In the rush of the holiday season, it is easy to get caught up in social activities with the swoon of party food, treats, and candy. While sticking to your normal healthy eating routine might seem like a huge challenge, simply implementing mindfulness techniques can go far in managing this stressful, but food-filled time of year. In fact, the simple act of eating more mindfully is a powerful tool in your arsenal to stay fit and trim. For instance, did you now that the number of times you chew your food can affect your blood sugar levels, and ultimately your waistline? It has been shown that fast eaters weigh more, and have higher blood sugar and insulin levels than slow eaters. Eating mindfully also helps prepare the digestive tract to digest food properly, allowing for the release of digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and activating gut hormones. Here are some tips on ways to bring more mindfulness to your eating. Remember, mindfulness is a powerful tool that will help you enjoy your food, but not too much.
Sit with your food. Okay, maybe easier said than done when in party situations. But if at all possible, sit to eat. It allows your body to relax, and digestion to start.
Eat without distraction. Again, another tough one, but essential to proper digestion. You will feel full sooner, with a smaller amount of food when you give your eating the attention it deserves. Do not eat in front of the TV or computer, or while standing in the kitchen or talking on the phone. When you do these things, you are more likely to lose track of how much you have eaten, and overeat.
Choose your treats, don’t let your treats choose you. If you are at a party, and there is food galore, choose the most tempting thing for you, but have a small serving and really savor it. Remember, the first taste is always the best!
Slow your eating down, and chew your food. Put your fork down while chewing. Count your chews. The optimal number is somewhere around 40 chews, depending on the type of food. The digestion process starts in your mouth, and prepares the rest of the digestive system to get ready for the next steps of digestion.
Be mindful of your hunger and fullness. Give your hunger or fullness a number between 0 – 10. Zero is super hungry, and ten is stuffed. What number do you give your hunger before you eat? What number do you give your fullness after you eat? At what point in the meal do you feel comfortable (not hungry or full)? At what point to you feel full? Tuning into our fullness is something that is easy to forget in social situations, or when the food is “too good to be true”. Think about small children, they have an innate sense of when they are full, and will say “no more”. As adults, we lose touch with this innate sense. But it is there, you just have to recapture it through practice.
Write it down. Keeping a food journal of everything you eat and drink is an easy, actionable step you can take to bring awareness to what you eat, how much you eat, and why you are eating. Studies confirm that those who use a food journal are more successful at losing weight than those who don’t.
I hope you find these mindfulness tips helpful during the rush of the Holiday season. I wish you some extra time on your plate, so you might just rest, relax, breathe, and digest!
