Happy Monday!
We are about to finish up the awesome four week session on the Food Essential. It has been a very informative journey with loads of new information! I hope each member of our group has gone away with a better perspective and feels more motivated than ever.
One thing that I have to be particularly aware of is the distracted eating. If I am rushed or in the middle of something, I have a bad habit of eating on the run. That leaves no room for actually enjoying your food, much less keeping track of what and how much you are eating!
On the flip side, if you plate your meal that has been planned out, then sit and enjoy eating it, you are much less likely to overeat or eat the junk that seems to travel in your hand so well.
I am not a fan of “diets.” It is rare that they are a lifetime plan and usually leave you feeling derived and guilty for feeling deprived! Instead, look to a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle change.
Enjoy all the rainbow colors of vegetables, both raw and cooked. Just watch what you put on the cooked ones.
Add in good, healthy protein, which will provide energy and satisfaction. This can be in the form of fish, chicken, the healthiest lean beef, and even pork, that you can afford. Don’t forget meatless proteins like beans and tofu.
Healthy fats are critical in a good eating plan! I am talking about avocados, olives, unsweetened coconut, olive, avocado and coconut oil.
Whole grains can add variety, texture and satisfaction to any meal.
Fruit is not only pretty to look at, but delicious and healthy too. Take note that certain fruits are higher in sugar and calories. ( Ex.: grapes, pineapple, certain melons and bananas ☹) They should be eaten in moderation.
Lastly, many people, me included, are very sensitive to certain foods. They increase inflammation, cause headaches and allergic reactions. One reaction can be that it keeps you from losing weight! A 30 day elimination diet might prove to be very informative.
With all these things considered, it is possible to eat a delicious, satisfying and nutritious variety of foods. Foods that please you and improve you! Bon appetit!
Pray Unceasingly!!
In His light,
Lois
7 Ways to Eat More Mindfully
Heidi Wachter – Source: Experience Life
Strategies for learning how to eat with awareness.
Each of us makes more than 200 daily decisions about eating — most of them unconsciously, according to behavior scientist Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating and Slim By Design. Clueing in to these decisions can help make them work for you rather than against you. Increase your mindfulness factor with these strategies:
1. Snack wisely before shopping.
Grab an apple or some veggies before grocery shopping. Wansink found that
healthy noshing primes you to buy healthy:
Study participants bought 25 percent more fruits and vegetables than those who didn’t eat such a snack beforehand.
2. Don’t supersize it.
Keep smaller dishes — like appetizer plates and juice glasses — front and
center in your cupboard. Researchers discovered that diners at a Chinese buffet
piled 52 percent more food onto large plates and ate 45 percent more than those
who used smaller ones.
3. Make healthy food visible.
Wansink’s research found that people who wrapped healthy leftovers in plastic
wrap were more likely to see them and eat them than those who used foil. On the
flip side, people ate 2.2 more pieces of candy a day out of a clear bowl than
an opaque one.
4. Keep a clean kitchen.
In a Cornell study, people ate 44 percent more snacks in a cluttered kitchen
than they did in a clean one. “If your environment is out of control, you
may feel that you don’t need to be in control of your eating either,” says
Wansink.
5. Put food away.
Researchers discovered that women who kept a box of cereal on the counter
weighed 20 pounds more, on average, than those who put it in the cupboard.
Keeping food out
of immediate sight and reach helps reduce temptation triggers.
6. Plate it up.
Even if you just want a snack, put it on a plate: Plating food increases your
awareness of portion size. “Dishing out a ration makes you see exactly how
much you are eating,” Wansink explains.
7. Minimize distraction.
People who dine while watching TV, reading, or working have a harder time
keeping track of what they consume — and routinely eat more.
Distracted eating is a problem for two reasons: “First, you don’t pay attention to whether you’ve had 14 or 40 potato chips,” Wansink says. “Secondly, you often won’t stop eating until the end of the show, regardless of whether you’re full or not.”
Such eating patterns become mutually reinforcing, meaning it becomes hard to watch TV without eating, he explains.
Heidi Wachter is the staff writer at Experience Life.