mindfull vs mindless eating

TabiHerbalifeCoach

Ok so we all log what we eat, maybe even plan it out a day or so in advance. Something i've noticed, and maybe you have to, when I'm multi-tasking ie eating and watching tv or eating and working....you get the point, I am often shocked when the food is gone and still hungry, yet, when I devote my time to eating mindfully, not multi tasking but paying attention to what i'm eating and actually enjoying it, I'm a lot more satisified in the end. I use to think that was silly, but the more I am on this journey the more I realize your mind has a lot more to do with weight loss than I had ever given it credit for.

Barneystinson

You're absolutely right. I've made a rule that there is not "standing & snacking" for me. No picking at stuff, no grazing. I portion my food out and sit down to enjoy it When I savor each bite, it leaves me more satisfied and my body has an easier time of telling me that I'm full - when to stop eating, basically.

SHBoss1673

two things to keep in mind with regards to this.

1) when we "snack" while doing other things we tend to grab convienence foods which are almost always lower in nutrients and leave us less satiated (generally these types of snacks are low in protein which is the most satisfying of all macro nutrients)

2) Part of hunger (believe it or not) is the mental aspect of hunger, you can train your body to expect certain amounts of foods, and this actually forces the release of hormones that trigger the hunger feelings. Whether or not you actually need more food is irrelevant. Not being mindful of your eating really can play a roll in hunger.

Side note: this is why I am adamantly against the concept of "eating when you are hungry" or "listening to your body" with caveats of course. If you are healthy, and have good eating habits, doing the above concepts is usually fine, because you have trained your body to correctly expect food, but for most folks on MFP, food is an issue, whether it be emotional, reactionary, or just plain laziness, we don't know HOW to correctly eat, so the body does not usually send the right signals at the right time. Thus before we "listen to our body" we need to teach our body how to talk to us correctly; and that can take months or even years to do.

TabiHerbalifeCoach

I completely agree with you. It is a proven fact when you over eat your stomach stretches, and until the stomach has been filled most often you will still feel hungry, most of us have over eaten to the point to stretch our stomach, so even when we have eaten the correct portions our stomachs are litterly not full enough to send the right signals to the brain. All about training your mind and body!!!

LotusF1ower

Ok so we all log what we eat, maybe even plan it out a day or so in advance. Something i've noticed, and maybe you have to, when I'm multi-tasking ie eating and watching tv or eating and working....you get the point, I am often shocked when the food is gone and still hungry, yet, when I devote my time to eating mindfully, not multi tasking but paying attention to what i'm eating and actually enjoying it, I'm a lot more satisified in the end. I use to think that was silly, but the more I am on this journey the more I realize your mind has a lot more to do with weight loss than I had ever given it credit for.

Agree!

Actually, the other day I was eating my lunch, but I was reading a paper at the same time and when I looked down, my lunch was gone and I was upset that I hadn't really tasted it :sad:

What was more sad about it all was that being on reduced calories means less grub and to be honest, I think the very most should be made of the food that is eaten now as the next food is not half an hour away like it used to be, but a few hours away.

mooz

Side note: this is why I am adamantly against the concept of "eating when you are hungry" or "listening to your body" with caveats of course. If you are healthy, and have good eating habits, doing the above concepts is usually fine, because you have trained your body to correctly expect food, but for most folks on MFP, food is an issue, whether it be emotional, reactionary, or just plain laziness, we don't know HOW to correctly eat, so the body does not usually send the right signals at the right time. Thus before we "listen to our body" we need to teach our body how to talk to us correctly; and that can take months or even years to do.

Can you clarify this for me. Im new here and the 1st thing I did when I was starting this whole journey in April was to listen to my body for hunger clues. I was eating constantly - never hungry. Now I only eat when Im hungry. I always thought that was the problem...not listening to my body and just feeding it senselessly.

lotusfromthemud

Side note: this is why I am adamantly against the concept of "eating when you are hungry" or "listening to your body" with caveats of course. If you are healthy, and have good eating habits, doing the above concepts is usually fine, because you have trained your body to correctly expect food, but for most folks on MFP, food is an issue, whether it be emotional, reactionary, or just plain laziness, we don't know HOW to correctly eat, so the body does not usually send the right signals at the right time. Thus before we "listen to our body" we need to teach our body how to talk to us correctly; and that can take months or even years to do.

Can you clarify this for me. Im new here and the 1st thing I did when I was starting this whole journey in April was to listen to my body for hunger clues. I was eating constantly - never hungry. Now I only eat when Im hungry. I always thought that was the problem...not listening to my body and just feeding it senselessly.

If I can jump in here, the deal is that our body essentially, has learned how to lie to us, or rather we listen to cues that are not actual physical hunger. We have "hunger cues" that have little to do with actual physical hunger. Anxiety makes us hungry, boredom makes us hungry, etc...

I have gotten to the point where I mostly can "listen to my body", but as soon as my stress levels ramp up, it starts to lie again, so it's still necessary to log/watch what I eat. Eating mindfully has been a big help here.

mooz

Oh..okay..thanks for the explanation. So it's not that I shouldn't listen to my body but rather I should also recognize other factors that can cause hunger. Gotcha!

SHBoss1673

Side note: this is why I am adamantly against the concept of "eating when you are hungry" or "listening to your body" with caveats of course. If you are healthy, and have good eating habits, doing the above concepts is usually fine, because you have trained your body to correctly expect food, but for most folks on MFP, food is an issue, whether it be emotional, reactionary, or just plain laziness, we don't know HOW to correctly eat, so the body does not usually send the right signals at the right time. Thus before we "listen to our body" we need to teach our body how to talk to us correctly; and that can take months or even years to do.

Can you clarify this for me. Im new here and the 1st thing I did when I was starting this whole journey in April was to listen to my body for hunger clues. I was eating constantly - never hungry. Now I only eat when Im hungry. I always thought that was the problem...not listening to my body and just feeding it senselessly.

If I can jump in here, the deal is that our body essentially, has learned how to lie to us, or rather we listen to cues that are not actual physical hunger. We have "hunger cues" that have little to do with actual physical hunger. Anxiety makes us hungry, boredom makes us hungry, etc...

I have gotten to the point where I mostly can "listen to my body", but as soon as my stress levels ramp up, it starts to lie again, so it's still necessary to log/watch what I eat. Eating mindfully has been a big help here.

Exactly, to expound further, what we should be doing IMHO is creating a plan that we KNOW is effective and feeds our body correctly and then following it. In other words, set up a schedule, follow that schedule, and essentially (for now at least) ignore, to the best of your ability, hunger signals. At some point, it's ok to start listening to your body, but when hormones are imbalanced, that isn't necessarily a good idea.

We KNOW that we are feeding our body right, what we don't know is whether our body is telling us the right thing, so listening to it might be a bad thing.

SHBoss1673

Oh..okay..thanks for the explanation. So it's not that I shouldn't listen to my body but rather I should also recognize other factors that can cause hunger. Gotcha!

not necesarilly. What you should do is follow a process. With regards to food that is.

First, figure out whether your body is telling you the right things, if it is, then you can listen to it.
If it isn't then you need to set up a schedule that works, and follow it, regardless of whether your body is telling you it's hungry. Basically it's overcoming base instinct. Similar to overcoming a phobia, conscious mind over subconscious mind.

mooz

That's exactly what I did : set up a schedule. I based it on my breaks at work. I keep all my food in my bag until my breaks. Out of sight, out of mind. There are times when I feel hunger in between those breaks but I haven't given into that hunger. I'll wait. Mostly because I know my food is limited and I don't want to run out and then be really hungry later in the day.