ManifestingWellBeing.com

Why do you eat? Seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? Most people would answer, “I eat because I am hungry!” Yet for many people, truth be told, this is often not the reason why they eat. Many people eat out of habit, for reasons other than to nourish their bodies, and over time this can result in weight gain. When we consistently eat for reasons other than to fuel our bodies, it is hard to lose weight. Here are some of the common situations in which people eat out of habit:

Some people eat because they have nothing else to do at the moment. Often, eating at a moment like this is a way to avoid feeling boredom, sadness or depression.

Sometimes people eat out of an association with a particular activity. For example, if you have a favorite show on television that you like to watch at 8:00 p.m., eating a snack at that time might be a fun thing to do. It provides entertainment for you tongue and it gives your hands something to do, while your mind is entertained by the television.

Eating between activities or projects during the day is an easy habit to get into. For example, maybe at work you have a coffee break around 10:00 a.m. before the staff meeting at 10:30a.m., and having a donut with your coffee may seem like a nice treat.

Often eating is a reward for people. If you have had a long day at work, reaching for food from the refrigerator or pantry maybe feel like a soothing treat.

It is very easy to fall into the habit of eating because others are eating around you. For example, if you feed your children early in the evening, it would seem natural to eat with them. However, if when your spouse comes home later in the evening, eating again with your spouse could result in you eating more food than your body actually needs.

A final common reason that people eat is because eating can temporarily reduce stress that we are feeling. In an effort to feel better the quick fix of a snack or treat may temporarily relieve stress.

I am not saying that it is not okay to eat at times other than meal times. Nor am I saying that food can’t be a source of enjoyment and pleasure. It can be and it is! However, remembering that the primary reason to eat is to fuel your body with high quality nutrients is essential. Let food do its job and don’t over use it for purposes such as a reward or to avoid boredom.

To help you become more conscious of eating, identify the reason why you are eating. If you are eating to cover up a belief that is not serving you, such as “I’m not worthy,” “I can’t handle this,” or “If I don’t eat now I will feel deprived,” look for a way to affirm the more empowering truth such as, “I am worthy and I can find ways to acknowledge myself, other than with food.”

Honor yourself by feeding yourself healthy food. It will make you feel better about yourself and it will nourish your body physically.

Find ways to reward yourself in a positive way such as by taking a walk, reading a good book, playing fun music and dancing around the room. You will feel better about yourself and your body will be able to lose weight more easily.

Deborah Barnett, Ph.D.

www.manifestingwellbeing.com

Manifesting Well-Being for Health and Success

What is causing your weight gain?

The first step is to identify what you have done to gain excess weight. In most circumstances, your weight gain happened over many months, if not years. This step is not to beat yourself up, but to do a check-in of where you are so that you know what behaviors you would like to improve. There are several possible habits that may contribute to your excessive weight. For example you may not have been exercising regularly. Maybe you  have a tendency to eat foods that promote weight gain, or perhaps you habitually and often excessively eat. Times of habitual, excessive eating may occur when you get home from work and are standing in the kitchen deciding what to have for dinner, when you watch television, or once you get into bed at night. Even the thoughts you think such as “I am fat” or “I can’t lose weight” are habitual thoughts that are unsupportive of your weight loss effort. Not only do they feel bad and are unkind to think about yourself, but they also program you, subconsciously, to gain weight.

Choose new behaviors to help you lose weight

The second step is to replace the old habit(s) with new, healthier behavior(s). It takes about 28 days to change a habit. To learn a new behavior requires doing it over and over and over, until it becomes a new skill. The key is to be consistent. (You can do it!) So, if you find that you have an eating habit that does not serve you, look at what you are eating, how much you are eating and when you are eating. Say you munch chips mindlessly when you get home from work. What alternate behavior can you do? What will feed you emotionally and nourish you after work that does not involve taking in an excessive amount of calories?

The third step is to be aware of the thoughts you are thinking and make sure that they serve you and your weight loss effort. Praise yourself when you make a healthy choice for yourself. (“Good for me!)” Acknowledge the progress you do make. Find ways to accept yourself even if you are not yet at your ideal weight. By setting yourself up for success with new healthy behaviors and the right mental and emotional attitude, you will soon find yourself well on the way toward achieving your ideal weight.

For support in attaining the ideal beliefs and emotional attitude to reach your ideal weight, in the comfort of your own home, click here.

Deborah Barnett, Ph.D.

http://www.manifestingwellbeing.com/manifest/

Susan B Roberts, Ph.D. is professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts and director of the Tufts’ Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) Energy and Metabolism Laboratory. Robers and Betty Kelly Sargent have come out with a book called The Instinct Diet. From her research, Roberts has found that people eat based on biological instincts.

These 5 instincts are:

Hunger – we eat to satisfy ourselves and we like the feeling of being full.

Availability – the more easily food is available to us, the more we want to eat it.

Calorie density – we love to eat food that is full of calories.

Familiarity – we like to eat food that we recognize and associate with experiences that make us feel safe.

Variety – we like variety and the more variety of food that we have, the more we eat.

Roberts focuses on the Familiarity Instinct, and why it so strongly influences our eating habits. Roberts points out that we eat foods we like and are familiar with and when we eat these types of foods our familiarity instinct is activated. A perfect example of this is the effectiveness of food commercial that show people eating pizza or drinking a particular soft drink. When we see others eating and drinking certain food they become familiar to us.

Roberts gives several tips to work with our instincts to improve eating habits and control weight gain:

• Introduce new foods into your diet by initially eating small amounts of new foods.
• Gradually substitute healthy foods for unhealthy foods
• Eat healthy food when hungry to have your brain start to look forward to eating healthy foods to satisfying your hunger.
• Have a “time to stop eating” signal that you use at end of your meal. This could be a cup of tea or piece of sugarless gum.
• Give yourself structure – eat only at planed meal and snack times. Your body will stop having random hunger and cravings between eating times.

To curb cravings:

• When you have a craving, instead of giving in, tap your forehead until your mind is distracted from the craving.
• Wait 15 to 20 minutes or call a friend to do something besides eating.

If you are interested in a supportive way to work with beliefs and associations that can sabotage your weight loss visit

http://manifestingwellbeing.com/manifest/

Here’s to your success!

Deborah Barnett, Ph.D.

www.ManifestingWellBeing.com

www.DeborahBarnett.com