6 Tips for Mindful Eating From a Holistic MD
Currently listening: “Fire for You” by Cannons
Today I want to talk about two of my favorite things: nutrition and mindfulness.
Understanding the basics of nutrition and mindfulness are two pillars of my personal approach to living a well-balanced, holistic life. Taking the time to understand nutrition basics and what our unique bodies need at any given time is a game-changer in feeling more energized, less stressed, have better workouts, and more. Basically, the more you know about your personal nutrition needs and how you can serve them, the better you’ll feel. In terms of mindfulness, I like to think of it as a workout for our brains. Just like we know that 30 minutes of cardio is good for long-term health (and being able to survive in a theoretical zombie apocalypse, your brain needs daily “exercise” to function best. As much as I love a weekend Netflix binge (Gossip Girl, you forever have my heart!) I don’t exactly feel like I can solve a complex math problem after. You feel me?
A popular practice in holistic wellness is the act of mindful eating. This doesn’t mean meditating while you eat your lunch (ha!), but rather being mindful about what we eat rather than doing what I did this morning - gulping down a smoothie as I listened to the morning news and responded to emails. That wasn’t particularly mindful eating.
While I am a certified health coach, that really only scratches the surface of nutrition. To give you the best information to make the most informed decisions for your needs, I think it’s important that you hear from more than just me, which is why I like to bring in experts from time to time to shed light on their areas of expertise. Dr. Robert Kolitz, a board-certified OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist, recently shared his expert advice around mindful eating. I have to say, guys, I love his approach. The six tips he shared below are accessible, easy to understand, and easy to implement. Also, he just wrote a book! You can buy it here, or read it for free if you have a Kindle Unlimted membership.
Slow Down
Take the time to chew and enjoy your meal. Sit down with it and allow your senses to take over. How does the meal smell, taste, and feel? Make mealtime a tactile experience and don’t rush to eat. Stay in the moment with your meal. If you find your thoughts drifting away from your meal or bouncing into the future with what you are going to do next, gently bring your focus back to the meal. Notice the smells; savor the taste and texture in your mouth as you are eating. Bringing the focus to the present moment while you eat will help you slow down and enjoy your food. This connection also helps you appreciate your food and creates a positive vibrational frequency, which results in happier mealtimes.
Say Thank You
You don’t have to be religious to say grace before a meal. Simply saying thank you for this abundant meal and respecting the source from which it came is an empowering way for you to connect to your food. Thank the farmers who grew your vegetables or raised your cattle. Think about everything that your food has gone through before arriving on your plate, and take a moment to appreciate and respect that process. Saying thank you will fill you with joy and love and will make you feel a greater connection to your food.
Avoid Multitasking at Mealtimes
Put down your phone, switch off the television, and close your laptop when you are eating. When you are distracted, you cannot consciously eat your meal and enjoy it the same way you can when you are solely focused on it. Avoid engaging in activities that are distracting or noisy while you are eating, and seek some solitude with your food. If you are eating with your family or loved ones, focus on sharing the experience of the meal with them. Talk about the taste, texture, and smell.
Find Joy in Your Food
We focus so much on what we shouldn’t eat that often we get stressed or anxious at mealtimes because we have created a negative association with our food. This negative association ends up being the reason that we do not enjoy our meals because instead of focusing on the experience of the food, we are focused only on what we are not allowed to consume. We think about all of the things we cannot eat or shouldn’t eat and then reach for something healthier, not because we choose that food, but because we are acting on conflicting motivations. Learn to seek out the joy in your food. If you are at the stage where you don’t feel good about eating healthy because you feel deprived, try branching out and experiencing varying types of healthy options until you find something that you really enjoy. Enjoying food is as much about taste as it is about the way it makes you feel.
Don’t focus on what you can’t or shouldn’t eat. That is not the way to look at it. Instead, think about the world of options that are available to you and how those things resonate with your being. Experience the joy in the food that you eat and experiment with different types of vegetables and ingredients until you find something that makes your body, mind, and spirit feel harmonious. When experimenting with food, notice all of the flavors and textures—truly allow yourself to stay in the moment with your meal. Don’t be afraid to try new things, even when they are outside of your comfort zone. Experience the joy in your food by eating the things that make you feel happy and connected to your spirit.
Trust Your Intuition
When it comes to your diet, trust in your intuition. You know what is best for you, and you will have a sense when you eat something if your body likes it or not. A lot of it will be common sense, but sometimes you may have to listen to the cues that your body is providing you. Don’t keep trying to eat something because it is good for you. Sometimes you will simply not like a certain food, and that’s okay. Move on to something else. Healthy eating provides us with a world of opportunity; it’s not just about salads and nuts. There are many great websites that can help you find easy and delicious recipes using the ingredients that you like most. Listen to the inner wisdom of your body to guide you with your eating.
When we look after our homes and our cars, we spend a lot of time finding out what the problem is, asking questions, and getting to the core of the matter. Why would we not do the same with the most important asset of all, our bodies? We take our bodies for granted and spend our lives treating symptoms that would disappear if we were to eat and nourish them the way they really need to be nourished. It has been said that our bodies contain everything they need to repair and heal themselves, so long as they are properly nourished.
Food and Sharing
Have you ever noticed the way you feel when you are sitting around a dinner table with good friends or family sharing an incredible home-cooked meal? Sharing in the experience of a meal is a great way to connect with your food and enhance the experience by enjoying it with others. Our hearts expand and our spirits soar when we share and give to others, and there is no greater gift you can bestow on someone than the gift of a home-cooked meal prepared with love and attention. When you go to a fast-food restaurant, the experience of sharing a burger and fries with your family is not the same as having a picnic with them in a park with things that you have prepared in the home. The energy that you bring to the food when you prepare it, cooked or not, is paramount to the experience of sharing a meal. Your intention when you cook for others is to make them happy and fulfilled. That intention carries such a positive vibration that it permeates through the food and into the people who ingest it. This is why the experience of sitting down to a meal with family is very different than going out to a fast-food restaurant. Have you ever noticed that you can taste the passion of a chef at a really great restaurant? The food tastes brilliant because they love what they do and they love to share that passion with diners.
Consider all of the ways in which you interact with food. What is your relationship like currently? How can you improve the experience of eating and enjoying your meals? We all eat on a daily basis and go through our days getting hungry, eating, and drinking. Conscious eating can completely change the way we interact and feel about our meals and bring us to a place of light and love. Food is a spiritual experience, and so your relationship to food should be one of respect, appreciation, and enjoyment. Healthy eating isn’t meant to be miserable and make you feel unhappy. In fact, it is meant to be the opposite. Healthy eating should make you feel amazing and uplifted; it gives you the energy and vitality you need to be more and do more.
We are getting better as a society and have been placing a greater emphasis on locally grown produce, gardening, and clean food. Our collective consciousness has been rising, and so too have our standards for what we are willing to accept in our lives. We know that the way we have been doing things is not sustainable and does not help the planet or each other. Every time we visit our grocery stores, we have a choice to make. We can buy locally grown organic produce, or we can buy vegetables that have been shipped from thousands of miles away and have been sitting on trucks for days. When you head out to the store to buy your groceries, think about every item that you put into your cart. If you are unsure about something, find out. Know what you are putting into your body. It is your right and your responsibility to know this, and it is perhaps one of the best things you can do to honor and love yourself, ensuring a long and healthy life.
"Living Your Best Life: How to Think, Eat, and Connect your Way to a Better Flow" by Dr. Robert Kiltz is now available on Amazon or at DoctorKiltz.com. For more information, visit Dr. Kiltz's website, or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
"Living Your Best Life: How to Think, Eat, and Connect your Way to a Better Flow" will provide the resources necessary to help create the ideal you by focusing not only on the body but on the mind and the soul as well. Dr. Kiltz applies a holistic approach to medicine, working collaboratively on his patients’ physical being as well as their emotional and spiritual selves. In his book, Dr. Kiltz provides guidance on various self-help techniques such as the power of mediation, eliminating stress, the benefits of yoga, and listening to your inner voice.
About
Dr. Robert Kiltz is a board-certified OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist who has earned recognition outside of the fertility world for pioneering the holistic health movement.. In his latest book “Living Your Best Life: How to Think, Eat, and Connect your Way to a Better Flow,” Dr. Kiltz provides guidance to help you to live your best life and bring your mind, body, and smile into balance. For more information, check out Dr. Kiltz's website, or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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