Post by SusieQ on Jan 10, 2005 9:09:01 GMT -5
When a shrink wakes up one day, and realizes she need to.... well, SHRINK....what does she do? Does she go out and buy a Universal Home Gym? NO! Does she join WW? NO! Does she buy a copy of the South Beach Diet book? NO!
She takes a workshop series called "Mindfulness and Weight Loss." In those classes, I learned mindfulness techniques, some meditation techniques, and reviewed the fundamentals of nutrition and exercise. Over the following year, I lost 25 pounds by practicing mindful eating and adding moderate exercise to my day. (It was when I hit a huge stall that I joined WW, and have since lost another 20 pounds on Core. But that's a story for another day.)
Most fat people (myself included) sit down to food and eat as if there's a prize for the first one to clean the plate. Have you ever had the experience of finishing a plate of food and then sort of "waking up" , looking at the empty plate, and feeling shocked that it's all gone? It's the same as the common experience that happens when you are driving a familiar route in the car. You'll be at point X, and then "all of a sudden" be at point Y, and wonder how you got there. You "fell asleep."
You didn't really sleep, either in the car, or during that meal. What you did was to NOT PAY ATTENTION.
What happens when we eat a meal without paying attention?
1. We eat too fast.
2. We eat too much.
3. We overshoot the "satisfied" mark - by the time we're finished, we realize that we are stuffed!
4. We don't enjoy our meal.
5. The meal feels too short, so we take seconds to prolong the experience.
None of these are good for weight loss.
Weight loss begins in the mind, not the mouth. Mind over platter.
When we eat mindfully, here's what happens:
1. We eat slowly. Mindful eating takes time.
2. We have time to catch the "satisfied" mark and not overshoot.
3. We really enjoy the meal because we taste every bite.
4. We eat less.
5. We enjoy more.
6. We digest the food more easily.
So how do you learn to eat mindfully? That's the first topic I'm going to explore over the coming week.
But to start, you have to know what it feels like to eat mindfully. So here's an exercise I am inviting you to do today, or sometime this week. You will need some privacy, some quiet, some time, and one raisin.
Take your raisin to a quiet, private place where you won't be disturbed by the phone, or family. You will need 10 minutes for this exercise.
Put your raisin on a table and just look at it. Look at the color. Look at the texture. See where the light reflects off the bumpy surfaces. See how many wrinkles it has. See each wrinkle individually.
Then pick it up in your hand. Feel the shape, the surface, the texture, its weight. Take your time. Really feel it. Pay attention.
Now, smell it. Really, really smell it. Let the scent filter through your brain. Notice if the scent changes as your bring it closer to your nose. Take your time.
Now, put it in your mouth. Don't bite. Just let it sit in your mouth and let the taste and texture fill your senses. Then bite on it, just once. Experience the entire sensation of the raisin releasing its flavor into your mouth. Take your time. As the flavor recedes, chew it again. Do this until the raisin is all gone, focusing all your attention on the raisin. If you find your attention wanders, don't make a big mental deal out of it, just bring your awareness gently back to the raisin.
Ok, you're done.
That's mindful eating. If we truly ate our meals mindfully, they would take all day. That's not the goal. The goal is develop the habit of mindful eating so that we never "fall asleep' during a meal, only to wake up and find that we've finished enough food for three people. The more your eating incorporates these skills, the easier it will be to "eat until satisfied." The other thing is, mindful eating is the OPPOSITE to a binge. You cannot binge mindfully. So this practice generalizes, and is one very good anti-binging tool.
That's all I invite you to do today. Just eat....one....raisin.
I'd be VERY interested to hear from people who did the exericse, and would care to share their reacitions. This simple little beginning with one little raisin was how I began this journey. May it serve you well.
Namaste!
Susie
She takes a workshop series called "Mindfulness and Weight Loss." In those classes, I learned mindfulness techniques, some meditation techniques, and reviewed the fundamentals of nutrition and exercise. Over the following year, I lost 25 pounds by practicing mindful eating and adding moderate exercise to my day. (It was when I hit a huge stall that I joined WW, and have since lost another 20 pounds on Core. But that's a story for another day.)
Most fat people (myself included) sit down to food and eat as if there's a prize for the first one to clean the plate. Have you ever had the experience of finishing a plate of food and then sort of "waking up" , looking at the empty plate, and feeling shocked that it's all gone? It's the same as the common experience that happens when you are driving a familiar route in the car. You'll be at point X, and then "all of a sudden" be at point Y, and wonder how you got there. You "fell asleep."
You didn't really sleep, either in the car, or during that meal. What you did was to NOT PAY ATTENTION.
What happens when we eat a meal without paying attention?
1. We eat too fast.
2. We eat too much.
3. We overshoot the "satisfied" mark - by the time we're finished, we realize that we are stuffed!
4. We don't enjoy our meal.
5. The meal feels too short, so we take seconds to prolong the experience.
None of these are good for weight loss.
Weight loss begins in the mind, not the mouth. Mind over platter.
When we eat mindfully, here's what happens:
1. We eat slowly. Mindful eating takes time.
2. We have time to catch the "satisfied" mark and not overshoot.
3. We really enjoy the meal because we taste every bite.
4. We eat less.
5. We enjoy more.
6. We digest the food more easily.
So how do you learn to eat mindfully? That's the first topic I'm going to explore over the coming week.
But to start, you have to know what it feels like to eat mindfully. So here's an exercise I am inviting you to do today, or sometime this week. You will need some privacy, some quiet, some time, and one raisin.
Take your raisin to a quiet, private place where you won't be disturbed by the phone, or family. You will need 10 minutes for this exercise.
Put your raisin on a table and just look at it. Look at the color. Look at the texture. See where the light reflects off the bumpy surfaces. See how many wrinkles it has. See each wrinkle individually.
Then pick it up in your hand. Feel the shape, the surface, the texture, its weight. Take your time. Really feel it. Pay attention.
Now, smell it. Really, really smell it. Let the scent filter through your brain. Notice if the scent changes as your bring it closer to your nose. Take your time.
Now, put it in your mouth. Don't bite. Just let it sit in your mouth and let the taste and texture fill your senses. Then bite on it, just once. Experience the entire sensation of the raisin releasing its flavor into your mouth. Take your time. As the flavor recedes, chew it again. Do this until the raisin is all gone, focusing all your attention on the raisin. If you find your attention wanders, don't make a big mental deal out of it, just bring your awareness gently back to the raisin.
Ok, you're done.
That's mindful eating. If we truly ate our meals mindfully, they would take all day. That's not the goal. The goal is develop the habit of mindful eating so that we never "fall asleep' during a meal, only to wake up and find that we've finished enough food for three people. The more your eating incorporates these skills, the easier it will be to "eat until satisfied." The other thing is, mindful eating is the OPPOSITE to a binge. You cannot binge mindfully. So this practice generalizes, and is one very good anti-binging tool.
That's all I invite you to do today. Just eat....one....raisin.
I'd be VERY interested to hear from people who did the exericse, and would care to share their reacitions. This simple little beginning with one little raisin was how I began this journey. May it serve you well.
Namaste!
Susie
How many points in a raisin? That wasn't the "point" was it. 
, what do I do with the rest of the raisins in the box 
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