Overeating? Try these exercises.
As some of you know, I’ve been trying to be better about my food quality and quantity as of late. And, since I happened to be reviewing progress on my 2011 personal goals this morning, I thought I would share something I made up as a strategy for savoring my food more while eating less.
Try exercise #1, or exercise #2 — or both at the same time. For what it’s worth, I just did both of these with a Shrimp Fra Diavolo recipe (1c whole wheat pasta, 12 large shrimp, organic pasta sauce, and 1c broccoli).
Exercise #1: Focus on chewing your food.
- Sit down with a healthy meal, of the right portion sizes. Turn off any TVs, and leave any mobile devices or reading materials off the table. Do not drink while eating.
- Count as you chew your food. You don’t have to go to 100 with each bite (as some would say, because that could be gross). Count until it makes sense to swallow. (Counting can help prevent your mind from wandering.)
Notice:
- How easily you stop counting.
- How other things try to come into your mind.
- How quickly you want to swallow.
- How quickly you want to put more on your fork, or into your mouth (before you’re really ready).
- How you feel about yourself and your food while doing this exercise.
Exercise #2: Focus your *full* attention on your plate.
- Sit down with a healthy meal, of the right portion sizes. Turn off any TVs, and leave any mobile devices or reading materials off the table. Do not drink while eating.
- Look at your food before you take the first bite.
- Watch how you put food on your fork, or how you use your knife or spoon. Observe how the food moves on the plate as you interact with it. If you take a bite of something big (so half remains on your fork afterward), look at that too. Each time you find yourself looking away, bring your attention down to your plate again.
- When you are finished, sit and look at your empty plate for one full minute.
Notice:
- Just how much food there is on your plate when you start! (Although “right” portion sizes are often viewed as “small”, really looking at your food could make you realize otherwise.)
- How much you want to look around, at anything but your food. (For me it was at the cat, out the window, etc.)
- How difficult it is to sit still, and not immediately get up and try and do something else.
- How you feel about yourself and your food while doing this exercise.
One other observation: I find that I worry that I don’t usually have the time to do this (e.g. at work, in between meetings). But, what was interesting was that the whole thing took me almost exactly 15 minutes. How could you go wrong here? I feel content, and just full enough.
Please let me know if you’ve tried these exercises, or other ones that might be useful!
Happy (and mindful) eating,
Jen
Here are some other thoughts I had about this topic this morning:
Exercise #3: Use your subtler senses when eating.
1. Sit down with a healthy meal, of the right portion sizes. Turn off any TVs, and leave any mobile devices or reading materials off the table. Do not drink while eating.
2. Put some food into your mouth, then close your eyes as you chew.
attention down to your plate again.
3. Repeat step 2.
Notice:
Exercise #4: Apply a similar technique to drinking a beverage.
1. Take a sip of your beverage.
2. Visualize the nutrients flowing down your throat and through your body. (Assuming of course, that you’re drinking something relatively healthy!)
Notice: