3 Tricks to More Mindful Eating

Mindfulness-

1. the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

2. a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly and acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

When you eat, how often can you describe yourself as mindful?

In our busy, fast paced, scheduled to the brim lives, we rarely take a seat when we eat. You may have found that you have gotten in the habit of simply eating on the go. You may find yourself skipping meals, only to over eat due to extreme hunger at the next opportunity you are presented with.

It is no secret that we need to be more aware in many areas of our lives. Yet we keep running ragged, depleting our bodies of vital nutrients and wonder why we are tired, sluggish and flat out worn down.

Becoming mindful when you eat is vital to weight shedding success. It is crucial to understanding when your body is satiated. Mindfulness, connects your brain to your body, you could make a few simple changes and experience some tremendously impactful results.

Here are 3 easy tools that will empower you to listen to your body and help you find a moment of stillness amongst the noise life can bring. And they are ALL FREE!

1. Sit Down

Do you often eat on the run? Why would it benefit you to take a seat?

First and foremost, taking a seated potion while eating allows a space for a thankful heart and overwhelming gratitude.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

(1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV)

Second, You will be far less tempted to chug down your food in a hurry. Your body will be able to communicate when you are satisfied much easier. Many times there is a clear disconnect from the mind to the body. When you are rushing about, eating in the car, or standing in the kitchen multi-tasking, your body never takes the time to register that you actually ate something. Hints one of the reasons you always feel hungry.

If at all possible, take time to sit. I promise, it doesn't take that much time out of your day. (wink, wink)

2. Shut the TV OFF or better yet get OFF the device

Distraction, distraction, oh look there's a squirrel! We have praised busyness and sadly at times equated it to holiness. Yikes!

Let me share a little secret with you. Multi-tasking while you are trying to eat, will prompt you to consume your food in a more hurried fashion, which will lead to you eating more.

In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a team from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom ravished medical literature to find studies that looked at how attention and memory affect food intake. In all the studies they inspected they found 2 key points that led them to the following conclusions.

~ Being distracted or not paying attention to a meal tended to make people eat more at that meal.

~Paying attention to a meal was linked to eating less later on.

side note... Any nighttime snackers in the house?

When you begin to mindfully eat, becoming engaged in what you are putting in your mouth and not what is on the screen, you allow your body to taste, feel, and be present. This practice alone will reduce your caloric intake and help you make wise and healthful food choices.

3. Breath

"Then the LORD God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature."

(Genesis 2:7, ESV)

Take a few, like 3 to 5 deep inhales and exhales before you begin to eat. Engaging the breath is something that many of us tend to forget. We forget that God has created us in His image, to bring honor and glory to Him. We forget that we have the breath within our lungs because God the Father has chosen to gift us with it.

Breathing before you eat allows your body to relax, and focus on what you are actually doing. This practice slows your body down through the Parasympatheic Nervous System (PNS), decreasing your heart rate, also lowing your blood pressure and helping your body take rest and prepare for proper digestion. You like me have more than likely had a time or 2 where you inhale your food so quickly that you find yourself with extreme stomach cramps, and rapid emotions. Take a few moments to just BREATH.

Mindful eating is a powerful tool that can help you gain control of your eating habits. By sitting down, shutting of the device, and breathing you will be more apt to nourish your body well. You can make nutrient dense choices, and when you choose nutrient depleted, you can be okay with your choice, why? Because you chose willfully.

Mindful eating has been shown to help in shedding weight, because those who eat mindfully are a lot less likely to binge eat, it is proven they have more control to stop when they reach their tipping point.

By becoming a mindful eater you are taking radical responsibility for your actions. You will become more aware of the overall experience of eating, and be able to listen to the physical ques your body is giving you.

Do you want to engage in a more mindful way of eating? I have created a FREE workbook just for you. Simply down load it here https://www.brittanybrown.net/free

Take mindful eating for a test drive for ONE day. I would love to hear what you find out about yourself.

Shalom,

Brittany

(Galatians 2:20)