Mid-week mindfulness this week comes hot on the tail of the news yesterday about calorie counting and dropping our calorie intake. While we don’t really agree with calorie counting as an effective way to eat healthily, it’s true that we are often eating more than we need!
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Essentially this is about us slowing our eating down, plugging our brains in and consuming with a mindful connection to what we are eating. You’ll find if we do slow our eating down, the food has a chance to hit our stomachs sooner and you’ll be feeling full earlier than you might if you were eating without thinking/feeling. Sounds simple but it takes practice!
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This is something that can take time with kids to introduce. If your kids are anything like my lively 4yr old, they start gobbling while chatting and jiggling in their chairs, thinking less about the food and more about their surroundings.. Having said that, smaller children are excellent at eating what they need rather than eating for the sake of it, so it might be worth taking a leaf out of their book!
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In our house we try to occasionally take a moment before starting to eat to calm things down then look and think about what’s on our plates. Whether it’s chewing more or putting down the fork/spoon in between mouthfuls, slowing down has big benefits both for healthy eating and greater pleasure over the food 🙏
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