Practicing Mindfulness through Food (Holiday Edition)

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: 

1) Mindfulness Eating Exercise

2) Mindfulness Eating with children (this activity can be used with adults also)

Below are some resources for further reading:
http://www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/

American Heart Association Food Diary 

Mindful Eating: 5 Easy Tips to Get Started

A very Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year from us to you! 

I. Statements.

Communication with another person is simply an exchange of information, however, the nuances that go along with how that information is communicated is where most of us can get stumped, especially when it comes to communicating with loved ones- where most of our conversations are very much laced with a plethora of emotions, feelings and beliefs. The following are some ways to improve communication skills that can lead to healthier relationships.

Make the Time

Those in healthy relationships make the time to check in with each other, not only are respectful in their communication but also make sure that it takes place in the first place. No matter how busy our schedules get, we can always make the time to talk to our loved ones, even if requires getting scheduled into our long days.

I. Statements vs. Open Ended Questions
We have been taught from early on to utilize "I" statements when attempting to convey our thoughts clearly to another person, this is fantastic advise, and really gets our feelings out. It also aids in our communication being assertive in what we desire from the conversation. It is also great practice in assertiveness in general. In addition, however, we should also utilize open ended questions, such as..."how do you feel...?" "..tell me more." etc. to really understand and hear the person on the other end.

Listen Effectively not just Hear

Listening. Hearing. Two different things. We hear all the sounds and words when someone is speaking with us but are we actually listening? Listening effectively requires attention and patience (why can be very difficult to attain if the conversation is emotionally charged) and with both of these in sync, you can provide the person you are communicating with the space they may need to express themselves, which will lead to a better understanding of the issue at hand by you. This is also when some mindfulness skills can be really helpful.

Mutual Respect & Trust

Everything boils down to trust. Do you trust the person you are communicating with? Do you trust them enough to "hear them out" and listen to their entire side? Once the trust has been established, the remainder of the communication should fall into place, as long as the two people respect and care for one another.With respect, the care will follow and the communication will effectively take place. With respect, even if two people disagree on the topic at hand, there shouldn't be any long lasting hard feelings. With respect for oneself and for each other, the love and care will stay intact. 

For more reading on this topic: http://www.loveisrespect.org/healthy-relationships/
http://www.loveisrespect.org/healthy-relationships/communicate-better/
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/effective-communication.htm
http://www.wfm.noaa.gov/workplace/EffectivePresentation_Handout_1.pdf
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/healthy-relationships.aspx
https://trainingmag.com/content/8-tips-developing-positive-relationships
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/04/14/9-steps-to-better-communication-today/