This holiday season we present to you ways in which to practice mindfulness while eating, as we all know, holiday season = lots and lots of eating! Along with all the fun and excitement that comes with the holiday season, so does stress and increased stress levels can sometimes lead to more eating, oftentimes unhealthy eating. According to the Center for Mindful Eating, the principles of Mindful Eating include: "Our relationship to food is a central one that reflects our attitudes toward our environment and ourselves. As a practice, mindful eating can bring us awareness of our own actions, thoughts, feelings and motivations, and insight into the roots of health and contentment." With the following tools you can utilize mindfulness techniques while eating!
Mindfulness eating engages all the senses: looking, smelling, tasting, touching and yes, even listening to our food.
With each bite notice: the way it looks, how it smells, the texture of the food, and finally the taste - go beyond and see how you are feeling with each bite and what you feel as you swallow your food, listen to your body slowly working for your nourishment. You may even hear the texture of your food.
Eat slowly and savor the food, pay attention to it: enjoy each bite, put your fork/spoon down in between bites, take a drink between the bites. Giving your body time to communicate with your brain when you feel full.
And finally, control your portions and eat when you are hungry. If you listen to your body, your needs will be communicated, the idea of mindfulness is to be present in the moment and aware.
We
leave you with a couple of activities you can do in your home (or when
visiting friends and family this holiday season), these activities can
be done at anytime:
Below are some resources for further reading:
http://www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/
http://www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/
A very Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year from us to you!
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