CONSCIOUS EATING

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CONSCIOUS EATING

By Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D.

Americans are experiencing an epidemic of obesity. Most Americans
eat entirely too much food, and move themselves too little. There are
other Americans who regularly go hungry. I do not wish to make a
social comment on the obvious discrepancy, but I do want to write
about the psychology of eating.

Our bodies were constructed to tolerate and survive rather long
periods without eating food. When food is scarce, our metabolism
rather quickly goes into a "preparation-for-starvation mode." In this
mode, when we eat food and don't burn it through bodily movement or
body temperature maintenance, the body tends to store it all for
future use. This is often why people, who go on diets with little or
no food, still do not lose weight. Whatever food they do take in, the
body converts to body fat to keep them alive until the next time food
is available (whenever that might be).

In the situation where food is readily available, we tend to select
what we eat by sight and appeal, rather than by bodily cues regarding
what the body needs with respect to amounts and types of foods. We
also pay little or no attention to when we eat, where we eat, what we
eat, how we eat, and how much we eat. In short, eating is usually an
unconscious activity.

In order to eat consciously, you need to begin paying attention to
the eating process. If you "tune in" to your body and how it reacts
to your eating, and eat only according to what it really needs, your
weight will return to its optimum level without special dieting or
starvation schedules. Here are some basic rules for eating
consciously.

Eat only when you are actually hungry and for no other reason. Eat
slowly and stop eating when satisfied...not when you are stuffed.

Whenever you eat, sit down at a table with the food on it. Don't
"eat on the run," in your car, while walking, standing at the kitchen
counter, or just standing. Eat only while sitting down at a table.

When eating, don't do anything else...like read the newspaper, drive
a car, finish office work, or continue to prepare food. How can you
attend to eating if your mind is doing something else?

Don't talk with your mouth full. Yes, our parents taught us this.
But you would be surprised to discover how often people speak when
there is still food in their mouths.

Don't put any food in your mouth until the previous bite is in your
stomach. Shoveling in the food as if you were going to run out,
merely increases the speed with which you will.

Become aware of your physical experience of hunger. Make a
mental scale to assess your hunger level. Level 1 is completely
empty. At level 5 your stomach is comfortably full, not stretched.
At level 10, you are in pain because your stomach is stretched to the
maximum. Eat food only when your stomach is at level 1 or 2. Stop
eating when you are comfortably at level 5. Once or twice a week
allow yourself to experience level 1, which is at least four hours
after you have eaten something before. Forget about established
eating times. Go by stomach cues. Nothing else. At level 5, you
feel good and energized. At level 6, you begin to feel tired or
heavy.

Every time you eat, write down the time you ate, what your hunger
level was at the beginning and ending of your eating and whether or
not you enjoyed the food. Ask your stomach if it really enjoyed
receiving the food.

Eat no food until the previous food has left the stomach completely.
Usually about 3-4 hours. Snacks between meals are out, unless all
previous food is out of the stomach, and your hunger is at level one.

Make sure each meal has food which addresses each taste of sweet,
sour, salty, bitter, spicy, and astringent. We need to expose
ourselves to each of these tastes at least once a day, otherwise we
get a craving, not for the food itself, but for the taste.

The first helping is about two-cupped-hands full. Fill your stomach,
which is about the size of your closed fist, to about two thirds full.
Eat dessert first, if you eat dessert at all. Drink an 8-oz. glass
of water 5 minutes before putting anything in your mouth.

Move your body every day for at least an hour. Walking, swimming,
biking, weight training, dancing, or calisthenics are all good ways to
move. Move in ways that you enjoy.

After following these rules, if you still want to eat, wait five
minutes drink a glass of water. You will most likely lose the urge.
If you are still hungry and have the urge to eat, go ahead. But
follow the rules above. If this happens all the time, you probably
have some kind of eating disorder or are eating for reasons other than
hunger.

If you eat consciously, you are much more likely to enjoy eating and
your body won't pay the price of becoming obese.