Are you ready????

Ohhhhhhhhh, this one hits me right where it hurts!!!  Right smack dab in the middle of the closet.    I am horrible about closet eating, and that's something I've been working on overcoming for the past four years.  I still have my moments where I feel the need to hide and eat, but I have come A LONG way.   But just like this poster says, we can't truly hide from reality.  


Make the decision to change.  It doesn't have to be big changes, just start with little changes.   Next time you sit down to eat, leave two bites on your plate.  That's not a difficult change, but over time, it will make difference. (That doesn't mean you can add two extra bites to what you normally eat now, though! :-)    I've done a lot of reading about mindful eating and it always makes such great sense to me when I'm reading about it.  I don't always put it to practice, but I've definitely become better about paying attention to what I'm eating and really enjoying the food.   Here are a few ideas that you can try if you want to: 


1.   After you have fixed your plate, set the kitchen time for 25 minutes.   Use only that 25 minutes to eat what is on your plate.  It will force you to slow down in your eating.     If you finish before the timer goes off, sit at the table and drink water for the remainder of the time.  If you are still hungry when the timer goes off then go back for half the amount of food you had the first time.    If the timer goes off before you finish eating what's on your plate, throw the rest of your food away because you've already eaten enough to sustain yourself. 


2.  No matter what you're eating, whether it's a meal or a snack, sit down at the table and eat it as though it's a gourmet meal. 


3.  Use a salad plate for your dinner instead of a dinner plate.  We tend to be more satisfied with our meal if we can fill our plates - and filling a salad plate will be far less calories than filling a dinner plate.


4.  If you're craving something and really want it, go ahead and eat it.  But refer back to number 2.  Let's say you really want a donut.   Put the donut on a plate, get a fork and a knife and go sit at the table.  Cut your donut into tiny pieces - I'd say at least 12 pieces.  Eat the donut with the fork, one bite at a time.  Use all of your senses to eat it - smell it, let it linger on your tongue so you feel the texture, roll it around in your mouth so all of your taste buds get to experience it.  


You might feel ridiculous doing some of these things at first, but they really do work.  Eventually you naturally slow down in your eating and your start being satisfied with much less food.   There will even be days when you take 6 bites of that 12 bite donut and decide you're satisfied with just half.   So what do you think - are you ready?