Mindful Eating

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, and non judgementally." 

Optimum Nutrition is essential for overall wellness. It is the process of providing the body with sufficient nutrients through food to maintain proper health and wellness.These nutrients include, water, enzymes, minerals, adaptogens, vitamins, essential fatty acids, carbohydrates and phytonutrients.  A proper diet provides us will all of these in the right portions for our ever changing bodies. There is no fixed diet that will work for this. 
It is so important to LISTEN to our body and what it needs, but listening is much different than turning to comfort food, reaching for the easiest thing as we react to the emotional unfulfilled needs. 

Now a days we are always on the phone, watching TV, listening to music and not really paying attention to what we are actually doing or putting into our bodies. More so WHY we turn to certain things over others. We are living in the multitasking world and as some people pride themselves on being wicked multitaskers, it isn't all that great to do for your overall wellbing.

Creating mindful eating habits will greatly help with providing your body with what it needs most: to be nourished properly. 

Here are some simple guidelines to help you distinguish between mindless and (more) mindful eating and bring our bodies and minds back together.

1. Let your body catch up with your brain - eating rapidly past full and ignoring your body’s signals vs. slowing down and eating and stopping when your body says it is full. Slowing down is one of the best ways we can get our mind and body to communicate what we really need for nutrition. The body sends a satiation signal about 20 minutes after the brain, which is why we often unconsciously overeat! So, sit down to eat, chew each bite 25 times, set your fork down between bites, etc!

2. Know your body’s personal hunger signals - are you responding to an emotional want or responding to your body’s needs? Often we listen first to our minds, but we actually might be MORE mindful if we tune into our bodies first. Rather than just eating when we get emotional signals (whether that’s stress, sadness, frustration, loneliness, or even just boredom), we can listen to our bodies. Is your stomach growling, energy low, or feeling a little light-headed? True mindful eating is actually listening deeply to our body’s signals for hunger!

3. Understand your motivations - eating foods that are emotionally comforting vs. eating foods that are nutritionally healthy. This is another tricky balance and, ideally, we find nourishing foods that are also satisfying and comforting. As we practice eating healthier and a greater variety of foods, we are less inclined to binge on our comfort foods, and more inclined to enjoy healthy foods, ultimately finding many foods mentally and physically satisfying as opposed to just a few.

4. Connect more deeply with your food - Considering where food comes from vs. thinking of food as an end product. Unless you’re foraging for your food on the regular, there’s a good chance you’ve become disconnected from your food. Many of us don’t even consider where a meal comes from beyond the supermarket packaging. However, eating offers an incredible opportunity for us to connect more deeply to the natural world, the elements, and to each other! As you consider everything that went into what you’re eating, it becomes effortless to experience and express gratitude to all the people who gave their time and effort, the elements of the universe that contributed their share, our friends or ancestors who shared recipes, and even the beings who may have given their lives to a part of creating this meal. With just a little more mindfulness like this, we might begin to make wiser choices about sustainability and health in our food, not just for us but for the whole planet.
   
   What has really helped me with all this is using portion control containers + learning about the proper food groups, figuring out my emotional connection with food and facing my bad relationship with it. Once I was able to get that under control I was really able to create the mindful eating habit.
   The Ultimate Portion Fix is program that helps with that EXACTLY.  
   You’ll learn so much to make it more than a strategy to help you lose a few pounds.
   Portion control is just the beginning. Autumn Calabrese makes it so compelling that you will achieve a whole new, more MINDFUL way of eating and thinking about food.
   This includes strategies that have helped her win trophies in competition, heal her own health issues, end sugar addiction for thousands of clients, and serve hundreds of thousands of customers in losing weight and achieving their healthiest selves.
   The Ultimate Portion Fix is about giving your body exactly what it needs to operate at its best! No starving. No random points that disregard food source. No fasting. No trendy fad. This is how you enjoy food, and get the most out of it because it feeds your body what it needs in the right ratio!
   And finally, the biggie: This program is going to help you stop poisoning yourself with so much heavily processed food.
   The tools shared will help you:
   • Break your sugar addiction: You’ll learn WHY you’re addicted to sugar (because knowledge is power) and how you can break the addiction. I’m talking grocery lists, meal plans, and easy-to-make recipes that emphasize whole-food ingredients, so you can finally cut down on processed foods without cutting out the joy of eating.
   • Get the whole family healthy: Those days of prepping one meal for the kids and one for the adults are over. With The Ultimate Portion Fix, you’ll learn everything from what and how much your kids should be eating, to getting them to eat enough fruits and veggies, and even how to end the “I’m only eating chicken nuggets for dinner” battle once and for all.
   • Feed yourself for performance: You’ll find out how you can customize your eating plan to your goal, whether it’s to lose those stubborn last 10 pounds or build muscle. These proven nutrition strategies are designed to maximize your nutrition so you can maximize your results — whether you’re paleo, vegan, or gluten-free.
     
     The entire program is explained in 30 new videos covering everything about the containers with deep dives into the principles of the plan so you can really grasp each concept. No more food guessing, only results.
   • Full set of color-coded containers
   • The Ultimate Portion Fix Program Guide
   • Tracking: On iOS, users can find container, weight, and water tracking in the Beachbody Nutrition+ App. On Android, users can track these items within the Beachbody On Demand App.
   • Fixate Volume 2 Cookbook with 102 new recipes for a total of over 300 recipes including the Fixate Cooking show
   • 75 Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids PDF, a quick-and-easy resource for parents who want to make sure their kids are getting a variety of healthy foods and not eating the same things over and over again.
   • Access to more than 200 Fixate Cooking Videos
   • Beachbody Insulated Tote Bag with containers, ice packs, and plenty of storage so you can meal prep and take your food with you to stay on track
   Oh, and one more thing…
   When you purchase The Ultimate Portion Fix program in the month of March, you’ll get an invitation to join Autumn Calabrese via livestream as they reshoot  21 Day Fix and 21 Day Fix EXTREME workouts — live and in real time! You do not need to be a Beachboy on Demand Member to access the videos.
   
   
   
   If you would like to join our #EatToNourish Group to get all the deeds leading up to Launch Day March.18, just fill out this form and I will be in touch VIA email. 
   *By joining the group for info there is no obligation to purchase. It is just meant to be an informative group to share the ins and outs of this program. 

Meal Planning Tips That Will Make It Less Stressful!

I was never a planner. I used to fly by the seat of my pants in every area of my life! 

I was the person who waited until the last possible day of the deadline to get assignments done. What can I say I strive under pressure.

When it came time to figure out portion control and healthy meals, I was totally lost. I thought I could just roll through my days without a plan and just magically eat according to plan. This, my friends, was not the case! 

This is the one thing that I could not just wing. I would catch myself craving food that wasn't on my food list or just end up reaching for boxed easy food for supper which is filled with chemicals and crap. 

SO I had to LEARN how to plan and prep. It took me awhile but I figured out what works for me and I want to share some ways to make it painless for you too! 

Meal planning is one of the easiest things you can do to set yourself up for success. There are no rules so really, YOU CAN'T MESS UP!  The key is just to start, and to set aside a little bit of time each week to do it. There are so many ways to approach meal planning that, once you do it once or twice and schedule it into your week you will be golden!

First thing first decide how you want to plan it. Spreadsheets, paper and pen, whatever you choose. I am a HUGE paper and pen gal so that is what I go with! ( see picture below to the right) It is nothing fancy and there is a bit of scribbling but hey it's good for me and gets the job done!

Next, make sure you have a set time during the week to plan, scope out flyers and deals (if you are looking to budget as well) I meal plan on a friday as Saturday or Sunday is usually a city day. 

Step 3- figure out your eating situation. What meetings do you have, extra curricular activities, meals with friends, etc. Mark those on the meal plan sheet and take those into consideration so you can plan or be on the lookout for dump, crockpot, or easy meals.

*Tip*- create a pinterest board or master recipe binder of all the recipes you try or would like to try and your family loves. You can make sections or label fam favourites, breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, fast etc. 

Step 4- Plan your meals with overlapping ingredients. Ex. Greek Chicken Kabobs w/wild rice. Make enough chicken that you can make Chicken salad the next day for lunch and enough rice that you can make something with rice for supper then next night. OR you can just mix the rice and chicken together the next day for a yummy chicken fried rice! This will save you money and time but that will also come with meal prep! 

Once you get everything planned out then make your grocery list! I like to look for deals and I price check lots but it is up to you!

Click here for my CLEAN EATING GROCERY LIST. 

Now you are ready to roll!