Lately I’ve been trying to soak up and learn as much as possible about Mindfulness. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with Mindfulness, I like to think of it as a way of living where you’re intentionally aware of your thoughts and actions in each and every moment. Practicing mindfulness can improve so many different aspects of your life. Often times mindfulness is associated with meditation, but it can also be applied to eating. When it is applied to eating, I think you’ll find that your attitude towards food will change, and with that change in attitude will come a healthier life and perhaps even weight loss too.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can be mindful while you’re eating:

• Be Thankful - Start each meal by being thankful.  Think about where it is that your food comes from, and the nourishment that it offers you, and be thankful for that.
• Create the environment - Choose to free yourself of rules and unrealistic expectations and be flexible - allow yourself to eat new foods.
• Five Senses - Eat with the five senses. Look at your food, taste it, touch it and feel for texture, smell the aroma, and listen - is there are crunch when you eat it?
• Have control - You have the power to take control over your eating by being mindful about the portion and choices of food that you eat.
• Look beyond a craving - Be mindful of your cravings and whether they mean that you’re really hungry, or that you’re just bored or stressed.

I absolutely love the practice of mindfulness, especially when it comes to eating. It’s so easy to eat while on the go, or eat in front of the TV and not pay attention to what it is and how much food is going into our mouths. These types of unhealthy habits could lead to problems of being overweight and eventually obesity. Another important part of eating mindfully is to slow down so that you’ll have the opportunity to realize when you’re full and stop eating before you overeat.

By practicing mindful eating, I think you’ll find that you form a healthy relationship with food which is key to losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Additional Reading:
• Three Tools to Help You Lose Weight
• How to Keep Your Diet on Track
• Weight Loss Myths and Facts
• Is Your Weight-Loss Goal Realistic?
• Results of Getting Paid to Lose Weight

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