What You Eat Today, Walks and Talks Tomorrow!!

I remember seeing this sign, many years ago on a school excursion where we had to complete a treasure map questionnaire as we travel around Sydney.
I believe it was an outside wall of a smallgoods manufacturer just near Redfern station, so all train passengers could easily see the sign.
Great advertisement, though I wish over the past 40+ years I had followed their advice.
As a former CFO of a publicly listed company who worked, ate and drunk way too much, I could have ever so easily coped with my busy lifestyle just by being a more mindful and conscious about what I consumed.Ok, I know that sounds weird, though when you are in a high-pressure job, you literally eat what is easy and convenient, whilst at the same time, working and multi-tasking.
So today I thought I’d share my tips regarding being a Mindful Eater and about being Conscious about what you consume each day.

Mindfulness Eating

Building a healthy relationship with your Food / Drink is called Mindfulness Eating.
Mindfulness eating helps you to create a relationship to food and your mind, body and soul.
Many people (like me in my CFO role) eat whilst distracted—but don’t consider themselves mindless eaters, because they are aware that they are eating while engaging in another activity, such as watching television or on their computer.
Scientists divided people into one of two groups. The Distracted group ate lunch while playing a computer game of solitaire. The Non-distracted group ate the same type of lunch, but without the distraction conditions.
The study’s findings showed that distraction made a significant impact on the eating experience, both qualitative and quantitative. When compared to the Non-distracted group, the distracted people:
• Ate faster
• Couldn’t remember what they ate
• Ate more snacks
• Reported feeling significantly less full

​The research also showed that distraction during a meal influenced meal size later in the day.

Conscious Eating

To achieve a satisfying eating experience, you’re required to be mentally present whilst eating.
Each meal should be eaten at a table with you consciously eating and chewing every mouthful.
The slower you eat and the more you chew, the quicker you will be sustained and therefore you will eat less food.
When you are consciously eating each mouthful your food choices will be healthier.
Another great way for you to become conscious about what you are consuming, is to keep a diary, tracking these three things at each meal time:

  1. How you feel emotionally and physically before consuming all food and drink.
  2. Write down all food and drink consumed. Remember to eat & drink as per normal. Do not judge what you are consuming.
  3. How you feel emotionally and physically after consuming all food and drink.

For each day, potentially you could have up to 21 entries – 3 entries for breakfast, lunch and dinner and all snacks in between.
This is a great awareness and insightful exercise.
I trust these tips will help you to see the many benefits from living by the adage, “What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow.”

Until next time…..

Be well and remember to make each day meaningful, memorable and magical………..and never, ever, ever stop dancing!

With Love & Gratitude
Karen Chaston.