Issue 8: Holiday Eating
With the holidays comes a lot of excitement, energy, impulsivity and the familiar struggles in our relationship to food. I would like to offer you some mindful eating tips to make your holidays more joyful!
1. When you walk into a holiday party or dinner, allow yourself to settle down. Notice the energy in your body and let it settle down by taking a breath or two, say hello to someone, have a drink of water etc. Let some time go by before you make a food related decision. There is no rush to eat something.
2. How are your thoughts directing you? Are they suggesting you eat ravenously or are they focused and reasonable? If they direct to eat impulsively, wait! Settle down first.
3. Don’t snack and walk mindlessly, take food to the table. Be thoughtful about your food related decisions. Remember food is not everything.
4. Sit when you eat. This way you can enjoy the food more and not feel deprived and end up overeating.
5. Eat what you enjoy. Enjoy the food. Allowing yourself a treat is alright.
6. Check in with your genuine hunger cues as you eat. Try not to be driven by your thoughts, the sight of food, the impulse to over eat etc. Honor your body!
7. Eat slowly with a focus on the experience (the taste, the smell, the sight etc.). By doing so, you will feel more satisfied, and less inclined to overeat.
8. Try not to deprive yourself and be driven by the dos and don’ts.
9. And lastly, remember that the mind tends to have this narrow focus on food. The occasion is more than food. The occasion is the people, the music, the sights, the energy, the colors, the smells, etc. Snap out of the food focused tunnel vision. Sit for a moment and just look around. Try to enjoy taking it all in. Have a good time!
Newsletter tips:
• Mindful eating is not what you think, it is what you experience.
• When eating mindfully, we want to enjoy the eating experience with all the senses.
• Do not expect any results or changes as you eat mindfully.
• Gently focus on the experience of eating: The taste, smell, sight, temperature of the food, the texture etc.
• When you realize you are distracted by your thoughts, judgments, body sensations, feelings, time pressures etc., gently come back to the experience of eating.
This Newsletter quote:
Taking Care of the Future
The future is being made out of the present, so the best way to take care of the future is to take care of
the present moment. This is logical and clear. Spending a lot of time speculating and worrying about the
future is totally useless. We can only take care of our future by taking care of the present moment, because
the future is made out of only one substance: the present. Only if you are anchored in the present can you
prepare well of the future.
---Thich Nhat Hanh
Eat Mindfully, Breathe Mindfully & Enjoy Life!