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EATING UNPLUGGED / INTUITIVE EATING

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Let’s face it, most of us eat our meals rushed, distracted, and in front of a screen. This is modern life, and yet it affects our entire relationship with food significantly. Imagine most of your meals at home: Where are you? What is going on around you? How does it feel to eat this way?

SLOWING DOWN

Why Slowing Down with Food is Essential for Your Health:

  • Eating in the “Fight-Flight-or Freeze” Stress Response diminishes metabolism.
  • Cortisol and insulin tell the body to store fat.
  • When you don’t achieve satisfaction it continues to register in the brain as hunger.

BREATHWORK FOR MEALS

What to do? 4-7-8 Breath. Inhale for a count of 4; hold the breath for a count of 7; exhale for a count of 8. Repeat 3 more times before you eat and you immediately activate your Relaxation Response.

H.A.L.T

Ask yourself, Do I want to eat because I am . . .?

H - Hungry (hunger and fullness scale)

A - Angry

L - Lonely

T - Tired

MINDFUL EATING

Understanding:

Why is this so hard? For many reasons. Your conditioning and habits play a huge role. If you were raised to clean your plate and spent decades on a diet, you’re rewiring your brain and this takes lots of practice just like building muscles. This is a muscle of mindfulness.

Mindful Eating is less judgment with Food: Eating has become all about Good-Bad, Right-Wrong and this tendency can lead to emotional eating, bingeing and endless shame.

 

Techniques:

  • Be curious: HALT
  • Sit down and give gratitude
  • Turn off all screens
  • Serve out your portions
  • Pick the smaller plate
  • Give gratitude
  • Chew slowly
  • Put down your utensil
  • Resign from the Clean Your Plate Club
  • Silence

Questions:

Questions to Mindfully Ask Yourself with curiosity and kindness when eating;

  • How do you feel right now? (HALT)
  • What is going on for your right now?
  • How hungry are you right now? (Use scale)
  • Begin to understand the difference between Mind Hunger and Belly Hunger.
  • How do certain foods make you feel?
  • How do you feel after you ate that?
  • How comfortable are you with setting boundaries with food-shamers and diet-crusaders, food pushers?
  • Can you maintain neutrality around food?
  • What are other ways you can soothe and comfort yourself that don’t involve food?
  • What would it be like to not judge yourself harshly with food yet maintain compassion and forgiveness?

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