If you want to slim down the healthy and painless way, try the following strategies. After all, it’s not what you eat but how you eat.

1. CHEW MORE, EAT LESS
Chewing for longer prevents over-eating, by giving the brain more time to receive signals from the stomach that it is full. It is not only great for digesting, but it also helps in limiting your portion size.

2. DON’T SKIP BREAKFAST
No matter how late you are running to work, avoid missing breakfast. Missing breakfast slows down your metabolism. More importantly, always eat your breakfast, within an hour of waking up, as your body has gone without food the entire night.

3. CONCENTRATE ON YOUR FOOD
How many times has your mother reprimanded you to not talk, read or watch TV while eating food? Not without a reason. When you are multitasking during meal times, your brain isn’t focussing on the amount of food that you are consuming and you are more prone to piling on pounds. This doesn’t mean that you cannot enjoy a meal with your friends. You can do so, but just pay attention to what you are putting in your mouth!

4. DON’T OVERCOOK YOUR MEALS
Overcooking food kills or reduces the number of nutrients your meal contains, and when you don’t get enough nutrients, you don’t feel satisfied and soon start to get junk food cravings.

5. FRUITS BEFORE MEALS
It is advisable to eat fruits at least 30 minutes before any heavy meal. This way, the fruits will digest quickly. Eating fruits on an empty stomach detoxifies your system and supplies you with a great deal of energy for losing weight.

6. HAVE SMALLER MEALS, MORE OFTEN
Ideally, you should eat five to six times per day, with a two to three hour break between each meal or snack. Eating more frequently gets your metabolism going and keeps it working at an elevated level continuously throughout the day. But don’t use this rule as an excuse to overeat.

9. AVOID EATING AFTER 8 PM
It’s good to eat your last meal before eight in the evening. This way you don’t land up binging on a snack before dinner time. If you find it hard to resist, have some herbal tea or brush your teeth after dinner immediately to switch your mind off from the idea of eating.

10. THINK AND DRINK
While everyone knows it’s necessary to drink at least eight to 10 glasses of water, very few know when one should consume it. When you drink is as important as what you drink. If you drink water in-between meals, the liquid slows down digestion, diluting the acid in your stomach and so the nutrients from the food that you eat are not well absorbed. To avoid this try to drink water 15 minutes before or after a meal, and if you really need to drink while you eat, limit yourself to small sips only.