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Feature Articles: Eating Well
Tips for Eating WellLinda Rellergert, Nutrition Specialist in St.
Charles County
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Avoid getting too hungry. If you get too hungry, it’s
almost impossible to eat with discrimination. Skipping meals
and/or snacks is a set up to binge or overeat when you do eat.
Try to tune in to hunger and eat shortly after noticing hunger.
The 1-10 scale of hunger and fullness is a good parameter to
help you identify at which point you acknowledge hunger and eat,
and when you notice fullness and stop eating.
Eat purposefully by minimizing haphazard eating. The
best way to eat deliberately is to make an effort to eat. Food
that is left around the house to nibble on when walking by is a
set up for indiscriminate eating. Usually this type of eating
takes place on a different level of consciousness. We know we’re
nibbling but it “doesn’t really count.” It’s like we’re not
really eating since it’s just a few of the candies at a time.
Keeping the food around can also make you obsessed about eating
it or overly focused on staying away from it. Either way, the
food will become the source of obsession and will become a
negative experience.
Give yourself permission to eat. This allows you the
opportunity to truly eat rather than sneak or feel bad about
eating. When you feel bad you can’t stay in the present—you’re
too consumed with negative self-talk about the eating rather
than tasting or enjoying the food.
Provide enough of the food you really want. If you cut
back on the foods you really want it will be like depriving
yourself. This in turn will set you up to overeat for fear you
won’t get the food again. Be sure to keep plenty of good food
around and plenty of variety. Variety provides options when
you’re not quite sure what you want to eat.
Eat nutritiously with variety, balance and moderation.
Eating a variety of foods is one of the most important things
you can do to ensure you are getting all the nutrients your body
needs to stay healthy. Balancing food choices over a period of
several days also ensures your body gets what is needed for
optimum health, and that you will feel fed. Moderation means
eating various amounts of food without going to extremes of
either too little or too much.
Slow down while eating. Eating a little slower will
help you taste and enjoy the food you eat. The “20 minute rule”
of behavior modification helps your body get the signal of
satisfaction once you’ve eaten enough to satisfy you
physiologically. It allows time for your body to feel satisfied
before you eat to the point of being stuffed.
Be aware of emotional eating. When eating for
emotional reasons, it’s much harder to eat in the present. Tune
into feelings and hunger and make a conscious decision to eat or
not to eat in response to emotional issues. Remember, when
eating to calm or soothe, eat with the full intention of
nurturing with food.
Get regular physical activity. Regular physical
movement, whether walking, stretching or swinging on a swing,
helps you connect with your body. Physical movement improves
your sense of emotional as well as physical well being. Try to
throw away all judgments about the right way to exercise, and
just move in any way that is comfortable. The goal is to move
regularly in a way that feels positive. That may mean just 5
minutes a day for a month. Once 5 minutes is comfortable and
becomes routine, the time will naturally become longer as your
body and mind connects with the positive energy that results
from regular movement.
Remember, any food you want to eat should be kept at home
with plenty of it available. It’s not recommended to keep it out
to pick up and eat as you walk by. Keep the foods in the
appropriate pantry and make a conscious decision to eat whatever
it is you want. The goal is to keep your desired food in the
pantry or an appropriate location so that a decision making
process takes place when you eat it.
The simple act of opening a cabinet and choosing what it is
you want to eat makes your eating more conscious. The decision
making process that takes place helps you eat in the present.
This process is much more difficult to accomplish on a regular
basis when food is out and available. The goal is to reduce
haphazard eating by eating in a specific place instead of around
the house.
When you eat with full intent and stay conscious for the duration of the eating, you are less likely to continue to think about food until you notice hunger again. You want to feel fed physically as well as psychologically. Eating the foods you want when you’re hungry, eating with full permission and consciously helps you to feel fed physically and psychologically.
When you deprive yourself of food you really like, you may be fed physically but are left emotionally unsatisfied. This leads to non-hunger eating. To help reduce non-hunger eating, the goal is to satisfy your physical hunger and psychological (appetite) hunger.
Last update: Tuesday, May 05, 2009
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