What Are You Hungry For? by Deepak Chopra

Author:Deepak Chopra [Chopra, Deepak]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Health & Fitness, Diet & Nutrition, Diets, Healing, Self-Help, Spiritual
ISBN: 9780770437220
Google: vGqcaQH1T0EC
Amazon: 0770437230
Publisher: Harmony
Published: 2013-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

Action Step:

12 Ways to Eat Mindfully

Any action that brings your attention to the act of eating helps break the spell of going blank. This applies to what you’re putting into your mouth as well as behavioral habits like how quickly you eat. Look over the following list and begin to adopt each tip. Take them one at a time, beginning with the changes that would most benefit your eating habits. (Note: Several items are summarized from previous topics—they reappear in the light of being mindful.)

1. Eat only when you feel hungry. Notice and feel your hunger. This is the basis of conscious eating.

2. To encourage your full attention, always sit down when eating your meal in settled surroundings without distractions.

3. Start with a moderate portion of food, such as half a plate. When that’s finished, sit for a moment to see how hungry you may still feel. Drink a little water before taking more food.

4. Appreciate the taste of each bite by lingering over it, putting your attention on the flavor, and chewing a little more than you usually do. In other words, make taste an experience all its own.

5. Be aware that appetite is stoked by fatty, salty, and sweet tastes. Appetite is suppressed with bitter foods. Try sipping some club soda with a dash of Angostura bitters before you eat (bottled tonic water is bitter but contains too much sugar).

6. Remove the skin from chicken and the fat from all meat before you sit down to eat. In a restaurant, set these unwanted things aside on your bread plate or ask the waiter to remove them.

7. Eat at the slowest pace that feels comfortable. A moderate pace will promote optimal digestion. Don’t fill your fork or spoon until you’ve swallowed the bite you’re eating.

8. If you’re a fast eater, especially if you bolt your food while talking, take small portions before you sit down. (You’re going so quickly that you will hardly notice how much is on the plate.)

9. If you know you are prone to impulsive eating that gets worse as the meal continues, tell the others at the table how much you intend to eat, then keep your word. (But don’t ask to be reminded. The point is to monitor your own eating, not to have others do it for you.)

10. In a restaurant, have your server immediately box the food you aren’t going to eat. Don’t leave it on the plate to be pecked at until it’s all gone.

11. If ordering dessert, ask for half of it to be put immediately into a take-home box. Give the box as a gift to someone else at the table.

12. Fill your stomach only two-thirds of the way to feeling full (the best gauge is to eat two-thirds of your normal filling portion). Send your plate away or get up from the table at that point. Notice that you can feel comfortable in leaving a small empty space in your stomach.

The Prison of Conditioning

When you stop blanking out, you can bring more awareness to how you eat.

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