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Keeping A Food Diary Is A Great Way To Be Mindful Of The What, When And Why You Eat

Eight Strategies For Mindful Eating

Have you been practicing the mindful eating guidelines we spoke of in last month’s blog? Hopefully, you have learned how to focus on your food and enjoy as you eat it. So, now let’s discuss some simple strategies to take control and be more aware of your hunger cues. There are eight strategies that can help you do this:

Utilize the hunger scale 1 being starved and 10 being so stuffed you are nauseous. The goal is to come in at about 5 or 6. See below for details.
Understand hunger and satiety Eat until you have had just enough, which is basically enough food to control hunger for four hours, not to feel stuffed
Tracking hunger, fullness, emotions and perceived healthfulness Keep a detailed food diary for a week to track trends. Accountability will help you change behavior.
Slow down. Chew your food thoroughly, this improves satisfaction and actually helps us to obtain nutrients from the food. It also increases the amount of time to eat each portion and allow for you to feel hunger/fullness cues.
Hit the pause button Take 30-60 seconds before making a decision on what and how much to eat. Doing so can help you to recognize triggers and make better choices.
Redirect. When looking for or craving unhealthy snacks or meals, redirect yourself to a list of healthy choices and be sure to have the ingredients on hand to assure you stick with the new choice.
Embrace Healthy Eating and Manage Your Expectations Be sure your food choices are for nourishment overall Ask yourself “what do I want the food to do for me?” Then determine if the food is for fuel, comfort, nourishment, entertainment or to fight disease.
Cook Healthy Be the nutritional gatekeeper. What you have in your pantry will determine what you eat at meals, so shop wisely. Be sure to keep cooking simple and easy to avoid the pitfall of turning to take out when you’ve had too busy a day.

Try these strategies and see how easy it is to be more mindful about your eating.

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Put Your Mind Into Your Meal

Ever look down from your computer screen, during a “working lunch” and realize you finished your entire meal without feeling satisfied at all? What if instead of making eating a “side bar” you took some time to make it the main event? This practice of focusing your undivided attention into your food your undivided attention is called Mindful Eating. This practice can help you make healthier food choices and improve your wellness in so many ways.

Benefits of mindful eating include:

· Reduced Caloric intake

· Weight loss

· Reduced stress

· Increased enjoyment

· Easier digestion/ less GI distress

· Rced binge eating

· Improved control over what you eat

Sounds good doesn’t it? So, let’s explore how you can incorporate more mindful eating practices into your lifestyle.

To get started, you need to understand how to recognize mindless verse mindful eating. Take a look at the chart to the right:

The next step is to start avoiding these mindless eating pitfalls.

Never eat while:

· At your work space

· In the car driving

· In front of the T.V.

· In front of your computer

· Using the telephone

· Surfing the internet

· Scrolling through social media

· Feeling emotional such as sad, depressed or angry

Finally, learn to take a few moments to savor your food. Eating is so much more than just putting food into your body. Certain foods hold special meaning for each of us and satisfy not only the body but also the soul, by evoking memories of special moments, family gatherings and special people like Mom who cooked your favorite meals.

So when you eat a meal:

1. Breath in the aroma of the food. Think about how it makes you feel and what pleasant thoughts or memories come to mind

2. Notice the pleasing colors of the food on the plate

3. Chew eat bite thoroughly while paying attention to the texture of the food and how it feels on your tongue

4. Put down your fork while taking the time to chew each bite.

5. Savor the taste of each and every mouthful.

6. Pay attention to your bodies fullness cues and stop eating when you don’t feel hungry anymore, rather than when you start to feel stuffed

Start incorporating these practices into your daily eating routine and you will find so much more satisfaction and sense of well being, coming from the foods you consume.

Excited to enrich your life through Mindful Eating? Check back next month for more tips on taking Mindful Eating and Wellness to the next level