Mindless eating -- eating subconciously or while paying little or no attention to your food or its portion -- is one of the biggest weight-loss challenges I've had to deal with. Who hasn't found themselves automatically
reaching into a nearby cookie jar when coping with the stress of paying bills? And have you ever found yourself on the couch with bag of chps and no memory of getting it out of the
kitchen? I've been there. Here are some of the ways I cope:
- Eat at designated locations. I used to eat all over my house and very rarely sat down at the table. I knew if I was ever going to eat mindfully, I would need to return to the habit of eating at a table. I started out by making the bedrooms off-limits completely and allowing myself to eat in the living room as a special treat, such as socializing with friends. This helps me to avoid the eating triggers that lead me to eat such as fast-food commercials or "lulling" myself to sleep with a snack when I feel restless.
- Eat on a schedule. When I worked from home full-time, eating on a schedule became a thing of the past. Before I knew it, I was eating dinner at midnight. Not only did this derail my dieting efforts, but it made me feel like my days were out-of-control and the habit affected my workflow adversely, too. I also became overly hungry and often ate much more than I had planned on. Eating at designated times made my day happier, healthier and provided a needed sense of structure.
- Set guidelines on snacking. For years I ate more between meals than I ate at meals. This didn't allow me the opportunity to eat many healthy foods at my meals because I had eaten junk food that dulled my appetite. By allowing myself only fruits or vegetables between meals, I not only upped my nutrition and fiber intake, but I found out that meals were much more enjoyable, and I could be more mindful of my food, when I was a little hungry rather than eating preemptively to always take the "edge" off my hunger.
- Teach yourself to enjoy healthy foods. Part of being mindful is really enjoying what you're eating. If, like me, your idea of enjoying eating is polishing off a plate full of cookies or a half pint of ice cream, you will have to reprogram yourself to have a new idea of what enjoying eating really is. It will not happen overnight, so don't expect it to. No one goes from revelling in a junk food binge to loving every bite of a fruit plate. But in time, the less often you give in to cravings for the junk and replace it with the good stuff, you will find things you like about those new foods, be it their flavor, texture, or the light and refreshed feeling you have after eating them.
- Be prepared for pushers. No matter how mindful you learn to become about your eating habits at home, there will be times that being around other people will lead you back into old habits. One of the best ways to cope is to rehearse how you'll respond to cues that set you up to overeat. This could be as simple as planning what you will say at a holiday gathering where family try to get you to eat too much or having a healthy snack on hand when the office "treats lady" waves a plate of brownies under your nose.
