Mindful Eating

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity."

- Amelia Earhart

The best way I know to establish a habit of "mindful eating" is to start with a Food Journal. I'm sure you're rolling your eyes and thinking "just one more thing to add to my never ending to do list!" which is why most people won't do this. Most people also wonder why they can't lose weight no matter what they try to do. Most people go on and off diets daily, they "cheat" a little one day and basically just write off the entire day thinking "I'll start again tomorrow." This also leads to feelings of guilt, shame and a constant question of "why can't I do this?" It's exhausting!

Creating a Food Journal will assist you in acknowledging exactly what and how much you are eating on a daily basis. It will also give you incite as to your triggers, barriers and obstacles that you face daily that make you turn to food even when you're not hungry. It will encourage you to eat mindfully because if you have to write down that you inhaled an entire bag of cookies while watching t.v., we've just identified that "mindfulness" was not in the equation and we've identified a trigger....the t.v. thus controlling your urge to binge.

By writing down your daily food intake, you also create a record of your food choices and whether you are getting enough protein, complex carbohydrates and good fats into your diet. This will also show if you are getting too much of one macro nutrient and not enough of the others. It's all about balance. Weight loss is simply expending more calories on a daily basis than you are taking in. Expending calories means exercise! Yes, you have to do it! It's non-negotiable....this is one rule that is not open to interpretation. 30 minutes a day does a body good!! Simple math!

I believe that getting healthy, strong and losing weight first starts in the mind. If you change your mind, you can change your life. Get in touch with your perception of your life and the things that you want to change. This journal is a awesome tool to create your goals and achieve them. You will be recording your progress, the goals you've met and throw in those compliments that you will be receiving! These things together will reinforce your commitment to yourself to create a lifetime of health and fitness.

How to do I start? First, get a notebook that will travel well without being inconvenient. If it's inconvenient, you know you won't write in it. It certainly doesn't have to be fancy, however, if you are more of the fashionista by all means fancy it up girl! You are creating a record of your lifestyle, it is an expression of you.

What to write? You will need to write every morsel that comes in contact with your lips. I mean if you lick it, bite it or taste it it gets written down. One M&M, you ate it, write it down! This is to encourage being mindful of all those extra calories we don't even realize that we are eating or drinking. How many times have you prepared your child's plate and tasted a bite of chicken, or heaven forbid, finished what they didn't. A little, or big, sip of a Slurpee must be written down. These calories count, don't fool yourself.

In addition to writing your food intake for the day, I would also encourage you to write if you actually were hungry, bored, or out at a party with friends etc. This will create a connection between your feelings and food which will help to identify your trigger's that set off an unhealthy eating pattern. I always say once you know what or who your enemy is, you have the power to defeat them! However, if you don't know who or what you are dealing with, it's impossible to get the upper hand. You are in this to win it! Know your triggers, obstacles and barriers because these are your enemies and once you become aware of these little "nightmares" you will be ready to conquer them! Conquer and defeat! YOU have this power!

Being held accountable for the decisions that we make, and the actions that we take is life! Everyday YOU have the power to decide how YOU will live that day. Yes, "things happen" but it is within YOUR power to decide how YOU are going to react. YOU have the power over food, it doesn't have the power over you and once you become mindful of your calories in vs. your calories out this weight loss thing becomes a breeze. YOU owe it to yourself to create a healthy life and to enjoy every single minute of it. Invest a little time and effort into yourself....YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!