Thanksgiving mindfulness activity

We'd all probably say we'd like to eat more mindfully, but it seems to be harder to apply the principles of mindfulness and intention to our food choices some days than others. Thanksgiving can feel like the Olympiad of mindful eating, with generous portions and sometimes stressful distractions.

Ready for a twist? With the right mindset, Thanksgiving can be seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, rather than a minefield, for mindful eating. While the holiday can be challenging, it's also a chance to practice mindfulness, compassion for yourself and your food—and feel great about it. nine0003

Mindful Eating vs. Intuitive Eating

If you are new to the idea of ​​mindful eating, you may have questions about how this compares to intuitive eating. Are these two names for the same thing? Not really. While the two approaches have much in common, they also have some key differences.

Mindful eating is any effort to bring the principles of mindfulness into our food intake.

Being in the present moment when we eat, savoring tastes and textures, and avoiding distractions are all signs of mindful eating. nine0003

Intuitive Eating, on the other hand, is a branded program developed by nutritionists Elise Resch and Evelyn Tribol. It revolves around 10 key principles such as abandoning the diet mentality, respecting your body, and coming to terms with food. These practices aim to untangle and heal an unhealthy relationship with food.

As Thanksgiving approaches this year, here are seven ways to combine both mindful and intuitive eating so you can truly enjoy the day and all of its edible treats. nine0003

Slow down and enjoy

Can you smell the cloves in Grandma's pumpkin pie? What does tender green beans taste like with crispy fried onions? Customizing the tastes, textures, and aromas of Thanksgiving menu items contributes to an important act of enjoyment.

According to the University of California, Davis, savoring results in greater enjoyment of food. More pleasure leads to more satisfaction—sometimes from fewer bites. The more you can focus on the physical experience of eating, the better for mindful and moderate eating. nine0003

Of course, with conversation buzzing around you and kids interrupting you for more toppings, it's probably impossible to just get high at the Thanksgiving table. Try starting a group session where everyone says what kind of food they like best and why.

Get Rid of Guilt

Believe it or not, one day of overeating isn't likely to make a big difference to your weight or other health outcomes. In fact, even with large portions of mashed potatoes and apple pie, you are unlikely to gain even a whole pound. 2016 study at The New England Journal of Medicine found that, on average, people put on just 0.2 percent weight during the Thanksgiving holiday.

While this is not a reason to binge on Turkey Day, it can help alleviate the guilt you usually feel about the holiday. Remind yourself that Thanksgiving only happens once a year and that the celebration is a time to find joy with family and friends. Times like these call for an abundance of special foods.

If you end up eating too much, give yourself some mercy. Beating yourself for something you can't change will only lead to a negative cycle of self-punishment. nine0003

Instead, enjoy the happy memories of delicious food shared with loved ones.

Remove labels

It's incredible freedom to remove labels like "virtuous" and "sinful" from foods - and from yourself for eating them. The fourth principle of Intuitive Eating, Challenge the Food Police, is: Scream Loud. no to the thoughts in your head that say you're "good" because you're eating fewer calories, or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. " nine0003

Try asking yourself, “What would I eat if I was allowed to eat whatever I want on Thanksgiving? How much would I eat to be full? Fill your plate based on your answers to these questions, not what you "should" eat to be "good."

Register with hunger and fullness

Both mindful and intuitive eating emphasize the importance of being aware of feelings of hunger and satiety at mealtimes and throughout the day. After all, when we don't pay attention to our own physical signs, we tend to overdo it. nine0003

Schedule a few check-ins on Thanksgiving to gauge your appetite. You can do this by setting an alarm on your phone, or by scheduling specific times throughout the day (or mealtimes). At this time, get up from the table, stretch or walk around for a few minutes. Do you still feel the need to sniff? If yes, then dig! If not, take a break.

It is also very important, especially for those who struggle with disordered eating, not to get hungry in anticipation of a large meal. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, when you go without calories for too long, it becomes even harder to make wise decisions or respond appropriately to hunger. Prevent excessive Thanksgiving hunger by snacking or having a light early meal. nine0003

Make movement a priority

One of the 10 Intuitive Eating Principles has nothing to do with food. Instead, this key principle emphasizes physical activity. As we all know, the balance of hunger and satiety is regulated by our activity level.

But Resch and Tribol recommend thinking about exercise in terms of how it makes you feel better. feel , not how much food you "earned" by training. “Shift your focus to how you feel when you move your body, and not to the calorie-burning effect of exercise,” explains the ninth principle. nine0003

On Thanksgiving Day, lift your spirits and whet your appetite by participating in some physical activity that you enjoy. A morning walk, an impromptu football game, or a family outing can all start the day off right.

Find other stress releases

Even under normal circumstances, holiday gatherings, especially those with family members, can be stressful. Throw in a global pandemic and an unprecedented election cycle and you have a recipe for some serious stress this year. nine0003

When feeling overwhelmed is a threat to your mental health, try to consciously shift your response from stress eating to a healthier coping strategy. “[Food] can provide brief comfort, distraction from pain, or even numbness. But food will not solve the problem,” says the seventh principle of intuitive eating.

Call a friend to talk about your emotions, take a soothing bath, or sign up for a kickboxing class where you can kick and relieve irritation. nine0003

Really give thanks

In theory, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks. And yet it is too easy to prepare a meal in a hurry or put on battle armor for skirmishes with difficult relatives to forget its true meaning.

This year, pay tribute to this day. Include some kind of gratitude practice, whether it's writing down the things you're grateful for, saying a prayer before a meal, or asking everyone at the table to express appreciation for something good in their lives. nine0003

These gratitude checks don't just bring warm fluffies. They use our awareness to bring us back to what is good in the present moment.

This can actually lead to healthier eating. A 2019 study in Journal of Experimental Psychology found that gratitude promotes healthier eating behaviors in teens and young adults.

Even in a difficult year like 2020, Thanksgiving is still an opportunity to count on our blessings. This Thanksgiving, may we all allow our gratitude to change our relationships, our mental health, and our food. nine0003

why it matters to your health and wellness

Improving overall health and wellness does not happen overnight. Moment by moment we are collecting information about what it means to embody health. Over time, we can make small but complex shifts in habits and mindset through mindfulness that increase our energy, vitality, clarity and other indicators of health.

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With a wealth of information, opinions, and conflicting claims about what is considered the "best" approach to health and wellness, sticking to a wellness plan can feel overwhelming.

When we turn to experts, we often find that we still lack answers. Sometimes it happens because we forget to look inside ourselves.

Mindfulness helps fill gaps often left by health plans and programs. Mindfulness is especially helpful when trying to lose weight or stick to a new way of eating. nine0003

This practice helps us to become more sensitive to our current state of health and well-being. Practicing mindfulness makes it easier to realize that we are not our thoughts and thus allows us to more easily filter information that might otherwise be overwhelming.

As we explore mindfulness, which is compassionate and nonjudgmental awareness held from moment to moment, we begin to understand that wellness can embody shades of gray. nine0003

We begin to feel that things may be more complicated than they seem, but at the same time, perhaps easier to navigate than we think.

There are many reasons to include mindfulness in any wellness plan. Here are some of the ways mindfulness practice can help with nutrition, exercise, and any other lifestyle modifications we make.

When we consciously examine our experiences, we become more attuned to various signals in our mind and body that help us dig deeper than the surface of our current problems. For example, we may begin to notice:

• Emotions underlying certain addictions or behaviors
• Repetitive thoughts and beliefs that keep us from changing
• Unconscious eating habits, such as distracted or hasty eating
• Previously unrecognized personal preferences and needs such as energy spikes, sleep meditation to optimize our sleep cycles, activity preferences, etc.

Mindfulness of our emotions helps us pause before engaging in habits that no longer serve us.

As we begin to observe these finer patterns in our daily lives, we begin to tap into the deeper thoughts and beliefs that guide our habitual behavior. We often overlook these things because we simply don't notice them due to a lack of mindfulness.

Things like energy levels, the role of stress and emotions in our eating habits become more apparent when we become aware. Once seen, removing these factors opens up new ideas that drive growth. nine0003

Self-awareness improves through the practice of mindfulness, and we become more capable of making choices in line with this deepening understanding.

Time and time again, research on meditation shows that mindfulness improves overall health and well-being.

While following clear directions about how to move and what to eat can help some people, individual needs are more complex. Mindfulness helps us look under the surface of general advice and prescriptive thinking. nine0003

Mindfulness can help change behavior through introspection. For example, how my body reacts to this or that, what type of physical activity matters most to me at the moment, and what are my unique needs at the moment are all questions that help determine your personal path to recovery.

These points of inquiry through mindfulness practice help us to respect that each of us is unique. Our needs may change from day to day or from year to year. What works for some may not work for others. Practicing mindfulness helps us better understand what works for us personally.0145 is moment.

Stress, conditioned thoughts and beliefs, and repetitive emotions underestimate the impact on our well-being and how we feel. the ability to make changes.

Stress weakens the immune system, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, reduces sex drive and fertility, and negatively affects mental health. It also weakens the adrenal glands, leading to chronic fatigue, making it much more difficult to "change." Various mindfulness practices help eliminate these factors. (quotes please)

Mindfulness of breathing helps reduce stress response, which balances our hormones. Because our hormones play a role in our energy levels, our sleep cycle, our eating habits and countless other aspects of life.

Consciously reducing the response to stress has both direct and indirect effects on our health and well-being.

Not only does this practice help us feel calmer and more content in the moment, but it also helps create mental clarity so we can make changes. nine0003

Mindfulness for cultivating self-love

Accepting and breaking new habits takes time. Creating sustainable change is most effective when we are kind and patient with ourselves as we explore this new and often uncomfortable territory.

Self-compassion practices and other loving-kindness exercises help us respect and compassionately bear the pain that can come when we let go of old ways of being.

Instead of being denied or consumed by our growth problems, mindfulness offers us a way to respect our experience without letting it weigh on us for longer than it should. nine0003

Mindfulness helps us find balance because we recognize:

It's hard, but it doesn't define me. I can experience this feeling without becoming it.

If we look specifically at our eating habits, remembering nutrition plays a big role in changing our behavior and increasing self-awareness.

Conscious eating allows us to notice and feel: 9Eating habits up to the fork

All these ideas help us to consider with empathy and curiosity what happens when we eat certain foods. Later, mindfulness allows us to recognize how we feel after eating. nine0003

By raising our awareness in this way, we begin to feel more capable of making choices that are in line with our aspirations. perfect health.

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