Mindful Eating
I recently gave a talk at the hospital I work at about the topic of mindful eating. The talk was a hit and loads of people came up to ask questions after the event which is always my favorite part. One woman came up to me and said how she appreciated the information so much because she has heard a lot about what to eat but has never learned how to eat.
You might be all, yeah I know how to eat CHRISTINA, it’s a basic human instinct and I’ve been doing it for 30+ years! And judging by my waistline or credit card bill I’m super good at it! But really focusing on the way in which we put food into our bodies is a totally revolutionary concept and I’ll tell you why it’s the key to everything.
One thing I hear a lot from clients is that they know they should eat more veggies, drink more water and avoid overly fried sugary foods but for some reason they just can’t seem to stick with it. They have good intentions but cave when a sugar craving hits at 3:00pm or they get a surge of hunger after restricting calories all day, or they overeat after a particularly stressful day at work.
We’re smart people! We get it! Eat your veggies! Drink green juice! But for some reason it seems like we have to be nutritional geniuses with personal chefs to be able to sustainably eat in a healthy way.
Becoming mindful around how we eat and the food we put into our bodies is the missing link here that doesn’t get a lot of mainstream attention.
Eating mindfully means paying attention, on purpose, to what you’re eating and how it makes you feel.
Did you scarf down your sandwich in front of your computer today before you even realized it was gone? If you did, you’re in good company because so many of us are guilty of this. (When I asked the room this question during my talk almost every single hand in a room of 60+ people went up). This is an example of not eating in a mindful way.
When we are distracted and overly stressed we are more likely to succumb to cravings, overeat, and eat whatever is put in front of us no matter how it’s going to make us feel. Also, when our stress response is activated our body is not properly setup to digest and absorb our food. When our sympathetic nervous system is activated we are ready to run away from a predator, not sit and digest a lovely meal.
One way to start tuning into the connection between what we put into our bodies and how we feel is to do a 3-Day Food Diary that you can download here >>
Once we start to pay attention to how food makes us feel and what our bodies are asking for in the present moment, we can move away from external sources of information (which can often times be conflicting and confusing) and rely on our own internal sense of perception.
What a relief.
If you want some more guidance feel free to email me or click the button below to book in a free 30 minute discovery session to chat about how to achieve total food freedom.
Mindfully,
Christina Tidwell, MN, RN, CHC