I know several of my readers appreciated my long posts about meal-time self talk. However those posts and most of my other posts seem too long to hold anyone's interest, much less mine when I reread them. So, just as I'm learning to say 'enough already' when I eat meals (and maybe leave a bite or 2), I want to write shorter posts about my day to day experiences with mindful eating.
I'm currently reading "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" by Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D. So I may describe my experiences with some of those mindful eating practices within the next few posts. I seem to more easily 'stop eating when satisfied' if I eat mindfully. However I haven't read any more helpful suggestions (to stop eating when satisfied) than the following 3:
(1) "It is much easier to notice when you are full if you stay alert while you are eating. If you savor every mouthful, you won't feel cheated. The sense of fullness won't come too soon and you will be ready to stop eating." (Susie Orbach in "On Eating")
(2) "Listen for the small quiet voice that says 'I've had enough'. The difference between hunger and enoughness can be, and often is, a bite or maybe two. If you are quiet enough and not directing your attention elsewhere you can hear the bodily transition to satisfaction. ... Your body is saying 'I've had enough. You can keep eating if you want but I'm ready to stop.' That voice is quiet and easy to miss, especially when you aren't used to hearing it or when the food tastes so good you don't want to hear it." (Geneen Roth in "Breaking Free from Emotional Eating")
(3) "Decide beforehand that for a period of a few days or a week you are going to leave a few bites of food on your plate at each meal ... Decide that you want to know what it's like to consistently be comfortable with your food intake, to feel powerful and in charge of your eating ... It's not always going to be easy. But you can get through the hard moments by reminding yourself that (1) you can eat anytime you get hungry and that (2) you are taking care of yourself even though it may not seem like it at the moment. Ask youself how you want to feel when you get DONE eating." (Geneen Roth in "Breaking Free ...")
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2 comments:
Great quotes! Thanks so much!
You're welcome! Amazingly I read Geneen Roth's book years ago and highlighted those words. However, I did not choose to actually follow her suggestions until recently.
All the suggestions for people who overate and binged didn't help me when I binged and purged. I didn't have to endure the pain of overly full when I purged. I didn't have to face the consequences of overeating when I purged. Of course, purging brought its own set of consequences, but I ignored those for years.
It's amazing that when I finally focussed on eating mindfully, rather than just not bingeing (which I always followed with purging), I more easily gave up bingeing which eliminated purging. Focussing on 'doing' was more effective that working on 'not doing'.
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