Struggling this year with the cycle of the leftovers of Halloween candy filtering through your home and up-for-grabs office holiday chocolates? Tis the season!
Whether you want to avoid overeating and gaining those extra pounds, need to control your blood sugar (if you have diabetes), or you simply wish to consume only what your body requires and NOT OVEREXCEED THE LIMIT...the holiday season can make these goals quite challenging.
One of my best tips to practice is MINDFULNESS.
Mindfulness refers to the practice of being aware and in the moment. All too often, our thoughts wander somewhere else; perhaps we are preoccupied with what happened an hour ago, worried about what might happen tomorrow, or stressed over what we need to do next week.
Sound familiar? When we are on the “auto-pilot” mode, we eat far too much or over-indulge. We forget to chew our food and swallow large particles.
I am sharing with you some of my best cheat sheet tips to PREVENT overeating and OVER indulging this holiday season.
Tips & Tricks
1. Start with a prayer or blessing. This is a very supportive practice to begin each meal with thanks, as we start with a more peaceful approach to help avoid devouring our meals.
2. Drink lots of water during and after your meal to support insulin surges and support digestion of your foods.
3. Digestion must begin in the mouth. Slow down and eat with pleasure by placing your fork down between bits and becoming more mindful of your chews. Eating slower supports a glucose surge!
4. Don’t deprive yourself from your fav’s! Dab into a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
5. Identify your sense of fullness to help avoid eating beyond physical hunger or stepping into second helpings. It takes 20 minutes for “the leptin hormone” to signal our bellies a sense of fullness.
I am wishing you all lovely holidays ahead, especially during this season of circumstances which may prevent us from spending it with the ones we love so dearly. I hope you’ve found this cheat sheet helpful and choose to become fully present during this healthy regime of practice over the holidays. Reflecting on these habits will help you develop a healthy relationship with your foods, patterns, eating habits and food choices.
Bon Appetite! God Bless!