- As soon as you feel hungry, take three slow and deep breaths.
- Ask yourself, is it Physical Hunger or Emotional Hunger? a little of both?
- Tune in to your body. How hungry are you? Is this a Small, Medium or Large hunger?
- Think about how much your body needs to be nourished and what kind of food it needs.
- Use your knowledge of yourself, nutrition, and health, to choose something to eat that will be nourishing and fulfilling.
- Notice how the food smells. Are there different smells? Is it sweet, spicy, tangy?
- Take a moment to look at it and notice how it looks. If it is finger food, like a grape, go ahead and pick it up and look at it. Feel the texture.
- When you put it in your mouth, take a beat before chewing, and allow yourself to taste and feel it in your mouth.
- Chew slowly and try to notice the texture, feel, taste, smell of what you are eating. Really enjoy each bite to the fullest before you swallow.
- Take some time to notice how you feel as you swallow and the food goes down into your stomach.
- Give yourself a few moments to notice how your body feels now. How hungry are you now? Give yourself a chance to feel hungry before you take the next bite.
- Each time you take another bite, make it small and go through the process again, slowly.
- PUT YOUR FORK DOWN. This is not a race. From time to time, give yourself a break by putting your fork down so that your body has time, to feel full.
©
2014 Sue Brekka, M.A., MFT
