Wisdom's Bridge

Aging well

Mindfulness promotes good health

FREEDOM TO EAT

Mindful Eating is not about weight loss; it’s about reclaiming the pleasure and satisfaction of food and of eating. You may indeed lose weight when you eat mindfully, as you return to your natural weight.

You may be scared to let go of dieting and the diet mentality. “What’s going to become my weight and my size”? “I’m going to be completely out of control; I’m just going to get bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier”. “I just have to have a plan”.

But you will also be learning a lot. You will resign from the clean plate club; you will be able to leave half your meal on the restaurant table and walk out, not because you are being good, that is, denying yourself, but because you don’t want any more. You’re full, satisfied  and you don’t care that you paid for all that food. The restaurant has its own food disposal, and you’re not it.

You’ll become more keenly aware of your hunger and what you are hungry for. You may have ice cream in your freezer and be surprised to find that most of the time you hardly think about it; at other times you might have a craving for ice cream and you’ll have some and enjoy it without going overboard and without feeling guilty.

You’ll be learning to accept and appreciate your body and the ways it takes care of you. Your body is your only home in this life, this material existence. Your body is intuitive; it knows better than you do what its proper weight, shape and size should be and it will fight you to have its way.

You can help by honoring your body’s natural and healthy instincts and choosing foods intelligently, not according to calorie content or points but according to your best estimates of what makes balanced eating.

You will be teaching yourself to eat when you are hungry, to enjoy what you are eating – the look, the texture, the smells and the tastes of your food – and to stop eating when you are satisfied.

You’ll also learn to tell when you are eating for emotional needs, anger, loneliness, stress, and to find better ways to handle these feelings.

You won’t just be learning to enjoy eating; you’ll also learn to be at home in your body and to enjoy life more, to make sure you have time and energy for yourself and for the kinds of things that bring satisfaction and fulfillment to your spirit.