you to feel excessively full. One way of doing this is to use a small plate or bowl to hold your meal, which helps you recognize when you should stop eating. Chew and eat slowly so your body has time to register satiety. When you are done, ignore any hunger pangs you still have. Your body slowly will come to realize you have eaten enough, and the hunger pangs eventually will disappear.
Drink More Water
If you drink a large glass of water before your meal, you can speed up the satiety recognition. Drinking water before a meal fills your stomach early, meaning your hunger pangs will disappear sooner, which will help you resist overeating. Drinking water during and after your meal also will help reduce cravings for more food.
Considerations
If you feel really full after eating an insufficient amount of food, your digestion system might have a problem. For example, if you notice a sudden decrease in your appetite, or if you feel excessively full after you eat a tiny amount of food, visit your doctor to determine if there is a medical condition causing the problem. Potential causes of early satiety can include a gastronintestinal tract obstruction, heartburn, a nervous system problem that delays stomach emptying, stomach ulcer, and stomach or abdominal tumor, according to MedlinePlus.
