Monday, April 20, 2009
Unconscious Eating
How many of us eat while doing something else. EVERYONE DOES. This is the crux of our problem. We are not enjoying the food we eat because we are watching television, driving the car, talking on the cell phone or working on the computer as we shovel the food into our mouths. Eating has become one more task. The sad thing is that because we are eating unconsciously as we multitask, we aren’t even enjoying it.
The first step towards reaching your optimal weight is to eat consciously. This means eating and being in the moment as you do so. No multitasking. When you do this, you concentrate on eating, enjoying the texture and tastes of the foods you are consuming.
Eat What You Like
There are no bad foods, if you follow the other rules, you can eat whatever you like, because your body will moderate the amount. And because you have stopped eating the foods you don’t like and then sneaking the foods you do, the calorie count will be lower.
Put the Fork Down
The next step involves undoing some very bad programming. Most of us shovel our food into our mouth. We are going so fast that we don’t even put the fork down between bites. Try this out. Take a bit of food, put the fork down, chew the food slowly and swallow. Take a breath then pick up the fork and take another bite. Repeat this until you start to notice a sensation of fullness.
This takes me to the next step.
Listen to Your body
Most of us ignore our body until it is ravenous. Then we are so hungry that we wolf down way too much food. If you start to pay attention you will notice those first signs of hunger. When you are hungry eat, when you aren’t, don’t eat. It’s so simple. This may mean that you revert back to your childhood behaviors. When you were little if it was dinner time and you weren’t hungry you found a way to avoid eating. Somewhere we lost this gift. Get it back. I remember as a little girl retreating to the bathroom and hiding there until dinner was over. I was a skinny and healthy little girl.