Mindful Eating... so what is that all about?
WHAT is Mindful Eating?
You know, I have read about extensively, discussed and practiced many different aspects of “mindful eating” and I have come to some conclusions. It doesn’t have to be difficult and it can be really beneficial (bordering essential!) and even fun…ah, love it!
It really means the following 5 things to me:
Choosing whole foods or those nearest to their natural or original state.
The foods that just came out of the garden fall into this category!
Eating foods with a simple list of ingredients, not a long, complicated list of things we don’t even recognize!
For example, most ingredients that end in “ose” are ones to stay away from. That likely means those items might have had extra “processing” and decreased nutritional content as a result.
Choosing foods that create a colorful “rainbow plate”!
The more colorful the plate, the more wide range of vitamins and nutrients we are likely in taking.
Using all of our senses to eat!
This is the part where our body is more able to absorb the vitamins and nutrients we are in taking from that rainbow plate above!
Finally and maybe most importantly…being curious about how our food choices feel in our body and what happens when we eat certain things.
This is the part where we think about and observe how we feel after we eat. Do we feel bloat, nausea, indigestion? Do we feel like we overate, or maybe get a headache after? Do we have difficult or irregular bowel movements?
WHY is it important to consider what and how we eat? Well…
Eating foods that do not line up with those 5 things above might result in eating foods high in sugar, sodium, saturated fat, trans fats, and cholesterol.
Eating too much of those foods over a long period of time can lead to lasting health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and obesity.
These types of health problems can ultimately decrease our energy, inhibit our desire or ability to move, socialize or generally feel good about ourselves.
In his book “FOOD What the Heck Should I Eat? “ (one of my favs!), Dr. Mark Hyman, best-selling author and nutrition researcher for 35 years, said right at the beginning, “What you put on your fork is the most important thing you do every day. It influences your capacity to live a rich, energetic, connected, soulful life - a life in which you have the energy to care for yourself, to love your friends and family, to help your neighbor, to fully show up for your work in the world, and to live your dreams.” WOW. What else is there?
WHERE do I go with this now, you might wonder?
It can be difficult to know where to start. You might be asking or telling yourself:
I do not have time to even contemplate this!
Where would I even start?
How do I start? Is making a grocery list enough?
When is the best time to do this?
No one in my house will buy into this!
Who should I ask for help?
Where do I go?
Will I like this if I try it?
Will my family eat any of things I try?
What if I suck at this?
Will this ever get easier?
HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS!!!
Sometimes it is difficult to get started, even when we know what we might like to try and why it is good for us! Have you ever painted in your house? I have. Most rooms, sometimes multiple times. And wow, it looks great when it is done but it is a lot of frickin’ painful preparation sometimes. This is another example of the old 80/20…where buying the supplies, washing the walls, sanding and filling the holes and taping everything in sight (if you paint like me!) takes 80% of the time and the actual painting itself takes 20%!
However, the good news here is three things:
You are here! You are interested and curious about what’s possible.
Support is available so that you don’t have to figure this out on your own!
You don’t have to break the bank to get started or continue, either!
HOW do I start:
This song by Brothers Osbourne seems amusing on the surface…an excerpt from it goes like this…
“Blame the ex for the drinkin' , blame the drinkin' for the ex…
But it ain’t my fault, no, it ain’t my fault.”
Sometimes, we feel blame or shame about what we have done in the past and where we feel we might have failed, and it keeps us stuck. It might prevent us from taking that first step forward again. But here, there is NO fault! There is no blame, shame or deprivation involved in getting curious about your health. What if the opposite is true? Maybe it is truly a gift that you are giving yourself… to be considering what’s possible…right in this moment. The present is the exact right time!
The choices we made in the past might have served us well then… but we can choose something different now. We don’t have to tell ourselves the same story we once did.
You can see above that I sometimes reflect on the lyrics of great songs! So…if you are ever looking for inspiration, you can do what I do… turn to a good rock band (preferably from the 80’s!) , and in my case, a good Canadian rock band, haha! Trooper released a song in 1978 called “Raise a Little Hell” and in it, the lyrics read:
If you don't like
What you got
Why don't you change it
If your world is all screwed up
Rearrange it
If you don't like what you see
Why don't you fight it
If you know there's something wrong
Why don't you right it
Well, if it was that simple, we would all have done it already…on our own!
It is not always simple, but together, we can work towards what you most want for your health. AND, we can take small steps towards eating more mindfully… that will make it fun and easy! As a health coach, I have a great system and offer loving support for you, as you get curious about your health. Then together, we can step into different action than you might have been taking in the past in order to have a different outcome than you might have had in the past. It is completely possible for you to feel, have and be what is most precious to you - in love with yourself and feeling great at the same time!