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Author admin Categories Bariatric Surgery, Bariatrics, Diet, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Surgery, WLS Posted on

What is Mindful Eating?

What is Mindful Eating?

 

Mindful eating is a practice that has gained popularity in recent years as people seek to improve their relationship with food and their bodies. It involves paying attention and being present in the moment while eating, without judgment or distraction.

The goal of mindful eating is to cultivate a non-judgmental awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations while eating, to develop a healthier relationship with food. This can involve slowing down while eating, savouring each bite, and paying attention to feelings of hunger and fullness.

Many of us have busy lives, and we often eat on the go or while multitasking. We might eat while watching TV, working on our computers, or scrolling through social media. This can lead to mindless eating, where we don’t pay attention to our food, and we might eat more than we need to without even realising it.

Mindful eating is the opposite of mindless eating. It involves being fully present in the moment while eating and paying attention to the experience of eating. This can help us tune in to our bodies’ needs and recognise when we’re hungry or full.

 

Some common techniques for practicing mindful eating include:   

  • Eating slowly and chewing each bite thoroughly: Taking the time to chew each bite of food thoroughly can help you savour the flavours and textures of your food.
  • Paying attention to the taste, texture, and smell of your food: Focusing on the sensory experience of eating can help you enjoy your food more fully and appreciate its qualities.
  • Eating without distractions such as TV or phone: When you eat without distractions, you can fully focus on your food and your body’s signals, rather than being pulled in different directions by external stimuli.
  • Tuning into your body’s hunger and fullness signals: Mindful eating involves paying attention to your body’s signals of hunger and fullness. This can help you eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full, rather than overeating or under-eating.
  • Being aware of your emotions and thoughts around food: Mindful Eating also involves tuning in to your emotions and thoughts around food. This can help you identify triggers for emotional eating or unhealthy food choices and develop strategies for coping with those triggers.

 

Practising mindful eating will help you improve your overall eating habits, reduce overeating, and increase your enjoyment of food.

 

What is Mindful Eating?  Mindful Eating is a powerful practice that can help you improve your relationship with food and your body. It also may help you lose and maintain weight by becoming aware of your body’s signals and develop a more balanced approach to eating and nourishing your body.

If you have any queries or would like to know how we can help you on this amazing life changing journey, please contact us or book a free strategy call via our website www.savvybariatrics.com

Stay Savvy

 

Author admin Categories Bariatric Surgery, Bariatrics, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Surgery, WLS Posted on

Eating Out After Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery

 

Eating Out After Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery

 

Are you fearful of eating out after bariatric weight loss surgery?  You are not alone.  The thought of It can fill you with anxiety and dread. The good news is that with a few new strategies you can eat out and do it with confidence.  Whether you are attending a social function such as a wedding or going to a restaurant, you can master the art of eating out and enjoy the experience.

Helpful Tips for Eating Out after WLS

 

  1. With so many people having special dietary requirements, social functions are much easier to attend after bariatric weight loss surgery. You can now use this option to stay on track without feeling different.
  2. Several days prior to the attending a Restaurant, I always view the menu online. This allows you to plan your meal ahead of time so you can order with confidence.  Sometimes there may be nothing suitable, in this case I would generally ask if we could move the venue, or I would eat at home before hand and arrive a little later for coffee and maybe a little dessert.
  3. Some functions will offer only finger foods. I find that if you always have a plate in your hand with a couple of nibblies on it then people don’t keep pressuring you to eat more. It works!
  4. Remember to hydrate at least 30 minutes before your meal to avoid any confusion between thirst and hunger
  5. Eat slowly, chew your food, really saviour the flavour of what you are eating, enjoy every mouthful. There is no rush to finish your meal.
  6. Stop eating when you feel that first sign of satiety. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message from your stomach that you have had enough to eat.
  7. Enjoy the company you are with. Talking and interacting will help slow down your eating process.
  8. If there is food left on your plate, ask the waiter for a take-out container, and take it home for later.
  9. Avoid Alcohol. Apart from the hidden calories, alcohol is metabolised differently after bariatric weight loss surgery.  You can get quite tipsy very quickly and lose control of your eating and alcohol consumption.

Planning prior to your social engagement

will diminish stress and worry of eating out allowing you to enjoy a normal social life after weight loss surgery.  You just won’t eat as much as you used to and you will be surprised how easy it is to maintain a social life after weight loss surgery.

 

Bon Appetit!

Julia-Lorent-black-high-res

 

 

Author admin Categories Bariatric Surgery, Bariatrics, Diet, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Surgery, WLS Posted on

Because, Because I Can

Because, Because I Can

I’m sitting here on a wonderful sunny day with a pot of freshly brewed tea in a regal looking cup and saucer fit for a queen.  Peaceful, warm. Feeling a slight breeze and very content with my lot.  Then I realise I’m eating this delicious long pastry with cream, jam, and fabulous pink icing on top.  It looks spectacular.

 

I bite into this artwork of pastry in anticipation it will taste amazing. My reality is, I can’t even taste it.  If there is a taste, it’s one of those overly sweet sugary types. You know the ones, they have you wondering just how many teaspoons of sugar you are consuming in that one piece of deliciousness.

 

There is no enjoyment in eating this.  I am somewhat disappointed.  So, I ask myself WHY?  Why are you eating this?  Because I can.  Because no one can tell me not to.  Because it’s there.  Because it just looks so damn good.

 

Because, Because, Because,  Because, Because.

 

For me, the epitome of being slimmer, was being able to sit down in a café enjoying a coffee and a sweet treat without being judged by anyone for doing so.  Just being there, being normal, feeling normal.  Feeling confident. Because slim people could do that.  I wanted to do that.

 

So much of my life what I ate was scrutinised by my father.  He meant well.  He really did.  However, his actions and over concern for my weight initiated a myriad of issues including, secret eating habits and buying of “forbidden” food.  Thus began the installation of a relationship with food that was totally toxic and secretive. They were hard years.  They were sad years.

 

As I look back at this pastry thingy, I wonder if I am eating it out of rebellion?  Just to reinforce that no one is the boss of me, and I can eat whatever I want?  Maybe, maybe not.  WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT I HAVE A CHOICE.   DO I need it?  NO.  Do I want it?  NO. Am I hungry?  NO. What will I get from eating it?  NOTHING.

 

So Why did I order this artistic masterpiece of pastry?  Habit.

It’s what I used to do in My Fat Life. I ate unconsciously.  What triggered this hiccup?  Feeling somewhat flat and isolated due to a health issue and it had been some time since I was able to frequent a cafe.  It’s very normal to revert to what made us feel safe or secure in the past.  It cocoons us.  The question is do we stay in the cocoon because it feels familiar and safe in the moment?  For me, luckily, my years of training and working with bariatric weight loss clients kicked in exactly as it was supposed to.  Having control over the seductiveness of that pastry is a major triumph.

 

You want to know if I continued to eat it don’t you? 

I didn’t.  I had no want to.

 

Soaking up the glorious sun I continued to enjoy the flavour and aroma of my freshly brewed tea in my regal style crockery.  Content knowing that I can choose to eat what I want without guilt, shame, or judgement. Because, Because I Can.

 

Living and eating consciously is what I do now.  I moved out of that cocoon.

 

Stay Savvy

 

PS. :   If you want to live and eat consciously schedule a free strategy call and let’s have a chat

 

 

 

Author admin Categories Bariatrics, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss, WLS Posted on

Emotional Eating

The number one reason a weight loss program fails is Emotional Eating.  Emotional eating is the act of eating in response to an emotion. That emotion can be deemed positive or negative.

 

People with this condition are eating in response to a negative action or as a coping mechanism for a negative emotion.  It’s a strategy which soothes and pacifies you when you feel stressed, angry, bored, overwhelmed, stuck, sad or lonely.  It is a Habit.  Eliminate Emotional Eating for good.  You learned it and so, as you learned it, you can most definitely unlearn it.  Yep that’s right.  You can stop the cycle of emotional eating for good and take back control of your relationship with food forever.

How many times have you thought that if you could control that never ending cycle of emotional eating you would control your weight issues?  Yeh I know too many to count right?  You can lose weight, you stick to a diet, maybe even one of those 12 weeks intensive food and exercise programs and you lose the weight.  You feel great and empowered.  But what happens when the support and the program ends?  Most oftentimes people will put the weight back on and then some.

For too long now we have ignored the missing link in the weight loss equation and that is the power of Mindset Transformation.

As a leading expert in this field I have been helping people transform their Mindset around food and emotional eating for over 20 years with outstanding success.  I have witnessed the elation of clients when they take control of food, some for the first time in their lives.  We can eliminate these destructive behaviours with techniques and strategies that you can use anytime and anywhere. Time to let go of the blockages, emotional or otherwise, that keep you from getting where you want to be.  It motivates you to get moving and to let go of all those excuses.  Isn’t it time YOU took control of food, instead of food controlling you?   What if you could learn the skills to lose weight and keep it off forever.

We all know what to eat to be healthy.  Yet when there is the slightest hint of stress we feel this uncontrollable urge to eat those sugary, sweet comfort foods.  Then we feel comfort and pleasure which is short lived and quickly replaced with feelings of regret, shame, guilt and overwhelm that is all encompassing and leads to another bout of mindless eating.  It’s a vicious cycle and one which you do not need to suffer any longer.  You can learn healthier strategies to avoid triggers, eliminate cravings and deal with those emotions to put a stop to emotional eating. Visit www.savvybariatrics.com and see how we can help you.

Basically we use food to stuff down our emotions to tranquillise ourselves from feelings and emotions that just seem too overwhelming to address.

 The problem with this is that while you are stuffing these emotional feelings down you are just compounding the issue by not actually addressing it.

It actually takes more energy to do this than it does to address the issue and let it go.  I know it can feel too hard sometimes, but please believe me when I tell you it isn’t.

If you do not change your relationship and mindset about Food, Dieting and Weight Loss, you are always going to struggle with your weight.  I cannot stress enough just how important it is to lasting and successful weight reduction, that you change the way you think. We use food as a reward and for celebrations, sometimes not necessarily a bad thing.

However, when your main mechanism for coping emotionally is eating, then you are out of control.

How many times have you opened the refrigerator when you are stressed, angry, lonely or bored?

I can still remember my parents yelling at us to get out of the fridge.  It was like a treasure chest of amazingly magical things that would make you feel better. But alas, it never did.

 

Ready to Eliminate the Cycle of Emotional Eating forever without deprivation, guilt or shame?   Then contact me for a free 30 minute strategy call.

www.savvybariatrics.com

Author admin Categories Bariatrics, Diet, Weight Loss Posted on

Am I Really Hungry?

Next time you are eating ask yourself that question “Am I really Hungry”?  If the answer is yes, then be aware of where you feel that hunger.  Real hunger is gradual.

 

Its physical and that physical sensation is felt in your stomach.  Real hunger is not triggered by emotions or circumstance, or even walking past a bakery.  It’s not triggered by being bored, stressed, upset or lonely.  Hunger is a real physical response in your body.   Unfortunately,most of us are oblivious to it.  Knowing the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger or emotional eating will help you take back control of food instead of feeling that food controls you.

So, what if the answer to that question is “No, I’m not actually hungry”, what do you do then?  I want you to ask yourself another question – “Why am I wanting to eat this?”  Are you bored, stressed, angry?  Is it someone’s birthday and you think you should have that piece of cake because others are?  Do you have a craving for that piece of chocolate?   Being aware at this stage that you are eating emotionally and not because you are actually hungry is liberating.  Listening to your body and being aware of what you are feeling BEFORE you eat will give you freedom.  You will be making an absolute conscious decision whether to eat or not.  At https://www.savvybariatrics.com we are dedicated to helping you know the difference.

 

Mindful or Mindless Eating?

We have been programmed since early childhood to eat at certain times regardless of whether we are hungry or not.  That’s just what we do, what we learned, and we pass it on to each generation.

How many times were you told to finish everything on your plate before you were allowed to leave the table or allowed dessert as a reward?  Were you told to hurry and eat because you had to get to school or do chores or homework.  Do you do the same thing to your children?  I’m guessing probably you do.

 

 

What this actually does is teach people to eat when they are not hungry and to eat fast.  A definite recipe for being overweight. Food was used as a reward, as a special treat.  Given to us to make us feel better when we have been upset or emotional, or a reward for making grades at school or achieving milestones.  Have you ever dieted, lost weight or reached your goal weight and then rewarded yourself with food?  Yeh, me too.

Notice how you eat.  First one finished at the table?  If you eat fast slow down.  It takes approximately 15-20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you have eaten.  People who eat fast are likely to eat 2/3 times more than they actually need in that timespan then hit the stuffed, bloated and feeling sick stage.

 

Cutting your food up, chewing at least 15-20 times, tasting it, savouring the flavour before swallowing, you will automatically eat less.  You will get to a stage of satiety where your brain will say STOP.  Am I Really Hungry?

 

Food left on your plate?  Worried about wasting food?  Wrap it up and eat it later if you are hungry.  Learn to reduce your portion size to what you actually eat mindfully to eliminate any food wastage.  If this is the only tool you use when eating I promise you, you will eat less, and lose weight.  It takes some practice but master the process and you will master your weight.  But it’s like anything – you have to do it.

We have an abundance of wonderful nutritional food available to us today and it seems to me we have lost the ability to enjoy, savour and really taste our food.  So, next time you are eating just notice if you are eating fast or slow and make a conscious decision to enjoy the process of eating, savouring the flavours and textures and making it an event instead of a quick fix.

 

If you need any help mastering your relationship with food in anyway, visit our website or call us and see how we can help you take control permanently.

 

www.savvybariatrics.com