Mindful Eating
With all the processed and refined foods, we have lost touch with our bodies and the innate ability to determine what we need to eat and when we need to eat it. Our eating habits have been passed down in the family as rituals for celebration, for grieving, as rewards for good behavior, and as comfort foods triggered by stress, depression, loneliness or boredom.
Mindful Eating is a program that was developed after years of listening to clients as they tried numerous diets, lost weight, and eventually regained every pound, if not more. Diets rarely work for the long term. It is the choices that you make on a daily basis that determine your level of health and well-being.
How to cultivate a mindful approach to eating. • Make peace with your food. Abstinence and deprivation during ‘dieting’ sets up a starvation mode and actually stresses the body, both physically and emotionally. Understand that food is not the enemy. Perfection is sought after on every level in our society with importance placed on the physical body. It is unrealistic to expect to be perfect and that’s where many of the problems begin. Perfection is an illusion.
• Learn to identify hunger. Is your stomach growling because you are hungry or are you eating because you are bored, angry, depressed or frustrated? Are you thirsty, rather than hungry? Is your body still hungry for the nutrients that are lacking in your diet?
• Start a food journal. Begin to record everything you eat for one week. Keep track of when and where you eat, what you eat and the amount, and your thoughts before and after eating. Notice what foods you crave and when you crave them. Notice your energy level before and after eating.
• Make the decision to consciously notice your food. Begin to appreciate each bite for the enjoyment and nourishment that it gives your body. Notice the color, the texture, the smell, and the taste.
• Change one habit each week. Start by reducing your consumption of coffee, soda or tea and replacing it with water, gradually building up to the suggested eight 8-ounce glasses per day. Our bodies are made up of 65-70% water, so we need water for transport of nutrients, elimination of wastes and toxins, and maintaining normal body temperature.
• Chew your food slowly. This gives your body a chance to register fullness. It is essential for the process of digestion and ultimately, the process of assimilation. You are more than what you eat, you are what you assimilate.
• All food contains life-force energy. Learn how to cleanse, replenish and revitalize the body by choosing living foods that possess higher life-force energy than cooked or processed foods. Living foods contain all the essential nutrients that the body requires to function properly. Avoid food that contain preservatives, artificial colors, caffeine, sugar, white flour, and other additives that are toxic to the body.
• Listen to your body. Follow the wisdom inherent in your own body to choose the foods that are correct and good for you. Eat when you are naturally hungry and eat the foods that intuitively feel right for you. Enjoy eating and remember the true role of food is to nourish the body as well as the soul.
Dietary and life-style habits are examined and individual nutritional programs are designed in conjunction with hypnotherapy to effectively modify eating habits.
Inner Balance
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