Mindful Eating

Weekly Challenge- EAT MINDFULLY 

Sometimes I pick the weekly challenge according to what I need and this is one of those weeks. I kid people that because my dad was a fireman and never knew when the alarm bell would ring I was raised to eat fast. Honestly I can count on one hand the times in my entire life when I wasn't the first one done eating. And I know that my rapid eating is a part of my overall problem with over eating. I was reading in the Harvard Health Letter this morning and much of what I will share comes from their essay on mindful eating. 

Imagine you're at your computer, facing a wall of e-mails. After composing a reply, you hit "send" and reach for the tuna wrap on your desk. After a few bites, chewing while glancing at the screen, you set the wrap down, grab a handful of chips, and open the next message. Before you know it, you've finished lunch without even noticing it.

A small yet growing body of research suggests that a slower, more thoughtful way of eating could help with weight problems and maybe steer some people away from processed food and other less-healthful choices.

This alternative approach has been dubbed "mindful eating." It's based on the concept of mindfulness, which involves being fully aware of what is happening within and around you at the moment. In other areas, mindfulness techniques have been proposed as a way to relieve stress and alleviate problems like high blood pressure and chronic gastrointestinal difficulties.

Applied to eating, mindfulness includes noticing the colors, smells, flavors, and textures of your food; chewing slowly; getting rid of distractions like TV or reading; and learning to cope with guilt and anxiety about food. 

The mind–gut connection

Digestion involves a complex series of hormonal signals between the gut and the nervous system, and it seems to take about 20 minutes for the brain to register satiety (fullness). If someone eats too quickly, satiety may occur after overeating instead of putting a stop to it.There's also reason to believe that eating while we're distracted by activities like driving or typing may slow down or stop digestion in a manner similar to how the "fight or flight" response does. And if we're not digesting well, we may be missing out on the full nutritive value of some of the food we're consuming.

My daughter (a clinical dietitian) highly recommends the book Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Worksby Evelyn Tribole. 

A starter kit Experts suggest starting gradually with mindful eating, eating one meal a day or week in a slower, more attentive manner.Here are some tips (and tricks) that may help you get started: 1. Sit at the table to eat your meal 2. Before you begin eating look at and smell your food2. Set the fork or spoon down between bites3. Close your eyes and savor4. Focus on fully tasting your food5. SLOW down (Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes)6. Chew more (about 25 times)7. Abstain from screens or reading 8. Don't eat straight from the packaging. Use a pretty plate. 9. Eat with your non-dominant hand10. Eat silently for five minutes, thinking about what it took to produce that meal, from the sun's rays to the farmer to the grocer to the cook.  10. Listen to yourself Chew (read on!)  ·      According to a new study from researchers at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management, listening to yourself chew may be useful for losing weight. Based on the idea that we often overlook noise (an important sensory cue that researchers have dubbed "the forgotten food sense") when we eat, the researchers conducted a series of experiments to see how sound impacts what we consume.

In one trial, they had two groups of people snack on pretzels—one group wore headphones blasting loud music while the other listened to quiet music. They found that people ate more when music disguised the sounds of their chewing.

And the effects went even further in another experiment: When people were instructed to simply imagine chewing sounds while they ate, they consumed less overall. According to the researchers, paying attention to what you're chewing by actually listening to it clues you in to exactly how much you're eating. You eat less when you have this added layer of mindfulness that includes noise.

So what does this mean for mealtime? Take out the ear buds, turn down the cooking music, and stop noshing in front of the TV. When you cut out those outside auditory distractions, you allow yourself to pay attention to your meal—smacking lips and all.

So your challenge for the week is to choose one meal per day and take some steps to eat your meal with more focus and mindfulness. Enjoy your meals ladies!