7 Fab Tips To Create A Positive Relationship With Food

I’m always asked for easy dietless living tips, and one of the easiest first steps to changing your eating habits, patterns and behaviours is to actually enjoy the food that you eat. 

Developing a great relationship with food is the same as any other relationship. It needs

• Your attention
• You to be present when you’re with it
• To stop judging it
• To not complain about it
• To have loving feelings towards it (rather than resentment) 

Here are 7 tips to help you do that and help you lose weight naturally. 

#1 SET THE SCENE, EAT AT THE TABLE 

You’ve heard that it’s best to eat at the table rather than in front of the TV haven’t you? 

This is so you concentrate on eating rather than absent mindedly eating while focusing on the TV/computer/driving/etc. 

Whether you’re eating with the family or eating alone, eating at the table gives your brain an important message. It tells your brain that

1. it’s going to be enjoying a meal
2. it’s time to turn focus to the food you’re eating. Sitting at the table is about connecting with the food you’re eating. 

Even if you’re sharing your meal with others, remember to give your food your mindful attention. You can chat before and after eating and if you must chat during eating, do it in one of those moments between finishing a mouthful and before you pick up your knife and fork again for the next one. (see tip #2) 

To let your brain know that meal times are important, set the table and make meal times the important occasion they should be. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re just having 2 minute noodles, take the time to set the table with the best of what you have. 

You don’t need alcohol with food but it is nice to use your wine glass or good crystal for your water. 

Having delicious food – even it’s just Vegemite on toast – still deserves all your attention. 

#2 MAKE A RULE THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS SIT DOWN TO EAT 

We eat so much food absent mindedly, popping a mouthful of something in as we cook dinner, grab a snack as we shop, pick at something in the fridge or pantry many times a day, most people really are not aware of exactly the amount of food they eat. That is usually why food diaries are helpful, it requires you to bring conscious awareness to every bite you have. 

Instead of a food diary, I recommend that you eat everything you want to consume, at the table.

If every mouthful of food you eat is eaten at the table, then you will be bringing conscious awareness to every mouthful you’re having because you have to stop mid behaviour and go sit down. Impulse eating is hard to control and by making a rule for yourself that you only eat food at the table, slows down that whole process and leaves a gap for you to

1. bring awareness to the food you’re eating and
2. perhaps wake up out of the trance you’re in and decide to do something else instead. 

Why is slowing down the process important? Because impulse eating happens in an instant. 

• You see something, you eat it.
• Someone offers you a piece of chocolate or a lollie, you pop it in your mouth with no awareness.
• You’re handling food and sampling as you go 

If, before you put anything in your mouth, you at the very minimum look for somewhere to sit, you will insert a gap where one had previously not existed, and therein lies an opportunity to rethink it. But if not, then at least you will bring conscious awareness to the fact that you are eating it. 

#3 PUT THE WEAPONS (Knife, Fork, Spoon, Chopsticks, Hands) DOWN 

This is not new news right? 

But putting your knife and fork (or spoon) down between mouthfuls will allow you to enjoy your food more – and it’s 100% good advice. 

Watch yourself the next time you’re eating. 

You will be chewing on a mouthful of food while loading up your cutlery and then have it poised to go directly into your mouth the minute you finish the mouthful you are chewing on. 

Except you don’t actually wait until you’ve finished the mouthful you’re chewing on. 

The problem is that psychologically you’re racing through that mouthful of food so you can consume the next one and so it continues until you’ve cleaned your plate and left wondering where dinner went? 

The amount of un-chewed food that you digest will be huge. 

There is a saying; drink your food and chew your liquids. 

What does that mean? 

Chew your food until it is liquid and let the liquids spend a bit of time in your mouth before you swallow it so it blends with some saliva and enzymes. 

Digestion starts in the mouth. 

Your stomach does not have teeth. 

When you put the weapons down between mouthfuls you are more likely to chew your food because you’ve removed the pressure of the loaded, waiting fork. 

How long should you chew each mouthful for? 

A good rule of thumb is 3 breaths. 

You will notice that you feel more satisfied after your meal because you have actually tasted it, felt the textures and enjoyed the flavours. 

Your stomach will be more grateful, it will be much easier to digest and extract all the nutrients from it. 

Your colon will be happy to; it’s easier to pass waste that has been properly macerated. 

#4 NOTICE HOW YOU FEEL AFTER YOU CONSUME FOOD AND BEVERAGES

Pay attention to how you feel throughout the day and notice specifically how you feel before and after you consume any food or beverage. 

What food makes you feel;

• Tired or fatigued
• Irritated
• Gives you a headache
• Bloated
• Thirsty
• Uncomfortable
• Hot
• Cold
• Impatient, frustrated or cranky 

When you pay attention to what your body is telling you about the food and beverages you consume, you find it easier to say no to those foods as time goes on. 

#5 STOP JUDGING YOUR FOOD

If you put down the cutlery between mouthfuls, this is going to be a no-brainer because you will already be turning your focus to the food and appreciating its textures, flavours and aromas. 

Judging your food as good or bad is one of the strangest habits we’ve been lead to develop. Food is food. Some food is going to leave you feeling great and some food is going to leave you feeling the opposite of great (see tip #4). 

By paying attention to what you eat and how you feel after you’ve eaten it, you will soon create a portfolio in your mind of foods that will leave you feeling energetic and those that leave you feeling flat, cranky, fatigued or with a headache. 

Then it’s easier to start making new choices and retrain yourself to outgrow those foods that sap your energy. It becomes easier to think about reaching for those foods and remember that you can have it, but afterwards you’re going to feel a bit yuck, and knowing you’re going to feel a bit yuck makes it a bit easier each time to start to feel indifferent about it and allow yourself to simply out grow it. 

#6 LEARN TO NIBBLE 

Because we’ve developed the habit of eating on the run, eating fast and eating without paying attention, there is a tendency to take big bites, big mouthfuls and wolf down our food. 

Learning to nibble at your food, to take smaller bites and smaller forkfuls is adding to the ability to experience the food you’re eating. 

Add that in with sitting down,  putting the weapons down, taking 3 breath’s while you chew each mouthful and you’re now fully present with your food and really enjoying your meals, and that’s the object of the game, to really have the experience of eating the food you eat. 

It doesn’t matter what it is that you’re eating, do these things and feel the difference. 

#7 LINGER LONGER 

When you’ve finished your meal, stay at the table. 

Stay until you’ve completely finished chewing the very last mouthful, then sit back, and contemplate what you just ate and how satisfying it was. 

Let your tongue run around your teeth, savouring every last morsel as you remember the flavours and feel the satisfaction of the meal. 

It only takes 30 seconds if you are really pushed for time, but if you can spare 5 mins, that’s even better. 

Why? 

It will help stop post meal and night time grazing. 

Taking the time to let it sink in that you’ve eaten and to mentally enjoy your food is where satisfaction lives, eating is as much psychological as it is biological. 

Take the time to sit back and enjoy your food, you are so worth it!