Mindful Eating

Do you feel like you're eating properly but can't put off your weight?  Do you not remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Do you know what's in your meal?  Do you feel like you're eating the right food but yet you don't feel amazing?

OK - you've got this - there is more than just food that affects our eating habits.

HOW you eat is as important than what's in your plate - if not more.

Consciously eating is an art and sometimes needs a bit more attention than what we would like to believe.

My mantra: Look | Smell | Taste

Allow these words to be your everyday ritual to start your meal and I'm pretty sure you'll see some changes in what you will want to eat, your quality of food and the quantity that you will now need.

But before diving into that there's something I must say to you - have you ever heard of your pineal gland? It's basically a small gland inside your brain, it comes out in between the brows where the third eye chakra in Indian philosophy would be located. Anyways this gland is a big influence of the wake and sleep cycle we have. Through the gland, the body can know which time of the day it is - due to light exposure. Properly regulated when we use to live outside in touch with nature, and not in blocks surrounded by four walls and unnatural lighting. Anyways, that's a story for another time - what I am trying to put out.

Is that the pineal gland is very much affected by the light coming from our technological screens - laptops- computers - phones - television - ipad. It's that affected that it cuts the communication between the brain and the body during digestion! Therefore if you eat in front of a screen - this is the FIRST STEP! Get away from the screens while eating - put your phone on silence if that helps and move it off the table.

LOOK Look at your food. Take the first minute to look down at your plate, identify what food is in your plate - you can even name them in your mind. This is the first step that allows you to send the first message to the brain that food will be entering the body!

SMELL Smell your first bite of food, before bringing it to your mouth just bring it under your nose for a few second - smelling the ingredients is the second sign that we sent to the body for correct preparation. This actually helps us to secrete saliva - which is an acid that will help us to break the food down.

TASTE Feel what this first bite of your food feels like on your tongue - having taken the time to identify the ingredients take some time now to feel their taste on your tongue! Tasting your food is the third sign that is sent for proper digestion - this step helps the proper enzymes getting ready in the stomach to absorb the nutrients.

TIPS: If you're looking to shred a bit of weight, I'd recommend you change your fork and spoon to smaller cutleries. Smaller spoon and smaller fork! As well as eating in a smaller plate/bowl. This is defo a mind trick tactic but oh well it works! + We always tend to eat more than what we need because first we don't listen that much to what the st0mach says and second portion have just become ridiculously big when eating outside - so if you're using this as reference for your meals damn you might be using more energy for your digestion than actually getting some out of it!

Love & light

Illo