Buffet or Ala Carte: Add “Awareness” to the Menu

Sue was sitting attending a family wedding. Food, festivities and laughter set the tone for this occasion. Between the singing and dancing, people were grabbing appetizers and drinks. The variety of cuisines were so delectable and tempting. Sue filled up her plate and sat down to eat with an old friend. They were reminiscing about the good old days and as emotions rose Sue gobbled her food mindlessly and ate double her normal portion.

Now let’s change the setting of this scene. Sue is at home eating food while simultaneously engrossed watching her favorite TV show. Her attention is focused on the suspense thriller she is watching. She is so excited that she overeats in a compulsive manner.

Rethink and bring a mind shift to our thought process. Its not the holiday season that really made us over eat or binge. It’s the lack of “Mindfulness”. Once we bring in awareness into the simple act of putting food in our mouth the entire ingestion process turns organic. In this course of action, we become conscious of the of food we are consuming. We start to choose healthy and nutritious foods over junk food, fast food. Since, we set the ball of awareness rolling every choice is made purposefully. Every morsel we eat is done with a certain awareness controlling how much food we consume; depending on our daily physical routine. We are no longer swallowing our food in a hurry.  On the contrary, we chew the food deliberately in our mouth, for a long time. The compulsive gobbling act transforms into a calm act of “peaceful eating”.

Several negative emotions can dictate our dietary choices and the way we eat. The trick is to recognize these signs of compulsions which make us gravitate towards unhealthy food choices. A variety of techniques can be used to prevent us from falling into these uncontrollable eating patterns. Meditation, breathing techniques, yoga practices increase our awareness, thus helping us to break this compelling cycle of eating disorders. The awareness develops at a subtle level and enables us to observe our negative emotions.

Once we become established and rooted in our awareness, portion control will be a natural occurrence, reducing our extra flab.  A few external factors have to be taken into consideration, to prevent over-eating and a healthy body.

Each individual metabolism varies and thus the calorie intake should be accordingly monitored. A certain amount of physical activity or exercise is essential to develop the muscle and tone of the physical body. In addition to following a healthy diet consistently, we need to sweat it out a bit to maintain a consistent number on the weighing scale!

Last but not the least, we need to focus on getting a good night’s sleep. Sleep re-energizes our system by giving our mental and physical body a complete rest. Stress levels are also kept under control, enabling us to keep a serene and tranquil mind.

Buffet or Ala Carte! It does not matter…..just eat “Consciously”