Written by: Beckie Kullberg, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When food trackers came out I thought what a great idea! I entered my food and it would magically calculate my calories, carbs, fats, and sugars. On days that I exercised, I got to eat more calories-genius, or was it?
Some days I would be more hungry and other days less. Did my food tracker know these variations? At the end of each day, I would either be at, below or above my calorie intake for the day and that number is what I based my worth on. Yup, I admit it, I looked to my food tracker to tell me if I was “good” or “bad”. It was a familiar feeling, one that I had with my scale and I did not like it.
Turns out, we are born with a food tracker! What!?! Who knew?
Perhaps not so much a tracker as it is the ability to know when to eat, how much to eat as well as when to stop eating.
Our bodies are born with the power to know when we are hungry and when we are full. Think of a baby crying to let its parents know it's hungry (I’ve been known to cry when I am hangry) and when the baby is full they stop eating.
We. Still. Have. This. Power.
Insert: Mindful Eating.
It’s a lot easier than you think and you get to eat the foods you love, like really love. Not those diet foods you eat while trying to convince yourself that you enjoy eating like a rabbit.
Here’s a step-by-step approach on how to eat mindfully. Do this alone, with a friend, or bring the whole family in on this.
Decide what you want to eat and prepare your food with thought and gratitude (where did it come from?), then take it to the table. Remove all distractions like TV, cell phone, and computer.
Take a good look at your food, what colors, textures do you see?
Smell it, get in there and get a good whiff.
Pick up either the utensil you’re using or pick up if using fingers.
Open your mouth and put in some food and put down your fork or food in your hand.
Keep it on your tongue and actually taste it before you chew or swallow.
Now start to chew slowly and taste and enjoy what’s going on in there.
I tell my clients to pretend as though they are food critics and to describe their food that way.
When you fully chewed that bite you may swallow and notice how the taste stays on in your mouth for a while-we tend to just jump to the next bite without enjoying the lingering taste.
Take another bite and put down your fork or food and chew slowly and swallow when ready.
After a few bites check in with your tummy and notice how it feels. Is it starting to fill up, do you feel less hungry? Do you notice after about 5 bites you don’t even notice the taste of the food any longer?
When you feel full, not stuffed, stop eating and put away your food.
At this point, there may be more food on your plate and you believe that you should just eat it, why let it go to waste, right? I like to think of two versions of that, it either goes to waste or my waist. If you are full, stop eating and save it for later.
When you eat mindfully, you enjoy your food more and eat less. What food tracker can tell you when your tummy is full? You, you’re your own food tracker-trust it
Beckie Kullberg, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine For the past thirty years, Beckie Kullberg has guided women of all ages and walks of life to fully understand and embrace self-love. She is a gentle leader who bonds with her clients and provides a safe haven for them to build body confidence and achieve a positive mindset. Her own story of binge-eating and recovery prompted her to create programs and tools to help others succeed in establishing strong self-esteem. Beckie coined the phrase “image nemesis” as she designed the courses “30 Days to Breakup with Binge Eating” and “Body Confidence and Weight Release.” After hiding her secret for years (even her husband didn’t know), Beckie took multiple self-development courses and made the shift to stop the shame and restore optimal health of mind and body.
She feels grateful to live in scenic Sonoma County with her husband of eighteen years and her teenage son, where she loves to hike the local trails and connect with nature.
