Women Today

Today, guest blogger Brenda Velissaris of Saris Counseling in Appleton offers five simple tips to avoid overeating:

Many of us have wondered, “Where did all the chips go?” while sitting with a suddenly empty bag on our lap while watching TV.

My vice was thin mint Girl Scout Cookies. The sleeve was gone before I could blink and left me feeling remorseful and contemplating 30 different ways to work off the cookies!

To stop this habit, before I got myself into a tizzy I began to do a “check-in” with myself. It’s a technique I suggest often to individuals who struggle with overeating or mindless eating.

“Checking in” is taking a step back from the situation that just happened and evaluating what you did, when you did it, how you did it, who you did it with and why it was done.

This process helps you understand the dynamics behind the mindless eating that just occurred and learn what not to do next time so that the process is not repeated.

The opposite of mindless eating is, of course, mindfully eating. Mindful eating aims at focusing on the here-and-now experience of eating.

It pays attention to the sight, flavor, texture, and scent of the food, along with the thoughts and feelings you have when you are eating.

To prevent an overeating episode, like the one I recently had, it would have behooved me to practice mindful eating.

Here are some tips about how to eat mindfully:

• Eat when you are sitting down in the kitchen or dinning room, away from other distractions such as the computer or TV.

• Before you start eating, take a few deep breaths.

This helps you shift gears from what you were previously doing to what you are currently doing.
It also helps you relax so that you don’t inhale the food in as you eat.

• Take the time to put the silverware down once in a while. This gives you the opportunity to enjoy what is being eaten.

• When eating in a group, be careful not to get carried away with the conversation going on. Eating and talking can be a big over-eating trap.

When you talk put the fork down, listen, and then eat.

• As you eat, pause and do the check-in with yourself. Determine what your hunger level is and eat accordingly. The aim is to feel satisfied rather than to clean off the plate.

These five tips can help you avoid an all-out eating frenzy.

I do realize we are all human and that it is very easy to slip into old patterns of eating.

If that is the case, and you’re left with an empty half-gallon container of cookie dough ice cream, then use the check-in process so that you are better prepared next time.

Warmly,

Brenda
www.sariscounseling.com