Losing weight is often a challenge. It is a task that is never seen as easy or simple. After all, losing weight requires a significant change in eating habits, both physical and psychological.
Our thoughts and emotions often have a significant influence on how we eat. Likewise, the food we eat also affects our emotional health. It is a two-way street that needs to be controlled so that it can flow properly.
Because of this, the idea of a change in mentality in relation to food has increasingly spread. It is necessary to change the way in which we perceive our food — or do not perceive it, acting in the field of the unconscious — so that the practical change occurs in a more natural and consistent way.
When working on our mindset about food, losing weight tends to be a consequence of new attitudes. The way we start to face the “challenge” of dieting changes, making it stop being a challenge and become a lifestyle without suffering and abdications.
If you are looking for this change and want to know how your thoughts can influence weight loss, read on!
Food as a habit
As time went by and as humans evolved, food was no longer seen only as a physical necessity, fundamental to our survival. She went on to have the status of social habits.
The way families were organized made mealtimes an opportunity to bring everyone together at the table. Social events have made food a must. And there is no birthday party, wedding or graduation, and even a simple meeting between friends without food of any kind. being served.
In this way, food intake at any time and in any place ended up being naturalized to such an extent that it has even become a way of having fun and having pleasure. When in fact, food should only serve to supply our need for nutrients that are essential to health and life.
At this point in the championship, it is practically impossible to change this pattern. And, for those who are looking to lose weight, this “custom”, this “having to eat” can be quite harmful.
How many times have you found yourself refusing dinner invitations or things like that, justifying the fact that you are on a diet? Or, even sticking your diet just by going to places where food is a strong presence?
All of this ends up generating internal conflicts and, in some way, damaging our relationship with food and even with our social circle. The consequences can appear on the scale and also outside it, damaging our mental health as well as physical.
So how to make the presence of food in our daily lives healthier, without exaggeration and without guilt? The answer is: changing our mindset, paying attention to what we eat, and becoming aware of our wishes.
Mindful eating: mindfulness to lose weight
Much has been said about mindfulness, the mindfulness technique that helps to direct awareness to the present moment, helping to reduce levels of stress, anxiety, improve sleep, among many other benefits.
And since mindfulness is beneficial in so many areas of our lives, we can also direct awareness of our relationship with food.
The concept of mindful eating uses the principles of mindfulness in food so that it becomes possible to lose weight by controlling thoughts and directing the focus to the act of eating. This is because we have started to make more conscious choices about food and pay more attention to satiety.
Here are some practical tips for introducing mindfulness into your eating routine:
Question and assess your hunger
Hunger and the desire to eat are quite different things, but still very confused. As we are in the habit of eating at the slightest sign of “snoring belly”, it is sometimes difficult to learn to identify real hunger.
So, before eating, question the level of your hunger and assess the need to eat immediately on a scale of 1 to 10. If the hunger does in fact win, continue to question yourself after a few bites or mouthfuls. Constantly assess your hunger level until you are satisfied, but not full.
To lose weight, eat slowly
Several researches related to obesity have proven that eating fast does not help those who want to lose weight. Therefore, one of the mindful eating techniques is related to the speed of food intake.
When eating slowly, it is possible to taste food more carefully and perceive the level of satiety with greater clarity, which will consequently lead to less eating.
Eliminate distractions
Those who want to lose weight do not benefit from eating in a distracted manner. And mindfulness of diet suggests exactly that the individual essentially focuses on their meal.
So when you decide that you really need to eat, get out of the front of the TV or computer, drop your cell phone and go to a quiet place, where only you and your plate are. It is not worth listening to music, leafing through magazines and newspapers, or any type of activity that takes the focus away from food.
In this way, it will be possible to avoid excesses and transform meals into moments of meditation and relaxation.
Write down your food cravings
For those looking to lose weight and using mindfulness techniques for the first time, a precious tip is to keep a diary and record all desires related to food.
From this, it will be possible to learn to identify when food is a real need or just a will triggered by some fact or feeling, in which food may be serving as an escape valve.
By recognizing your desires associated with food, you will be able to make more conscious decisions about whether or not to give in to the desire to eat.
Taking care of eating disorders to lose weight
It is not only due to lack of attention, wrong habits, and poor food choices that many people are unable to lose weight. The root of the problem may be precisely in the psychological aspect that involves the relationship with food, and practicing mindful eating can contribute to the identification of eating disorders, mainly related to binge eating.
This is a health problem in which cognitive-behavioral therapy must be part of the treatment, and mindfulness is one of the tools used to work the healing process.
In addition, a medical evaluation is essential, as binge eating is generally linked to cases of anxiety and depression, which may still require treatment with appropriate medication, in addition to psychotherapy.
For all these reasons it is important to develop awareness and the ability to control thoughts, in order to acquire good habits and a healthier lifestyle!
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