Mindful Eating
1. Always sit down at your dinner table to eat. Do not eat over the stove, the oven, in front of the fridge, while driving, etc. We are trying to carve time out to honor not only our food, but ourselves. We deserve to have time to enjoy our meals.
2. Enjoy your food. Take a moment before eating to savor the smell of your meal. A simple way of doing this is to count to 10 after sitting down, with your meal in front of you. This can also be achieved by saying grace before a meal, but does not have to have a religious connotation. Allowing ourselves a moment before we dig in helps stimulate digestion by increasing the secretion of gastric juices and salivary enzymes that help break our food down. If you have troubles digesting, you can take this time to drink a warm to hot glass of water with lemon (I also frequently suggest unpasteurized apple cider vinegar). This also helps with digestive enzyme secretion.
3. Eat slowly. Chew 40-100 times before swallowing. You don’t actually have to count your chews (although this is an excellent meditation on it’s own), but be mindful of eating slowly and with intention. This will also help with overeating. When we eat slow and deliberately, we can check in with our bodies along the way to see when we have reached satiety.
4. Stop half way through. It doesn’t matter how big or small your plate is, stop when you have eaten half (or less) and gauge your fullness. It’s okay to eat more, but make sure there is a conscious act of continuing to eat. It is not a requirement anymore to finish everything on our plates. Don’t worry about being hungry, you can always eat your left overs later for a snack.
5. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drink cool to warm water throughout your day and with meals. Most people do not drink enough water throughout the day. Aim for half of your body weight in ounces. If you have troubles with digestion, consider drinking warm to hot lemon water BEFORE you start eating. You can combine this technique with suggestion #2.
6. Eat breakfast. It doesn’t need to be a lot. Eating breakfast within 30 minutes of waking helps our body run optimally, especially if you start your morning out with a high nutrient breakfast with vegetables and a source of lean protein (egg whites, nuts, lean meats, whey/pea/soy protein). A "green smothie" is a quick and easy way to start off. My most basic one is:
7. Eat small frequent meals throughout your day. We never want to train our body and digestive system to continuously handle large quantities of food (although it will). Overeating begets overeating. This is not about starving yourself or limiting your intake of food, but rather dispersing small meals throughout your day. Remember suggestion #3 and #4. This will help in refraining from overeating by being more mindful about the signals our body is giving. This also requires for us to have compassion and kindness for ourselves.
8. Cultivate compassion. We can change unwanted behaviors by having compassion and realizing that food cravings and wanting is just a characteristic of the ego, who is at the forefront of these unwanted behaviors. The wanting will pass. We can cultivate compassion by doing nice things for ourselves; getting a massage, honoring ourselves, feeding ourselves well, going for a run, buying ourselves flowers. We can cultivate compassion even faster by doing nice things for others. It can be as simple as complimenting someone.
9. Don’t eat 3-4 hours before bed. There are some exceptions to this rule, but for most people, refraining from eating before bed will help in hormone regulation, especially with the leptin and insulin cycle; the hormones that communicate when we are hungry, full, in need of energy, and regulates how we obtain that energy. The first thing people notice is that they are very hungry when they wake up, which is great! That’s how it should be. This will also make it easier to follow rule #6, eating breakfast daily. You may even find you have to switch over to a heartier meal in the mornings (like kale scrambles, oatmeal and berries, granola and yogurt, etc.). Others feel a new sense of energy in the morning, better sleep cycles and patterns, and digestive regulation.
Further reading: Eating with Fierce Kindness, Sasha Lorin
Further listening: Buy Margaret Cho's stand up comedy skit "Eating Disorders"', although lacking self compassion, I think she brings an important light to the relationships people form with food.
Increasing Your Odds of Eating Less Calories Mindlessly
Excerpts from Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink PhD
Most people can eat up to 20% more or less calories than they need and not notice a difference – no hunger, feelings of deprivation, negative effects on metabolism. Although rapid weight loss is exciting and motivating, it is rarely long lasting. Your extra pounds likely snuck up on you over months or years. Losing weight slowly by making long term lifestyle changes is the best and healthiest way to ensure long term success. Reducing your intake by 100 – 200 calories per day can add up to a 10 – 20 pound loss at the end of a year.
Many people overeat even when they are not hungry. One goal in achieving lasting weight loss is to change internal eating scripts and associations that cue us to eat. An example of an eating script would be: come home from work, turn on the TV, find something to eat. It is never too late to change an eating script. Research shows that this is most successful if changes are made in small increments and maintained for at least one month. By building on your successes, you create new positive, healthy habits. The following are tips to help you shave extra calories off and create new habits without cramping your lifestyle or avoiding your favorite foods. Identify your problem area(s) and make one to three small changes per month. Results are best when behavior is tracked in a journal.
Meal Stuffing
1. Always sit down at your dinner table to eat. Do not eat over the stove, the oven, in front of the fridge, while driving, etc. We are trying to carve time out to honor not only our food, but ourselves. We deserve to have time to enjoy our meals.
2. Enjoy your food. Take a moment before eating to savor the smell of your meal. A simple way of doing this is to count to 10 after sitting down, with your meal in front of you. This can also be achieved by saying grace before a meal, but does not have to have a religious connotation. Allowing ourselves a moment before we dig in helps stimulate digestion by increasing the secretion of gastric juices and salivary enzymes that help break our food down. If you have troubles digesting, you can take this time to drink a warm to hot glass of water with lemon (I also frequently suggest unpasteurized apple cider vinegar). This also helps with digestive enzyme secretion.
3. Eat slowly. Chew 40-100 times before swallowing. You don’t actually have to count your chews (although this is an excellent meditation on it’s own), but be mindful of eating slowly and with intention. This will also help with overeating. When we eat slow and deliberately, we can check in with our bodies along the way to see when we have reached satiety.
4. Stop half way through. It doesn’t matter how big or small your plate is, stop when you have eaten half (or less) and gauge your fullness. It’s okay to eat more, but make sure there is a conscious act of continuing to eat. It is not a requirement anymore to finish everything on our plates. Don’t worry about being hungry, you can always eat your left overs later for a snack.
5. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drink cool to warm water throughout your day and with meals. Most people do not drink enough water throughout the day. Aim for half of your body weight in ounces. If you have troubles with digestion, consider drinking warm to hot lemon water BEFORE you start eating. You can combine this technique with suggestion #2.
6. Eat breakfast. It doesn’t need to be a lot. Eating breakfast within 30 minutes of waking helps our body run optimally, especially if you start your morning out with a high nutrient breakfast with vegetables and a source of lean protein (egg whites, nuts, lean meats, whey/pea/soy protein). A "green smothie" is a quick and easy way to start off. My most basic one is:
- 2c frozen organic spinach
- 1c frozen organic blueberries
- 3Tbsp raw hemp seeds (around 10g of protein)
- 1/2 banana (optional)
- 1/2c-1c water (or nut milks)
7. Eat small frequent meals throughout your day. We never want to train our body and digestive system to continuously handle large quantities of food (although it will). Overeating begets overeating. This is not about starving yourself or limiting your intake of food, but rather dispersing small meals throughout your day. Remember suggestion #3 and #4. This will help in refraining from overeating by being more mindful about the signals our body is giving. This also requires for us to have compassion and kindness for ourselves.
8. Cultivate compassion. We can change unwanted behaviors by having compassion and realizing that food cravings and wanting is just a characteristic of the ego, who is at the forefront of these unwanted behaviors. The wanting will pass. We can cultivate compassion by doing nice things for ourselves; getting a massage, honoring ourselves, feeding ourselves well, going for a run, buying ourselves flowers. We can cultivate compassion even faster by doing nice things for others. It can be as simple as complimenting someone.
9. Don’t eat 3-4 hours before bed. There are some exceptions to this rule, but for most people, refraining from eating before bed will help in hormone regulation, especially with the leptin and insulin cycle; the hormones that communicate when we are hungry, full, in need of energy, and regulates how we obtain that energy. The first thing people notice is that they are very hungry when they wake up, which is great! That’s how it should be. This will also make it easier to follow rule #6, eating breakfast daily. You may even find you have to switch over to a heartier meal in the mornings (like kale scrambles, oatmeal and berries, granola and yogurt, etc.). Others feel a new sense of energy in the morning, better sleep cycles and patterns, and digestive regulation.
Further reading: Eating with Fierce Kindness, Sasha Lorin
Further listening: Buy Margaret Cho's stand up comedy skit "Eating Disorders"', although lacking self compassion, I think she brings an important light to the relationships people form with food.
Increasing Your Odds of Eating Less Calories Mindlessly
Excerpts from Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink PhD
Most people can eat up to 20% more or less calories than they need and not notice a difference – no hunger, feelings of deprivation, negative effects on metabolism. Although rapid weight loss is exciting and motivating, it is rarely long lasting. Your extra pounds likely snuck up on you over months or years. Losing weight slowly by making long term lifestyle changes is the best and healthiest way to ensure long term success. Reducing your intake by 100 – 200 calories per day can add up to a 10 – 20 pound loss at the end of a year.
Many people overeat even when they are not hungry. One goal in achieving lasting weight loss is to change internal eating scripts and associations that cue us to eat. An example of an eating script would be: come home from work, turn on the TV, find something to eat. It is never too late to change an eating script. Research shows that this is most successful if changes are made in small increments and maintained for at least one month. By building on your successes, you create new positive, healthy habits. The following are tips to help you shave extra calories off and create new habits without cramping your lifestyle or avoiding your favorite foods. Identify your problem area(s) and make one to three small changes per month. Results are best when behavior is tracked in a journal.
Meal Stuffing
- Buy smaller packages of food and serve food from small bowls
- Eat on a smaller plate, with smaller utensils and a tall thin glass
- Use the ½ plate rule – ½ of the plate gets filled with vegetables
- Eat one portion only (no seconds)
- Leave extra food, except vegetables, in the kitchen and not on the table
- Eat slowly (takes 20 minutes to feel full)
- Leave a bite or two on your plate
- Have fruit for desert
- Have the waiter box up ½ of your meal before bringing it to the table
- Limit yourself to two out of three – appetizer, drinks, desert
- Add extra vegetables to meals – increased volume, lower calories
- Share desert
- Have a glass of water between each caloric beverage
- Drink only water (add lemon for extra flavor)
- Sit near someone who eats lightly and / or slowly
- At buffets, limit yourself to two items at a time on the plate
- Be ware of the “low fat” or “healthy” halo. Most people eat more these foods.
- Portion out snacks into small bags instead of eating from the container
- Put snack foods in a (small) bowl so you can see the portion you are eating
- Create “pause points” in your snacking routine to slow your pace
- Keep food out of arms reach
- Put food in a non-see through container (out of sight – more likely to be out of mind)
- Keep snack foods in the garage or another inconvenient place
- Only eat at the table (not in front of the TV or over the kitchen sink…)
- Set rules for snacking “no chips unless I exercise” or “fruit before candy”
- Keep your environment clean (no trigger foods in the house, office…)
- Keep healthy choices convenient – cut vegetables in the fridge, washed fruit on the counter, small serving of nuts in your purse or car
- Drink mostly non-caloric beverages
- Arrive late and / or leave early
- Stand far away from the food / buffet
- Eat mostly vegetables
- Eat before you go so you don’t arrive hungry
- Set a rule not to eat in the car
- Bring healthy snacks to work
- Eat regular meals and snacks to prevent excess hunger
- Create pause points to slow you down (reduce convenience)
- Take another route home to prevent driving past temptation
- Keep your environment clear of temptation
- Use the stairs
- Meet a friend for a walk rather than a meal
- Put a mini trampoline in front of the TV
- Take the dog for a walk
- Dance with your children (if you have them)
