E
very summer, Dr. Susan Albers, a clinical psychologist and author of five books
on mindful eating gears people up to train for a marathon. No, it’s not the NYC
marathon. Instead, it is what she calls a Mindful Eating Marathon—26 days of
mindful eating. In her philosophy, healthy eating is a marathon not a sprint. If
you’ve engaged in dieting, you know what she means. Dieters get motivated for a day a
two, restrict what they eat and then get tired and stop.
Mindful eating is not a diet. There are no menus or recipes. It’s about changing the way
you eat instead of what you eat for the long run. We all have mindless eating habits.
Whether it is sitting on the couch mindlessly popping potato chips into your mouth or eating
at noon whether you are hungry or not. In Dr. Susan Albers’ opinion, “we become very
disconnected from ourselves and our bodies. Many of my clients have no idea when they
are genuinely hungry and when they are full. This approach teaches them to be in tune
with their bodies and enjoy food again and stop emotional eating.”
If you want to try a mindful eating marathon, here are tips--try one each day
and master it. It may just be your first steps toward managing your weight,
eating better, stop stress eating and living more mindfully.
1) Take mindful bites.
Eat like a gourmet. Smell,
touch and savor each
bite. We often are
thinking about the next
bite before really finishing
the one that we have.
Enjoy this bite one before
moving onto the next.
4) Don’t multitask while
you eat. You lose touch
with how much you are
eating. When you eat,
just eat—let that be your
motto. Put down your
book. Push away your
computer keyboard.
Focus on just driving.
7) Eat foods with
fiber to help regulate
your blood sugar levels.
Whole wheat foods 7V6