I’m guessing you’re like most of my clients. You want results and you want them yesterday. I get it. It’s literally hell to struggle beneath the weight of emotional eating issues. I get that too.
Here’s a 14.2 second tip (I just timed myself) to reduce overeating-regardless of whether it’s the binge-y or emotional eating variety.
Eating psychology expert (yes eating psychology is a thing) Marc David recommends in his book The Slow Down Diet that one of the best things you can do for yourself before you eat is: sit down + take 3 deep breathes before you start eating. The non-science-y answer as to why?
This 14.2 second technique allows you to take a brief moment to focus on what you’re about to do: ENJOY NOURISHING your body.
When you eat in a stress response, ie.-slamming back a salad, standing over the sink, listening to a conference call and checking Instagram-your body doesn’t digest the nutrients in your food super well.
Taking 3 deep breaths + sitting down before you eat does more than you think:
-signals to your brain and body to relax, it’s time to eat
-forces you to slow down & enjoy your food
-decreases the potential of overeating when you focus only on the meal at hand
-allows you to feel like you’ve had the experience of eating, thereby decreasing the chances you will be grabbing for more food in an hour
-increases digestion
–decreases emotional and binge-because when’s the last time you actually sat down and took 3 breaths before you binged?
Remember the goal of eating is to nourish your body and give yourself the gift of actually being comfortably and beautifully full. Well digested food = nourishing food.
So-what can you do to remind yourself of your 14.2 second technique? Buy yourself a stack of nice napkins-dollar stores usually have a great supply.
What’s the point?
Your nice napkin will be your reminder to sit down + take your 3 deeps breaths. Napkins are also an inexpensive yet lovely reminder that you’re about to have an eating experience. You’re not going to pull out a beautiful napkin and stand over the sink with it stuffed into your blouse, right? Right.
Eat at work? Pack a napkin for your lovely self in your lovely lunch kit. Because you have a lovely lunch kit, right?
Just trust me-it works.
Here’s to Breathing & Flourishing,
Crystal, XO.
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