Why it’s time to focus on enjoying your food again.

feel in control of eating

Why it’s time to focus on enjoying your food again.

I see over and over again, clients stuck in this fast-feast-fast cycle. They think they need to be depriving or punishing themselves in some way in order to lose weight or eat better. But they restrict themselves too much, can’t stick to it then bounce to the other extreme of overeating. They end up feeling like their eating is out of control.

Food and eating becomes a massive stress that takes over. Of course you can’t get away from eating, you need to do it every day. This is why ‘Mindful Eating’ is something I love teaching clients. It’s basically about really enjoying your food again, without any of that crappy guilt or self-hate.

Why wouldn’t you want to enjoy your food again?

REALLY enjoying your food can help you feel in control of your eating.

So what is mindful eating?

You might’ve come across mindfulness as a practice to help with mental health & emotional wellbeing. Mindfulness is about practicing being 100% present, as much as possible in your life. Being aware of what you’re doing, what’s going on around you and your feelings.

Mindful eating is simply applying that mindfulness to your eating.

It’s about being aware of what’s going on around you while you eat and how that can impact on how you eat. Mindful eating is also being aware of how you’re feeling both emotionally & physically, and how that can impact on your eating habits.

It’s also about learning why you eat, and observing your eating habits without judgement. Coz that self-judgement doesn’t help you does it?!

So how does this help if you’re struggling with your weight and eating habits?

Firstly, planning your meals in advance is a good starting point for eating more mindfully. By consciously planning what you’re going to eat, you’re more likely to eat a well balanced diet. That means you’re more likely to feel satisfied by your meals, then less likely to snack or pick between meals.

Grab my Anti-dieting Meal Planner to download for free here to help you enjoy well balanced meals.

Eating mindfully involves listening to your body’s hunger cues and following your appetite. This means knowing when you’re truly hungry rather than having a craving or just ‘feeling like eating’. When you listen to your body and try to eat when you’re actually hungry, you’re less likely to end up eating more than you need. Food is also more enjoyable when you’re actually physically hungry, rather than ‘just peckish’ or bored.

Eating mindfully is also about being aware of your surroundings when you eat; getting rid of distractions so you can pay attention to your food. By engaging your senses and giving food your whole attention, the whole eating experience becomes more enjoyable. Noticing what you’re eating has an impact on your appetite, in that you’ll feel satisfied by food sooner, compared to when you eat mindlessly. Think about how many snacks you can eat at the cinema – it’s pretty easy to eat loads isn’t it?! Whereas if you sit up to a table to eat a proper meal, you’re more likely to feel satisfied and stop eating when you’ve had enough.

feel in control of eating
You really are good no matter what you eat… unless you’re actually not a very nice person!

One of the best things about eating more mindfully is ditching that self-judgement about food to feel in control of your eating.

Rather than looking at food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, you ditch those unhelpful labels. Give yourself permission to not only eat, but enjoy those delicious treats like cake, puddings and chocolate, without beating yourself up. Take your time over the food you love; savour the flavours, smells and textures. Then let go of the guilt that you’ve ‘failed at your diet’ or been ‘naughty’ for eating food you’ve previously banned. You’re much more likely to be able to have a little of what you fancy this way. Whereas telling yourself you’ve ‘blown it’ leaves you feeling shitty. Then you’re more likely to keep eating more of the sweets until you feel sick and hate yourself.

It takes practice, but eating more mindfully can help you reduce the binges and feel in control of your eating. Mindful eating can also help you reduce overeating so that you feel in control of your weight too. One of my clients found that eating slower at meal times helped her eat about a quarter less than she would normally. She knew her portions were way too big and this really helped her change without too much effort.

What one thing could you do to eat more mindfully? Try it and see if it helps you feel more in control of your eating.

Need help to ditch dieting forever?

Want to eat normally again AND lose weight healthily? While still enjoying the cake & chocolate? Hell yes!

I will help you ditch dieting forever, either with my 1-2-1 support. Or if you prefer to work independently, you will learn all the skills I teach my 1-2-1 clients, on my ‘No More Diets’ online course.

My Weekly Round-up! AKA; what I’ve been up to recently…

  • Tea of the week has been the infamous second coffee (I normally only have one!) – I’ve completely gone off tea!!! Hopefully just temporary and don’t worry it’s not covid…
  • It was Mother’s Day on Sunday so we went to one of our favourite cafes, The Green Wood Cafe. Love their ‘Notdogs’ and I really enjoyed one of their blueberry Bakewell slices.
  • I’ve kept up my little exercise routine, only managed three times again this week, but at least I’m consistent!
  • This week I finished Violet Fenn‘s book ‘A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture’. It’s a bit of fun if you like vampires and all things gothic, go check it out. That brings me up to 6 new books read so far this year. In case you missed it, I set myself a challenge to read 22 new books in 2022!
  • Well I almost missed it, but the second season of ‘Bridgerton’ came out last week. Luckily someone mentioned it on social media so I treated myself to watching almost the whole season on Mother’s Day. Then I watched the last 2 episodes on Monday night – loved it!
  • Bird Nerd Report: Sadly no foxes or kingfishers this week. However I saw a few tree creepers and also a sparrowhawk was in a branch just a few metres above my head! Plus I was really happy to see a few blackcaps too as I’m sure I didn’t see any last year. One of them was singing it’s little heart out right near me – gorgeous!

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