After reading many books and learning a lot about myself during this past year, I have come to find that really being thoughtful and caring in what I eat has really helped me through struggles. While reading The Blue Zones (I finished and will be posting the helpful hints of longevity soon...), I came to find that part of each area's lifestyle included a form of self-moderation through all aspects of life, including eating. More detail about that to come...
Reading this book has inspired me to come up with a little routine of my own. I personally feel that self-reflection can hone you in to a deeper level so you can truly connect with yourself. This is especially important in eating. Why should we feed ourselves if it is our mind talking and not our stomach? By becoming centered/mindful before eating a meal, you will be allowing your body to be heard; letting your mind calm so you can decide if you are truly hungry or just bored/tired/aggravated/stressed/excited/all the other reasons we may eat when we are not truly hungry.
Before eating, I will ask myself:
How will this meal affect my health?
Through my answer, I will be able to gauge whether or not that specific food is what I should be eating. If I am not confident that it will help keep me healthy, do I really want to put it in my body?
I wrote the beginning of this post last week and after reading it again, I realized that I have been doing a really good job at this task. Without even knowing it, or even being super-conscious about it, I have been putting deep thoughts into my food and random snacking has been greatly reduced. For me, personally, I have a harder time being mindful in my eating when I am home all day or late at night (after a night class or something along those lines). That being said, I am so thankful for my schedule! But, I have noticed that within this past week, I have been finding other things to do besides eating and have felt very accomplished at the end of the day.
Some of the things I do to distract thoughts of food:
-sip very flavorful tea (maybe even with some stevia if a sweet tooth is calling)
-sip kombucha (always calms my sugar cravings)
-do a couple yoga vinyasas
-move around to get the blood flowing better
These are just a few of the many ways to stave cravings, what are some of your ways?
Luana ola!
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