Hey friends,
The summer season is here, and, with it, an increased flow of information on nutrition, latest diets, cleanses, thin beauty ideals, and other quick fixes that use weight loss as a measure of health and happiness.
Let me set the record straight. Following a rigid diet, contrary to popular belief, does not promote sustainable weight loss or weight maintenance, or body acceptance and instead has been linked with weight gain, emotional distress, development of eating disorders, and more! Hence the obsession with being thin and constant restrictions as a path to better health, longevity, and happiness is simply flawed. Yep, you read it right!
When I started my health coaching practice in 2017, I saw a recurring pattern among all of my clients around food.
I would often hear narratives like:
I’m feeling panicked when illness or holiday interrupts my food and workout routine.I restrict or allow food according to how much exercise I do on that day.
I feel anxious about gaining weight.
I should be eating healthier.
I can’t eat that, that’s bad.
I tried every diet, and I keep gaining weight.
I believe that dietary approaches that rely too much on counting calories or macronutrients turn the body into a machine and food into a mathematical equation. That in itself has some benefits, for example, if you’re an athlete preparing for a competition, or if you are looking for a temporary fix (aka shed extra weight, which as study shows will come back when you’re off your diet!).
However, for most people who are not athletes and desire a sustainable healthy relationship with food, the answer does not start in WHAT we eat but HOW we eat. This article is all about exploring mindful eating, so if you are ready to stop operating on autopilot, to stop repeating the same less than healthy patterns over and over again, and want to become more aware of the narratives you have about food and eating, then this piece of writing is for you.
Let’s start with the goal of mindful eating.
The mindful eating practice has only one goal in mind: to help you cultivate a better relationship with food and understand your body better. Any other psychological and physical benefits are usually welcomed side effects of this process.
So why is HOW we eat so important?
Because if you practice the art of how you eat (aka mindful eating) with enough attention, patience and trust, it will eventually re-connect you with your innate body wisdom.
Why is re-connecting with our innate body wisdom important?
Modern food, the over-glorification of business, and fitness culture, in a way, eroded us from the ability to listen to our intuition around food. Most of us don’t even know when we are hungry, full, or about our actual food cravings. Our food portion and what we eat is arbitrary and mostly depends on the plate size, we are serving the food, rather than on what and how much we need. We are so caught up with our ‘business’ that we tend to eat WAY too fast and do other things while eating, and this results in mindless eating, poor digestion, under and/or overeating.
By slowing down, we learn what we like and dislike, improve digestion, and allow the nutrients to be absorbed appropriately. Mindful eating opens the time and space for us to tune in to how the food makes us feel and when we’ve had enough.
No one knows what is best for you but you. No one knows what it’s like to live in your body but you. That’s why no one has a right to try to control you or tell you what’s best for you.
Is mindful eating an easy practice?
No, not really. First, it requires patience as you won’t see any tangible results right away. Second, it will bring a lot of awareness to your self-sabotaging behaviours, which can be liberating and scary at the same time as it puts you back in the driver's seat of your life. Third, it requires you to adopt a self-compassionate attitude by giving yourself grace when you notice something you don’t like about yourself or when you make mistakes. It means choosing kindness over criticism and judgment.
So how can you start?
You can start by getting familiar with your 5 senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing). You can start by looking at the food, smelling the food, touching the food (Yes! Playing with food is allowed!), tasting the flavours and describing them, and finally listening to your body before and after you eat.
When was the last time you used your 5 senses?
Acknowledge the physical and emotional response to specific foods (whether positive, negative or neutral) and the general experience of eating without judgment.
Develop awareness of the internal and external (i.e., portion size, feeling bored/sad/happy/stressed) influences on our food choices and eating habits, and identify physical hunger and fullness cues as they arise.
If you feel up for it, you can try making and then eating these delicious gluten-free brownies (recipe below) mindfully by following these steps (adapted from Jon Kabat Zinn’s Raisin exercise)
Here’s how it works:
Holding: First, take the brownie and hold it in the palm of your hand.
Seeing: Take time to focus on it; gaze at the brownie with care and full attention—imagine that you’ve just dropped in from Mars and have never seen an object like this before in your life. Let your eyes explore every part of it, examining the highlights where the light shines, the darker hollows, the folds and ridges, and any asymmetries or unique features.
Touching: Turn the brownie over between your fingers, exploring its texture. Maybe do this with your eyes closed if that enhances your sense of touch.
Smelling: Hold the brownie beneath your nose. With each inhalation, take in any smell, aroma, or fragrance that may arise. As you do this, notice anything interesting that may be happening in your mouth or stomach.
Placing: Now, slowly bring the brownie up to your lips, noticing how your hand and arm know exactly how and where to position it. Gently take a small bite and place the brownie in your mouth; without chewing, noticing how it gets into your mouth in the first place. Please spend a few moments focusing on the sensations of having it in your mouth, exploring it with your tongue.
Tasting: When you are ready, prepare to chew the first bite of your brownie, noticing how and where it needs to be for chewing. Then, consciously, take one or two bites into it and notice what happens in the aftermath, experiencing any waves of taste that emanate from it as you continue chewing. Without swallowing yet, notice the bare sensations of taste and texture in your mouth and how these may change over time, moment by moment. Also, please pay attention to any changes in the object itself.
Swallowing: When you feel ready to swallow the brownie piece, see if you can first detect the intention to swallow it as it comes up so that even this is experienced consciously before you actually swallow it.
Following: Finally, see if you can feel what is left of the slight bite of brownie moving down into your stomach, and sense how your body as a whole feels after you have completed this exercise.
After the exercise, reflect on how eating this brownie piece was different from your usual chocolate
indulgence 🍫🍫🍫
I’m thinking of changing July (and every month) to a mindfulness month. Anyone else?
Super Gooey Brownies (GF)
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups almond flour
1/2 cup organic cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 organic eggs
1 cup organic chocolate nibs (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Direction:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C and line a pan with parchment paper.
In a food processor, mix all the ingredients.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the 1 cup chocolate nibs on top.
Bake for 20 -25 minutes. When you remove it from the oven and tilt the pan, it may appear to move a little, but that’s ok we want the moist texture.
The brownies will continue to bake as they sit in the pan and firm up as they cool
Let cool completely and cut into squares. They get firmer and have a great texture from the fridge!
The GCS crew gave the brownies thumbs up :-)
Until next month, friends… stay mindful!
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about mindful eating, I will be holding a workshop with a delicious homemade breakfast.
PSS. The next women’s circle will be Friday, 23 July. PM me for details.
And here is what two of my recent clients say about working with me:
What specific part of the coaching package did you like best?
Working with you, you get to look at the whole picture and try new ways of doing things and new ways of being through meditation and nature. For women, in particular, understanding the two body clocks we have and allowing them to be a compass is great; also the support between calls was incredible and knowing you are there every step of the way was grounding and eased some anxiety for me -Jenna Lea
In the end, I’d always catch myself feeling like I had just finished an amazing hot yoga class or meditated for a full hour. The sessions were never easy, but the harvest was always there. Also, our final session with Conversations with the Soul. That was special. - Nos
Is there any other feedback that you would like to add?
The calls where we got to reflect and feedback. I enjoyed learning and exploring new ideas and setting intentions, and having the support and accountability between calls through voice notes were amazing.- Jenna Lea
Iza is exceptional in her soft yet effective approach in coaching. She takes you as an entire individual and allows you to see how the dots connect from one part of your life to another. She maps out where more love can be invited into, and that is always the most difficult as we are our harshest critics. I have recommended her to my closest friends who might be hurting at the moment and encourage those of you who are seeking some guidance to connect with her. - Nos
Thank you for the lovely feedback and all the growth from having the opportunity to work with so many incredible women.
That’s all from me. Thank you for reading, for being here, and for spreading the word about my work so that my articles can be read by more people.
With love,
Iza
Coaching Psychologist and Relationship Coach
selfgrowthcourses.com thriveinshanghai.com