Plan your food ahead
Firstly, make a plan and prep your meals. These days we
are living in a high-speed, grab-and-go society, where you’re running around
and just grab anything to eat along the way. This is where we start to make
unhealthier choices as they are often the easiest choice. However, having no focus
on how and what you eat leads to unhealthy habits. If you plan and prep your
meals, they will be ready to go when you are. This will help you eat healthier.
When to eat
You need to stop and think about what you are eating, and
also when you are eating. Are you actually hungry or not? Also, recognising if
you are full or not is important. Don’t keep eating just because it is there.
Once you are half full stop eating. Healthy eating is half food, quarter liquid
and the rest air for digestion. Keep your portions smaller to stop overeating.
We also need to try and slow eating down and focus on chewing properly. If you
rush through your meals, it will make you feel less satiated. When you rush and
have no focus your body is consuming the food with your sympathetic nervous
system switched on. This makes it more likely for your body to store most of it
as fat and it creates the potential for indigestion. Your stress hormones raise
your blood sugar making it likely that you will want to eat a sugary snack
later on.
Eating mindfully
Eating mindfully is one way to help you with good eating
habits. Eating mindfully is when you engage all your senses and pay attention
to your food. This attention needs to start not just when you start eating but through
the whole process. Start from buying the food to preparing and then your eating.
It will help you recognise triggers for being hungry for both emotional and
physical hunger. This means you can then curb your eating and only eat when you
are actually physically hungry.
Shopping mindfully
Shopping mindfully happens easier when you write a
shopping list to help you avoid buying things you don’t need. You need to identify
and acknowledge your cravings when shopping. Make a conscious decision not to
buy the foods you simply crave as usually these are not very nutritious.
Eating mindfully
Sit at a table or away from your desk at work and stop
doing what you were doing beforehand. Don’t eat on the run. Clear a space, free
of mess, and lay down some cutlery. Make time to eat and enjoy it. It’s best if
you’re relaxed before you eat. This is so that your body can shift your nervous
system and allow it to work better. This will help your body extract maximum
nutrition from your meal. Posture is also important, so sit up tall as bad
posture can send stress signals to your nervous system.
You also need to remove all distractions. Put down the phone,
and turn off the TV. Be fully present while eating, and focus on enjoying the
food. Eat slowly and savour your meal. This will help you maintain a healthy
digestive system. Chew your food until it loses all texture before you swallow
it and let your mouth rest before taking another bite. You need to listen to your
body and know when to stop eating.
How to take action now
If you need help to get started with changing your eating
habits, need to lose weight or have allergies, sensitivities, inflammation or other
issues eating certain foods check out our website at www.stressfreehealthmanagement.com
as we can set you on the right track. Our trained naturopaths, hypnotherapists,
nutritionists and sensitivity testers can help with inflammation tests, menus, hypnotherapy
for weight loss and to manage your allergies and much more. Call or message
now.
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