Health assignment
ASSESS YOURSELF How Mindful and Healthy Are Your Eating Habits?
1 Why do I eat? What is driving my eating?
2 When do I feel like eating? When do I think about eating? When do I decide to eat?
3 What do I eat?
Keep a food diary for 5 days, writing down everything you eat and drink. Be sure to include the approximate amount or portion size. Add up the number of servings from each of the major food groups on each day, and enter them into the chart below.
Number of Servings:
4 How do I eat? How, specifically, do I get the food I’ve chosen into my body?
.
5 Evaluate Your Mindful Eating and Your Food Intake
First, take notes on your mindful eating patterns. Do you get up early enough to eat a nutritious breakfast? Do you eat in the car, in front of the television, or while reading your tablet? Do you eat slowly and savor your foods?
Now compare your consumption patterns to the MyPlate recommendations. Look at Table 10.1 (page 274 ) and Figure 10.5 (page 285 ) and visit www.choosemyplate.gov to evaluate your daily caloric needs and the recommended consumption rates for the different food groups. How does your diet match up?
Scoring
If you found that your food intake is consistent with the MyPlate recommendations, congratulations! If you are falling short in a major food group or are overdoing it in certain categories, consider taking steps to adopt healthier eating habits.