If someone asked you what mindful eating was, how would you describe it? Some might give it a simple definition and say "It is being aware of what you are eating", but I think that it is more than that.

Recently, I began my pre-surgical classes where the topic of the day just happened to be eating mindfully. Now let's be honest, you can be completely aware of the fact that you just sat down to watch TV and whoever was there before you left a big bowl of chips on the side table. You begin to eat them as you watch TV, now you are still aware that chips are being put into your mouth and you are indeed eating them, but you aren't really thinking about it. You aren't even really hungry, they are just there! The only thing that makes you stop is your hand hitting the bottom of the bowl because there are no chips left. You feel terrible now because you didn't really want/need them anyway you just ate them out of habit.

To prove a point, the doctor running our class gave everyone one raisin. We held it in our hands and described it by looking at it, touching it with our finger tips, smelling it, we described it by touching it to our lips and then we placed it in our mouths without chewing to describe it. Then of course we chewed it to describe it and he then said when we had purposely made a decision to swallow this itty bitty raisin we could do so. Now this was all a bit over the top I must admit, but it certainly hit home. This journey we call the lap band is not just about losing weight, it's about a lifestyle change, a forever change.

I want to challenge you all to eat at least one meal everyday mindfully, you don't have to go as drastic as we ate that raisin but take the time to eat your meal slowly and make a choice to chew and swallow. Make a choice to eat mindfully and the margin for failure will decrease significantly. :scared2:

BreAnne

Great lesson! I was just telling my NUT today that I've been trying to eat smaller amounts and then wait to see if I'm hungry for more (pre-band) and I'm amazed how often I'm not. I'll start the mindful eating now! -BG