Mindful Eating at Christmas

Mindful eating is the practice of being aware of what we are eating while we are eating it. It is helpful to cultivate this awareness so we can then notice our habits,which we are largely unaware of most of the time. It's even easier to succumb to these habits at Christmas with all the distractions and possibilities for over-indulgence, so I've put together a few tips for being mindful over the coming festivities, when you're out at parties and family gatherings, which will hopefully be useful to you into 2016 and beyond.  

Firstly, I want to say these tips are not about dieting or denying yourself foods that you love to eat. They are about 'noticing', just like we do in our meditation and yoga practice. When we notice we don't always like what we see, but when we do see what is going on we can make a choice. And when we have a choice in how we behave and act we are empowered. 

We want to enjoy our food, not eat it mindlessly then wish we hadn't and feel guilty about it. This is not self-love. So if you make a choice to eat an extra piece of Xmas pudding, own that choice and enjoy it!  What we eat sustains and nourishes us - food is our friend not the enemy. With a little more mindfulness we can develop our awareness of our habits and change our often long-conditioned battles with food. We can love ourselves enough to want the best possible nourishment to feel healthy and well.

Don't try to adopt all these tips at once. Keep it simple and pick the ones that might shine a light on your 'blind spots':

• Be aware of what you are putting in your shopping trolley. Supermarkets are adept at persuading us to multibuy unhealthy foods, leading us to think we have got a bargain when that item wasn't on our shopping list in the first place! Stick to your list (online shopping is a great way to remain firm against temptation) and remember, what you don't buy won't be going into your cupboards and therefore you won't eat it - who needs that tub of Roses chocolates anyway!

• Drink some water before you go to your party or gathering. It's really easy to mistake your body's thirst signals for hunger. Hydrate yourself first so you don't misread the signs.

• If you're going out to a friend's party take something healthy and nourishing with you to share - you'll be being considerate of others' wellbeing too as well as your own. (See the recipe further down this post for some quick and healthy canapes.)

• Don't pick! All those little morsels that keep being handed round add up without you being aware of it. Take a (small) plate and choose and enjoy the canapes you really want. When things are handed round again, you can politely decline saying you've had enough (see last week's post). 

• That small plate is useful to help you keep an eye on portion sizes. If you have a choice, take a smaller one.

• If you're at a buffet take the time to look at all the food on the table before you start loading your plate. You can then choose with intention.

• If you're hungry fill your plate with more veggies - plants are good for you.

• Don't sit down near the buffet table - take your plate somewhere else, sit down, chew slowly, taste and appreciate. 

• Swap hands. If you eat with your unfamiliar hand you just have to do it more mindfully.

• Use a smaller fork - you'll take smaller mouthfuls which is helpful if you tend to eat quickly and shovel your food in!

• Finish each mouthful before taking the next one.

• Watch the pace of how others in your gathering eat and notice whether you're a fast eater or a slower one - just an interesting exercise.

• When you eat, focus on eating - don't multitask on your phone or watch TV etc.

• Pay attention to whether you use internal or external cues to know when it's time to finish eating. External cues for the end of a meal include: lunchbreak is over, the waiter takes your plate away, the bag of crisps is empty. Internal cues include noticing when you are full (in the good way of satisfied and replete rather than can't eat another thing, just about to burst), the size of the portion you have eaten, when you feel thirsty.

• Eat an apple before your meal. One study found that eating an apple before lunch can cut how much you ultimately eat by up to 15 per cent, thanks to it's filling fibre preventing you from overeating. 

• One of the easiest times to be less than mindful is after a meal as you're clearing away. If there are little bits left over it's easy to eat it up rather than throw it away. If you always seem to have leftovers in your house start to cook slightly smaller amounts of food or pack the leftovers up into containers and get them in the fridge quickly so you're not tempted to pick.

• Say 'grace' before your meal. It doesn't need to be a religious gesture or even said out loud, but a moment of gratitude for those who grew, transported and cooked your food can help you to appreciate it more. 

• Pause long enough to look at the colours and shapes on your plate, notice the smell, savour each mouthful and notice the textures, be aware of how you chew (do you chew slowly or quickly?)

• Notice whether you are hungry or bored? Maybe you are thirsty rather than hungry? Maybe it's become a habit to have a biscuit (or three) with your afternoon cuppa. If you choose to have those biscuits that's fine - don't deny yourself - but make sure you actually want them, that you notice and appreciate them rather than shovelling them in because that's what you always do at 3pm or you are bored and tired, and then wishing you hadn't because you didn't even pause long enough to taste them.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and eat something you wouldn't ordinarily choose to eat. As a vegetarian I prefer to eat cheese made with non-animal rennet but I don't question this at other people's houses or at restaurants - I accept that it might possibly not be and don't give myself a hard time about it.

Remember that living a healthy lifestyle has to be a long-term project, not something to do for a few weeks to lose a couple of pounds then forget about. Your pledge to eat better in 2016 doesn't have to be abandoned if you get knocked off course sometimes (as you almost inevitably will). Set achievable intentions and don't aim for perfection. Enjoy your food and enjoy the feeling of nourishing yourself so you can become the healthiest version of yourself.

Are you going to a gathering where you take a plate to share? This recipe for Cucumber and Avocado Canapes is very easy, and offers a fresh, healthy alternative to the many pastry based bites that seem to be on offer at this time of the year:

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers
2 large ripe avocados
sea salt
black pepper
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
fresh parsley, chopped finely
fresh dill, chopped finely
olives or capers for garnish

Wash the cucumber and slice into ribbons using a mandolin or vegetable peeler (be careful with them, they're quite delicate).

Mash the avocado flesh in a bowl with the salt, pepper and herbs.

Spread avocado mixture along the length of a ribbon of cucumber and roll up (the end will stick to the mixture so it seals the roll up nicely.

Add an olive or caper on the top.

Chill in the fridge (you might need to gently soak up some excess cucumber water with kitchen paper before serving).

Voila! Simple, pretty and healthy!

This is nice. I wish I'd written it! Alas I did not - it is wisdom from Leo Babauta from zenhabits.net

31 Perfect Things by Leo Babauta

As we see more and more holiday gift guides, articles espousing the perfectness of glitzy products, I’d like to offer an alternative perspective.

We don’t need to buy things to make our lives beautiful or joyous. We don’t need more glamorous items in our lives to find happiness and contentment. We can find these wonderful qualities in what’s already in front of us.

Most moments, I forget this. In my best moments, I remember, and my heart expands with love for life and everyone around me.

In my mind, these things are perfect, and are proof that we don’t need to buy anything to be happy, cool, excited, contented:

1. A quiet morning.

2. A walk outdoors.

3. Reading one of those books sitting on your shelves.

4. A cup of tea, drunk slowly.

5. Family.

6. A hug.

7. Meditation.

8. An avocado.

9. Berries, savored.

10. A good workout.

11. Time to practice sketching.

12. A song that gets you dancing.

13. Creating something.

14. This current moment.

15. A connection with someone else.

16. The light of the dying day.

17. Fallen leaves.

18. Warmth.

19. Love.

20. Learning something new.

21. Someone wanting your attention.

22. A friend.

23. Coconut.

24. Reflecting on life, in a journal.

25. People laughing around you.

26. Imagining future possibilities.

27. A bite of mango, lingered over.

28. Writing a love note to someone you miss.

29. Solitude.

30. Knowing that you love yourself.

31. You.

Make a Mindfulness Jar

If you find sitting still and becoming quiet for even a minute a challenge, why not make yourself a Mindfulness Jar? I understand that they are used in schools to help calm children down, and I can see why - they're very relaxing. Keep yours on your desk and shake it up every now and then. Pause, breathe deeply, sit still and watch the glitter settle back down.

You need a glass jar filled with water, to which you add some fine glitter (I used a big dollop of glitter paint that I bought from the local Post Office as I read that having some PVA glue in the mixture suspends the glitter for longer) and then some strong glue to seal the lid in case of accidents!