Your Body Has a Built-In Meal Plan. You've Just Been Ignoring It.

It’s one of the biggest questions in health: “How much should I eat?” Confused, many of us turn to dieticians who hand us a rigid set of instructions: “Eat four rotis for breakfast,” or “Have 750 grams of rice for lunch.”

But I have to ask, is this practical? Can you really live your life with a weighing machine next to your dinner plate, meticulously measuring every milligram? I tried to picture it, and honestly, it’s absurd. I’ve come to believe that these external rules aren’t just impractical; they’re fundamentally wrong because they ignore the only expert that truly matters: your own body.

The Flaw in One-Size-Fits-All Diets

The amount of food a person needs is incredibly dynamic. It changes based on age, weight, climate, location, and most importantly, your daily activity.

Think about it. Did the person who wrote your diet plan ask if you’re a physical laborer who lifts stones all day or a software engineer who sits in front of a computer? Did they ask if you’re a mother who runs the household herself or someone who has help and leads a more sedentary life? The quantity of food needed by a construction worker is vastly different from what they’d need the next day if they spent it relaxing in an air-conditioned car.

No one in this world does the exact same amount of work every single day. So how could anyone possibly write down in advance how much you should eat? If you can’t even predict how much food you will need for your next meal, how can a doctor or dietician possibly know?

And what about the measurements themselves? They tell you to eat “four rotis.” Do they know the size of the rotis made in your home? In some houses, one thick roti is a full meal. In others, a roti is as thin as a papad, and you might need ten to feel full. They say, “Eat one cup of curd.” Do they know the size of the cup in your house? In my opinion, following these prescriptions can increase health problems, not cure them.

Your Body's Built-In Portion Control System

So, if we throw out the scales and the charts, how do we know how much to eat? The method is incredibly simple, and you already have everything you need. There are just two rules I follow:

1. Eat only when you feel hungry.

2. Pay 100% of your attention to the food while you eat.

When you focus entirely on your meal—its taste, its texture, the sensation of eating—your body will tell you exactly when to stop. The same food that tasted incredible on the first bite will gradually become less appealing. That moment when you no longer desire another bite is your body’s signal that its quota is full.

Let's say you normally eat six rotis. If you start eating with your full attention on the taste, you might find that after the fourth one, the fifth just doesn't look that good anymore. That's it. That’s the signal. Your meal is over. When we’re distracted by talking, watching TV, or scrolling on our phones, we override this brilliant system and have no idea how much we truly need.

What If I Eat Too Much or Too Little?

This is the beauty of listening to your body—it’s a self-correcting system. There's no need to panic.

If you eat a little more than you need, what happens? Nothing terrible. Your next hunger pang will simply be postponed. You’ll feel hungry a little later than usual. That’s all.

If you eat a little less than you need, what happens? You’ll feel hungry again a little sooner. That’s all.

So, my advice is to stop measuring. Eat to your heart's content, whatever amount feels right. But please remember the one crucial point: You should not eat anything again until you feel genuinely hungry.

Learning from the True Experts: Animals

If you still have doubts, just look at a dog. Give your pet dog a cup of rice. It will eat it and wag its tail, asking for more. Give it a second cup. It will eat that too. Give it a third. The dog might eat half and then simply walk away. Even if you call it back and try to coax it with more food, it won't eat. Why? Because the dog knows exactly how much it needs.

We human beings have lost this innate wisdom. We eat without hunger and without truly enjoying the taste of our food, and so we don’t know when to stop.

My approach to health is about becoming more like that dog. Eat when you’re hungry. Eat what you like, and truly taste and enjoy it to your heart's content. The healthy elders in our families, the ones who live to be 80 or 90, rarely avoided foods or tastes they enjoyed. They ate based on their liking, and their bodies thrived. It’s time we stop listening to rigid guidelines from people who don't know our bodies and start trusting the profound wisdom we were all born with.