behaviors

Nutrition: Mindful Eating

7 Day Mindful Eating Challenge

Day:

1. Honor the food

· As you eat, contemplate where the food you're enjoying originated as well as who and what brought it to you: the sun, the rain, farmers, drivers, grocery store clerks. You may begin to feel deep gratitude.

2. Engage all your senses

· Notice the beauty of your food. Breathe in its aroma. Explore with touch and texture. Notice the sounds your food makes -- when you're preparing it... when you're eating it... Consider what's in your mind when you look at your food.

3. Be mindful of portion sizes

· Do not take too much. Start with a modest amount, choosing a dinner plate that's no larger than nine inches. Research shows the larger the plate, the more we eat.

4. Chew

· Chew thoroughly to enjoy. Taste comes from having our food in the mouth cavity -- the space that surrounds our tongue. Once we swallow it, we no longer taste it.

5. Eat slowly

· This allows us to enjoy the food and taste it better, and we eat less as a result.

· Set your food item or fork down between each bite, only picking it up when you have swallowed the previous bite.

6. Don't skip meals

· You eat much more in one sitting than you would have in multiple meals, spread throughout the day. Make sure to have an energy-sustaining breakfast with whole grains and healthy proteins such as yogurt, nuts, beans or an egg and whole fruits.

7. Eat a plant-based diet

· Research shows that eating red meat increases our risk of heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer. A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health also found that red and processed meats may contribute to weight gain.

Reflection questions:

1. Were any of these tasks difficult to perform? Why or why not?

2. Was anything surprising? (How fast you eat, portion size, how many meals you skip, etc.)

3. How might this information be beneficial?

Source: Cheung, L. (2012, September 25). 7 Steps to Healthy Weight Loss, Without Dieting. Retrieved January 11, 2013 from Huffingtonpost Healthy Living blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lilian-cheung-dsc-rd/mindful-eating_b_1895147.html