Breaking the chain to bad eating:

Mindful eating is a knowing what you are putting into your mouth at all times.  Taking the time to really think about all aspects of the food, the smell, the texture, colors, sound it makes when you eat it, temperature, and flavor.  When was the last time you ate?  Why did you eat?  A quick answer may be, “I was hungry” but was that really the reason, are you just use to eating when you sit down at your desk or in front of the TV and grabbed a bite because it is a habit.  It is easy to eat mindlessly with our busy lifestyles.  Multitasking is a part of everyday life for most of us to get everything done and it is easy to eat while completing another task.  It is important to really look at why you are overeating to become aware of the bad habit you want to fix.  Then figure out why these habits exist and how you can slowly change them. You’re much more likely to be successful at changing your habits if you take things one step at a time. Over time, your preferences and eating habits will change.  Here are some tips: 1. Take small steps. Making small changes in your diet and lifestyle can improve your health as well as trim your waistline and can be more effective for making long term changes.  Many times diets fail because your body feels deprived from food and you end up just overeating.  Making small lifestyle changes can avoid this. 2. Become more mindful. As discussed above one of the first steps toward successfully breaking the chain to bad eating habits is paying more attention to what you're eating and drinking and why.  Read food labels, become familiar with lists of ingredients, and start to take notice of everything you put into your mouth. Once you become more aware of what you're eating, you'll start to realize how you need to improve your diet. It may be beneficially to keeping food diaries temporarily. 3. Make a plan, be Specific and have measurable results. How are you going to start eating more fruit, having breakfast every day, or getting to the gym more often? Spell out your options. For example: Plan to take a piece of fruit to work every day for snacks, stock up on cereal and fruit for quick breakfasts, and go to the gym on the way to work three times a week. 5. Be realistic. Don't expect too much from yourself too soon. It takes about a month for any new action to become habit. Slow and steady wins the race. 6. Try dealing with stress through a different outlet other than food.  Examples include exercise, relaxation, meditation, or your favorite hobby.  When you feel hungry give yourself 10 minutes of doing an activity you love before you go grab that snack to see if curves your hunger.