Being mindful is basically being aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. One reason people are overweight is that they are unaware of how much they should be eating and how much they are actually eating. They may also lack the knowledge or skills to be able to rectify this. In this post I will outline the steps to eating mindfully.
Firstly here is a list of the top reasons people tend to over eat:
Eating too quickly
This is a problem as it does not allow your body time to let you know it is full. By the time you stop eating you can have eaten way too much. If you tend to eat quickly then here are some tips to help you slow down.
- Have a glass of water with you during your meal and take regular breaks to take a drink.
- place your utensils on the table after every bite.
- take an extra 8-10 chews on your food than you normally would.
Eating while distracted
This is a big problem for a lot of people and can again lead to eating too much. Try to treat every meal as if you were having it in a restaurant.
- sit at a table
- no tv, phones, laptops etc
- focus on savouring your food and enjoy every bite.
Eating out of boredom
If you are constantly snacking throughout the day because you are bored, all the extra food wont be long adding up.
- try to stick to your 3 meals plus 1-2 snacks a day.
- learn how to listen to your bodies hunger and fullness ques.*
- keep busy
- don’t keep any unhealthy snacks in the house, make it hard to give in to cravings.
*A good way to get in tune with your bodies hunger and fullness ques is to try a fast for x amount of hours and take note how your body reacts and feels when you are hungry. Then do the same thing after eating a meal. Look for these in ques in future situations where you feel like eating when bored.
Eating the wrong portion sizes
If you are consistently eating portions that are too big you will put on weight. Learn the correct portion size for your body and try to adhere to them. An easy way to do this is to use hand portions as shown below.
This is for men but you just halve the portions for women. It is just a starting point and based on eating 3-4 meals a day. Adjust according to results. More tips to avoid eating portions that are too big include:
- use a small plate
- use a guide like above
- wait at least 10 minutes before going for seconds
Bearing all the above in mind here is how you eat mindfully:
- Eat slowly
- Have no distractions while eating
- Eat the correct portion size for you
- Learn to listen to your bodies hunger and fullness ques
- Choose high quality foods such as lean protein, vegetables, whole grains, fruit etc and limit highly processed foods.
Any questions on the above or anything else just ask below and I will get back to you asap.
Thanks
Shane