Americans are always trying their best to lose weight as they incorporate a wide range of techniques to drop excess weight. But the key to successful weight loss may be found right in Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa is one of the world’s blue zones areas or exceptional hot spots where people lead long and healthy lives. Their ideas not only help you lose weight but also help you to live longer. For almost a thousand years, the Japanese archipelago of Okinawa has been boasting of people who live exceptionally long lives.

Most Okinawans over the age of 65 enjoy the world’s highest life expectancy; most men are expected to lead a life of 84, while women are expected to live to almost age 90. Most of the men do not suffer from diseases and conditions that ails Americans, read cardiovascular disease,  breast and prostate cancer, or dementia.

Research says that they have a secret that they put into practice and that secret is Hara Hachi Bu. The practice is incorporating simple changes in their everyday lives to ensure improved health. It actually means eat till you are 80% full. Most of us are so busy with our lives that we hardly listen to the tunes of our bodies, which tells you that we are already full and you do not need more food right then. So, no it is not easy, but you still can still start practicing Hara Hachi Bu and get the results you want.

Don’t Obsess Over Calorie Intake or Weight Loss

The more we think about it, the more we obsess about the more we are likely to not stick to a particular eating plan. You obsess about eating rice yet you don’t say no to packaged food. You jump from one fad diet to another and you blame it on carbohydrates. The point is you need to stop thinking about food all the time and make the whole process complicated, instead it is simple. When was eating your food and not looking at gadgets while doing it, become so difficult?

Eat Slowly

Eating faster results in eating more. When you slow down to allow your body to respond to cues.  The Okinawan way of eating is to eat everything in moderation. As you eat, you practice mindfulness; eat every morsel listen to everything your body says. This will help you listen to the cues that your body when tells you to stop eating too much, you have had enough.

Focus on Food

When you eat your food, you shouldn’t even think of multitasking, instead, just turn off the TV; keep all other forms of digital devices away from where you eat. You’ll be less distracted, you’ll consume less, and savor the food you eat more.

Use Smaller Vessels

Choose to eat on smaller plates and use tall and narrow glasses. Your food consumption immediately becomes less and likely to eat significantly less without even thinking about it.

Drink Water Before you Eat Anything

Sometimes you keep on eating because you think you’re hungry until you suddenly realize you were actually thirsty. Water takes some space in your stomach, helping you feel full, also aiding indigestion.

Remember, if you’re still hungry a few minutes after you’ve put your fork down, you can always go back and serve yourself up with more food or even a snack. This also applies to any time you get a snack from a larger bag. The better idea is to serve yourself or put your snack on a plate. This way you’ll not end up eating the entire contents of the packet.

Taste The Food

While it is obvious we taste the food while we are eating it, we hardly eat food in the true sense of the term. But because life gets busy, we tend to forget the simple rules of life that have always worked but we forgot them in our pursuit of modern methods that promise faster results.

Try to close your eyes, describe your tasting experience, and pay special attention to the smells and textures. Savoring will help you slow down, and can also discover new sides to a known dish. Actually tasting your dessert well may help you notice the teeny tiny things about it that you may not like as much, like they may be sickly sweet, flat, or more. Earlier you just ate mindlessly, not even thinking how your cheat meal actually tastes.

Once you start following these tips you start feeling full after 20 mins of your meal. When you follow the principle of Hara Hachi Bu, oxidation is reduced, you don’t feel lethargic and you also stop the process of binge eating.