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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 5, 2020 0:17:49 GMT
Thursday, 11/05
Day 5 – Eat Slowly and Mindfully
Beck gives two reasons why it is important to do this: when you eat slowly your mind has time to register that you are full; when you notice and enjoy every mouthful, you feel more satisfied when the food is gone.
She gives suggestions on how to slow down your eating:
Change something in your environment. Change something on the table such as putting a vase in front of your plate to remind yourself to slow down.
Set a timer to beep every one to three minutes for you to take a break. One poster had a timer on her phone she used.
Take sips of water every few bites.
Look at the clock. Keep track of how long it takes you to eat and try to make the meals longer.
Here are her suggestions for how to notice what you are eating:
Eat in a relaxed atmosphere.
Focus intently on your food. “Savor the taste of each bite, noting the flavor and texture of everything you eat.
Train yourself to eat with some distractions. At first practice eating without distractions so you can concentrate on eating slowly and mindfully then go back to having distractions but keep up eating slowly and mindfully. When you start to eat quickly and mindlessly again go back to practicing without distractions.
How are you doing on eating slowly and mindfully? Are you willing to eat without distractions to practice the skill?
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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 5, 2020 0:19:02 GMT
I believe in eating slowly and mindfully. I found out while losing weight that if I ate slowly my allotted food would satisfy me where if I ate fast I could still be hungry. I associate fast distracted eating with gaining weight. I'm not that good about eating mindfully though. I'm a moderate eater. It does take me awhile to eat my raw veggie salad at night, probably because of all that chewing. I currently eat with distractions.
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Post by cathygeha on Nov 5, 2020 7:08:26 GMT
How are you doing on eating slowly and mindfully? Not a big priority for some reason
Are you willing to eat without distractions to practice the skill? Probably not? I usually read while eating.
I think that for me it is more important to determine points for the day, stay within those points, write down what I eat with points and stop when I reach the points to be eaten. I usually am satisfied and if I have weeklies left will sometimes dip into them for a snack later in the day/evening. It works for me. If I were eating CORE or on some other plan and not counting...maybe these exercises would help?
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Post by luvvinlife on Nov 5, 2020 14:03:04 GMT
I’ve always been a fast eater, however, since the shutdown I began practicing Judy’s mantra from years ago: “Don’t put Food in your mouth when you have food in your mouth.”
Generally, I eat with distractions. My portions are weighed and measured and I don’t reach for seconds (unless it’s 🍕 🤣).
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Post by mac on Nov 5, 2020 14:34:52 GMT
How are you doing on eating slowly and mindfully?
Probably OK most days until the time change came along, since we eat an hour later I'm quite hungry so tend to eat faster. I need to focus on this because I try to chew my food several times before swallowing, when hungry I don't chew the food much which does cause me to eat faster and eat more.
Are you willing to eat without distractions to practice the skill?
I ate breakfast without distractions this morning and it does allow me to be more aware of eating slowly and mindfully. I won't do this all the time as I do have distractions when I eat like TV but many days I listen to Easy Listening Music on Comcast part of the day and the music helps me to eat slower.
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lizlor
Transcendent Member
Posts: 1,161
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Post by lizlor on Nov 5, 2020 16:40:30 GMT
I thought it was a win if I ate seated- especially breakfast. If alone, I’m usually reading something but I am going to try and lesson the distractions. I am a fast eater and that is counter to best practices, so I need this reminder.
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ladymajky
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220/169/150
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Post by ladymajky on Nov 5, 2020 17:03:59 GMT
Dang! New sabotaging situation this morning. Or rather, an old situation, but one which I only just realized involved giving in to a sabotaging thought.
I gave blood this morning. I have given blood many, many times over the last 40 years or so. I am very familiar with the routine. And sure enough, after the nurse put the bandage on my elbow and told me to take it easy for the rest of the day, the nurse told me to go to the canteen area and have some juice and cookies.
So I did. Because [SABOTAGING THOUGHT] the nurse told me to. And because [SABOTAGING THOUGHT] I need to replenish my blood sugar. And because [SABOTAGING THOUGHT] I feel very righteous and civic-minded to be giving blood, and juice and cookies are a well-earned reward.
I know the drill. I know the reason the nurse wanted me to have cookies and juice. They had bottled water available, which would have served the purpose. I could have taken a banana or a Halo tangerine in my purse, which would have served the purpose. But no, I latched on to those SABOTAGING THOUGHTS without hesitation. Next time.... I will have that banana in my purse.
Meanwhile, I own the slip. I tracked it honestly. Now at 12 noon I am way over my points for today, and I'm looking at 0-point meals for the rest of the day.
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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 5, 2020 17:41:28 GMT
ladymajky, Good idea about taking a banana with you.
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Post by mac on Nov 5, 2020 18:11:02 GMT
ladymajkyGood for you to recognize what you did and move on by eating 0 point foods the rest of the day and knowing what you have to do in a situation like that again, well done! My virtual meeting this morning was on not beating ourselves up for our mistakes but being kind to ourselves! Good for you to donate blood! I always enjoy your posts with a bit of humor!🤗
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ladymajky
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Post by ladymajky on Nov 5, 2020 19:57:36 GMT
I needed to share my lightbulb 💡 moment from this morning. However, I did have an on-topic post planned.
I keep going back to the Chain of Events that ends in eating: TRIGGER ➡ THOUGHT ➡ DECISION ➡ ACTION
It seems to me that eating fast and mindlessly causes us to take the Chain of Events out of order: TRIGGER ➡ ACTION ➡ THOUGHT ➡ DECISION
TRIGGER: Nurse says eat cookies.
ACTION: Gobble cookies, while looking around donation center and reading book.
THOUGHT: Are the cookies gone already? Oh goody! There's another bag. I'll have more. [An hour later: I wonder how many points one of these bags is?]
DECISION: Cookies are not a wise choice when trying to lose weight.
By the time I thought about it and made a decision, it was too late for the DECISION to be effective or the ACTION to be productive.
I already said I want to give myself credit when I THINK of myself as a successful and productive Thin Person.
BTW: The nurse herself was a not-Thin Person. Too many cookies!
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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 5, 2020 20:07:32 GMT
ladymajky, You are right about going from trigger straight to action. I have two cup cake stories where I did that. My goal is to slow down and at least hear the thought. I've been overeating some and had an episode this morning. I did hear the thought but then quickly agreed with it and ate. There was the tiniest bit of resistance there though so maybe I can build on that.
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Post by cathygeha on Nov 6, 2020 7:48:03 GMT
I needed to share my lightbulb 💡 moment from this morning. However, I did have an on-topic post planned. I keep going back to the Chain of Events that ends in eating: TRIGGER ➡ THOUGHT ➡ DECISION ➡ ACTIONIt seems to me that eating fast and mindlessly causes us to take the Chain of Events out of order: TRIGGER ➡ ACTION ➡ THOUGHT ➡ DECISION TRIGGER: Nurse says eat cookies. ACTION: Gobble cookies, while looking around donation center and reading book. THOUGHT: Are the cookies gone already? Oh goody! There's another bag. I'll have more. [An hour later: I wonder how many points one of these bags is?] DECISION: Cookies are not a wise choice when trying to lose weight. By the time I thought about it and made a decision, it was too late for the DECISION to be effective or the ACTION to be productive. I already said I want to give myself credit when I THINK of myself as a successful and productive Thin Person.
BTW: The nurse herself was a not-Thin Person. Too many cookies!
I like seeing this in the colored print. Your comment had me thinking about what would happen if the words were shuffled in even different ways than the one you mentioned. Could one have a thought that is a trigger? I might suddenly think of a past event or food that triggers me to action seeking that food and not think about my decision till later...I guess I am seeing these words on the table being rearranged in various combinations so that I am more aware no matter which word might be there that will cause me to go off my plan.
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lizlor
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Post by lizlor on Nov 6, 2020 15:45:31 GMT
ladymajky, great explanation of the mix up of the chain of events. It explains to me why when I eat fast and mindlessly I “forget” that I’m dieting because action acts fast!
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Post by bbbearsmom on Nov 6, 2020 17:39:53 GMT
cathygeha, Thinking of the past event would be the trigger, then you have a thought that associates eating food with the past event. As for the thought of a food, I think often there is a trigger that leads to such a thought. I have a good example of trigger, thought, decision, action: When I worked we had a small lunch room that served breakfast and lunch. It also had vending machines. Lunch was 12 to 1 p.m. and about 2 p.m. someone would go to the vending machine and get something and I would hear the crinkle of the wrapper/bag as they walked by. This led to me thinking I also wanted something (even though I wasn't hungry) and I would get up and go get something.
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ladymajky
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Post by ladymajky on Nov 6, 2020 22:38:00 GMT
Could one have a thought that is a trigger? , On page 29, Beck lists 5 kinds of triggers: - environmental -- seeing or smelling food
- biological -- hunger, thirst, or cravings
- mental -- thinking about food, reading a description of food, recalling something you enjoyed eating, imagining eating food in the future
- emotional -- unpleasant feelings where you eat for self-comfort, good feelings where you eat to keep the good feeling going
- social -- succumbing to food pushers, or "everyone else is having some"
So yes, you could have a thought that is a trigger.
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