One of my wonderful clients told me about a new book that was featured on Oprah, Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. It has everything to do with eating, weight loss, maintaining your weight, feeling good, loving and honoring yourself. My Just Lose It! weight loss program begins next Tuesday and I am always looking for a few new pearls to make the journey easier, more fun, satisfying, and do-able long term for my clients. There is no one way.
Here are her 7 Guidelines to Eating More Consciously:
- Eat when you’re hungry
- Eat in a calm environment, sitting down
- Eat without distractions
- Eat what your body wants
- Eat until you’re satisfied
- Eat with the intention of eating in full view of other people
- Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure
What makes these rules different than my Eating Mindfully guidelines is that all of the guidelines need to be phrased around love – loving yourself and your body. If I were to take it one step further, I would incorporate Eckhart Tolle’s concept that our body and mind are one. We are not separate from our bodies. What impacts our mind, impacts our body.
So, if love could speak to you about food, Geneen says it would say, “Sweetheart, eat when you’re hungry.” This means that you are truly hungry (below 5 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being very full) and you are eating for nourishment. Begin to figure out when you are truly hungry. This means that you have to have enough time between meals and snacks to get truly hungry.
Robin’s aside: make sure that you work with a nutritionist here because there are times when you may need to eat to keep your blood sugar balanced to support hormone burnout.
You always want to eat in a calm environment and actually sit down when eating. You deserve that. You deserve the love that you give yourself when you allow time for a peaceful meal, even if it’s 5 minutes. It reduces anxiety and allows for improved digestion. No bad conversation or other disruptions, but rather the kindness you give yourself to just focus on your meal. Yum!
Eating what your body wants means just that. Not what your mind wants. What does your body want? You may need to work with a nutritionist to figure out what this is if it’s been awhile since you’ve eaten this way.
Eating until you feel satisfied is somewhere around 4-5 on the 1-10 scale. That’s all. This is a very important concept if you love and honor yourself. Eating more than “satisfied” impairs digestion and satisfies the mind not the body. Remember lovely, beautiful one, it’s all about taking care of yourself.
When you eat with the intention of eating in full view of other people, you are giving yourself the message that you are wonderful and lovely just as you are, even when you’re eating. When you sneak food you are giving yourself the message that you are not accepting and loving of yourself.
My favorite guideline of all, is “eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.” Food is truly delicious. There is no better time in the day then when I get to assemble a meal and eat it. It is a “sensual” experience. Get rid of the conflict you’re having with food and get back to the real reason we need to eat – to nourish our bodies. Then take it one step further and really enjoy your meals in every way. Now that’s luscious!!
Love and honor yourself, your food, and your life. Sounds wonderful. (click here to watch video)
