Mind Over Munching: Weight-loss Through Mindfulness

Why are you overweight? Why can't you lose weight? It comes down to two things: eating too much and eating the wrong food-and most likely eating too much of the wrong food. So, why do we eat too much, and why do we eat the wrong food, when we know with absolute certainty this will lead to ill health and disease?

Ideally, you only eat when the body tells you you're hungry. If we did only this, we'd be the perfect weight, and we wouldn't be worried about weight-loss at all. However, frustration, sadness, irritation, boredom, anxiety, anger and insecurity are all additionalif somewhat hiddenspurs to snacking. Normally we are completely unaware of these hidden feelings, and just head for the fridge. 'Mindful eating' can really help us to lose weight. Mindful eating is the practice of paying attention to your urges, feelings and thoughts, and to the food's appearance and taste, from moment to moment, can help foster an awareness of when and why these emotions arise, thereby sapping them of their power to control our lives according to Jan Chozen Bays, MD, in the book 'Mindful Eating'.

These eating patterns are deeply rooted habits-a completely automatic behavior, almost like breathing. And they are comfortable. We know them and we like them-even if they cause harm. Think about it: what is a diet, but an attempt to lose weight by replacing a lifetime of deeply ingrained bad habits with a new set of healthy habits. Therefore, trying to change these patterns is quite difficult, and stress inducing, because the mind and body will continue to want to act as they always have. Ever notice how grumpy you get when you start a diet? Ever notice how smokers get when they're trying to quite? It is really not much different than trying to break a wild-horse or ride a bull. The horse will resist and resist and cause you a lot of anxiety before it can be broken. Our eating habits are wild horses that need to be broken. If we approach our normal eating habits in this way, then we have a chance to break them as well.

Try this simple mindful eating exercise to get your weight-loss kick-started: take a raisin, or a cherry, or some small bite-sized piece of fruit. Look at it. Just look at it. Notice its color, its texture. You might even mentally say to yourself, 'Brown' or 'Red' or 'crinkly', etc. You can use this mental noting for every step. Notice what you're thinking. (You may well be thinking this is dumb, but that's ok! Just note to yourself, 'Thinking it's dumb') Notice what you're feeling and especially try and notice any urges you might have, whatever that might be, whether it's to give up, to rush the food into your mouth, etc.

Lift the food up to your mouth. Be aware of your hand moving. Notice the food entering your mouth. Don't chew yet! See how the food feels on your lips and tongue. Do you taste it yet, even though you haven't chewed? Notice that. Notice if you're in a hurry. Be aware of any saliva building up in your mouth.

Now begin to chew. Notice how you chew. Do you favor one side? Keep noticing. It is especially critical to keep paying attention here. Notice the urge to swallow. Do you feel like you 'have' to swallow at a certain point in time, or after a certain number of chews? Try and chew the food until it is completely disintegrated, until it's just a watery mush. Notice your thoughts, your feelings. How do you feel? Does it taste good? Are you aware that it tastes good? Did the feeling of it tasting good continue throughout, or did it stop at some point? Do you feel satisfied? Do you want more? There are no right or wrong answers. And it's ok, and expected, that you'll lose your attention and forget. Just come back to the awareness. This is the basis for the entire process and can be done for the whole meal, with whatever you are eating.

This is just one part of mindful eating, the very first step towards permanent weight-loss. I urge you to give it a try, as it can be the basis for a profound change in eating habits. Once you start to become aware of these eating patterns, then you can start to let go of them and replace them with new, healthier patterns. Even just doing this exercise once a day, at one meal, for five minutes, often results in a little bit of weight-loss-because people tend to feel satisfied before eating too much. Give it a try, and feel free to ask me any questions about the next stage, which starts to involve noticing more of they whys when it comes to eating.

Go get 'em!

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