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Welcome to the Diary of the Health

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Show . We live in a fast-paced

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world . We have quick

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meals , we multitask

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, we rush , rush , rush everywhere

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, and that is the norm

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instead of the exception for most

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people . And mindfulness

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and mindful eating are

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no longer buzzwords . They are very popular

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. We've all heard about them , we've seen them on

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the cover of Time Magazine , we get blog

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posts about them in our email , we have friends

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who've started meditating . We've

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probably all dabbled in it . However

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, I have come to believe that mindful eating

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one of the top health habits

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we all know by now , hopefully is

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simultaneously the most difficult

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and the simplest of all health

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habits . It's the simplest

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because it's instantly accessible

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, it's very easy

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to understand , doesn't cost

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any money and we

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get to practice it every single

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day , every single time we put

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something in our mouth . Simple it's

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difficult because we're human beings

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that have somewhere between 20,000

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and 80,000 thoughts a day , including

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multiple thoughts , while we

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chew a single bite . If

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you've ever , if you've never , paid attention

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to this , try it next time you're eating . Try

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to take one bite of food and

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think about nothing but

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the smell , the taste

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, the consistency and

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the overall experience of

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chewing that one bite , and see if you can keep

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all other thoughts out of your

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mind while you chew one

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bite to the consistency of applesauce , and

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I bet , like me , you will discover

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that you probably can't

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. Another little thought experiment

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. If you don't believe me , you can try , right this second

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and pull out your watch or

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some sort of timer , set it for 10 seconds and

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try to have no thoughts in your mind just

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for 10 seconds . Remember

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that the very thought oh

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, I'm doing good , oh , this is easy

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. Well , that's a thought that's about , that's a thought

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about what you're doing . Trying to have

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zero thoughts for 10 seconds

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is actually

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a very , very difficult thing to do

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. Now , importantly

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, we don't have to turn off our thoughts

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. As a matter of fact , that is a fool's errand

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, and anyone who is an experienced

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meditator will tell you that

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even the best among us , those

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at controlling their thoughts , the

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most experienced Zen Buddhist on

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the planet , who's experienced the highest

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level of enlightenment , still

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has thoughts come into their mind . But the relationship

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to the thoughts and not letting the thoughts

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take over or captivate them or completely

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distract them is the difference between

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the experienced practitioner and

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the rest of us . It's

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kind of like if you have

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a flat tire on the freeway and

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you're on the car

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side of the car trying to on

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the driver's side of the car and the traffic

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is rushing by you and you're trying to fix this flat

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tire , you will think of

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not much , your thoughts will be racing about this

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entire experience , you'll feel a sense of danger

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, et cetera . But if you move to the other side of the car , fix

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the flat on the other side , not near as bad

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, you don't feel like you're about to be run over every second

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, but still fairly mentally

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traumatizing . Now , if you

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move 50 feet away from the car , boom

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all of a sudden you feel quite safe and

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the wind isn't rushing at you quite how

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it was and the noise and the sense

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of impending doom goes down . But

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if you are a mile away , in a high

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rise , watching someone change a tire

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on a car on a freeway and watching the little

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ant-like cars go by , it's

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a peaceful scene and

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in all instances those

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are the same experience being observed

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from different places . And

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so , in a similar way , the

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way we experience the thoughts , whether

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the thoughts feel urgent and

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rushing and have

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a sense of impending doom or I have to do this

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or I got to do that . I got to change my plan I got to go

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here , I got to go there versus

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allowing them to come and go

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with a minimal amount of emotion

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or attachment . That's the key . Now let's

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bring that back to food . How does that relate to food

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? Well

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, we know from research now . There's been a lot of research

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on mindful eating and mindfulness generally , and

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we know that the practice of being fully present

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and engaged in the moment , without judgment

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, with our eating

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, can help us eat

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20% less , helps

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us enjoy our food more . They

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have found , when testing people who tend to binge

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eat , that they binge eat less after

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being taught how to eat mindfully . And

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also emotional eating goes down

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when a person is trained in

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mindful eating . On

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the flip side , mindless

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eating has been correlated to anxiety , overeating

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and weight gain . So

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mindful eating is a worthy and healthy goal and simultaneously

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instantly simple and accessible

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, as I mentioned , and very , very difficult to do

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. But rather than beat ourselves up about how

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our last meal was rushed and anxious

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, we simply focus

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on the present and bringing ourselves

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back . We just try more

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often and with more bites to

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be mindful . We don't beat ourselves

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up when we realize we've been lost and thought for the

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last five minutes and completely down to

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corn dog that we didn't even mean to eat . Instead

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, we just slow down , smile at

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ourselves , look at that last bite and decide

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oh , I'm actually feeling pretty good , I'm

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full , I don't need that last bite of corn dog

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, throw in the trash , move on and next time we

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try again . So we just keep bringing ourselves

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back and celebrate when we bring ourselves back

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. Don't so much beat ourselves

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up every time we get distracted

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. We are human beings . So

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here's a couple of things that

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we can do . We , first of all

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, ought to try

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to prepare our food mindfully , ideally

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by being more mindful about what

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we eat . We tend to make our own food more . We tend

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to spend more time in the kitchen , and that

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is , in itself , a healthy habit , and

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so mindful preparation of food or

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, if you're out and about or you live a very fast

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paced life where you eat most of your meals at

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restaurants , being mindful about your

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restaurant choices is also a

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great place to start . Next

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, being mindful about the choice of foods , of course

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, trying to eat whole foods as much

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as possible , cutting back on

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those foods that are high in calories

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, sugar , too much , fats , etc

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. All of those things

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are a part of the process that

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we mindfully prepare to eat . Next

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, mindful eating is about experiencing food

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more intensely , which is fantastic because

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, if you think about it , most health regimens

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are about denial

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, they're about less , they're

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about eating stuff you don't like . But

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mindful eating is not . Mindful eating is

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simply eating in a very mindful

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way , without distraction , engaging all

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of our senses to enjoy each

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bite fully . What's the downside ? There

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is none . There's no downside to mindful eating

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, even if we're not eating the best thing that we

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could be or we're having a treat

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that we don't have that often

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. But even with the treat , we should

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be eating it very , very mindfully . The

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dirobe undiet emphasizes the importance of eating

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solely and mindfully , suggesting practices

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such as eliminating distractions

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during meals , so trying not to eat in front of the television

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, although eating

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with other people is a great habit and

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so other people might be considered a distraction

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. But we do also know from the studies

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of the blue zones that people who

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eat with their family , and especially

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multi-generational meals with grandchildren

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and parents and children

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and grown-ups together , is

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actually a very healthy habit and adding some sociality

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into our eating . But other distractions

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, such as reading the paper or , worse , everyone

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looking at their phone while they should be together

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. Those are distractions we could get

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rid of . So

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eating

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chewing our food to the consistency

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of applesauce is one

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of those habits . That is a very worthy

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goal . Also

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putting our utensils down

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between bites so that

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we are more likely to chew our food

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to the consistency of applesauce , and

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by doing these things we'll have increased satisfaction

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with our food . We'll also

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better digest our food , which , of course , is

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critical . We have a

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digestive and gut microbiome

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crisis really right now going

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on in the country , and if you slow down

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eating , that actually can

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make a major contribution to your gut

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health . You'll tend to eat about 20%

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less and you'll digest the food better

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and absorb all the nutrients out of it

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. You'll

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also reduce overeating . Again

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, I mentioned this earlier people who eat mindfully

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eat about 20% less

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. So overall , our enjoyment of food

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will go up . It'll

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be easier to stick to other health habits . We're

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less likely to make bad food

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choices . And

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so a few more tips Avoid

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eating while standing up . That's one

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of the ones I need to work on . I try to . You know , if

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I sit down , I'm more likely to focus on the food . Also

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, while driving , I try , unless

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it's really you know , if we're going on a

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long journey or something like that . Sometimes

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it's just not practical to not eat in the car

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. But if you think about it , how

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many times do we eat in a car that we really

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don't need to ? It's just because

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we're always in such a rush . Right , mindful

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eating and mindful living are both very

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, very worthy goals . Preparing

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our food early enough to enjoy it slowly

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and mindfully , to then leave

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in time that we don't have to eat in the car

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is another way of approaching this

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. Do your best to focus 100%

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on your food and not

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multitask . Another thing we can

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practice is gratitude for our meal , and

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another aspect of gratitude for our meal

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is to take a minute

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and look at your plate and think

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about where each food came

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from . If we trace it back , somebody

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grew the food , somebody worked in the fields

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to cultivate the food . Somebody drove a truck

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to deliver it to some food

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lot or marketplace . Somebody

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else sailed with it across an ocean . In some

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cases . People work

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, often at low pay , to make sure

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that the stores near us are always stocked with

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food so that we can easily

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access it , and so bringing

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awareness to the people in the process and

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sending out some love to them . Thank

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you for growing this food . Many of these people

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really sacrificed and don't

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make a lot of money in the food supply

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chain to provide us the modern

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conveniences we have , and so

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spending a few minutes just throwing

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out some gratitude to the universe

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for these wonderful people who make

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it so that we can eat this delicious

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food on demand from all over

11:26

the world is a nice practice

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. Mindfulness and

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mindful eating are powerful practices . They can

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enhance our weight loss journey , making

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it more enjoyable and sustainable . By

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being fully present and engaging

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with the active eating , we can improve our relationship

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with food less emotional eating , less binge

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eating and lead to healthier choices

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and more lasting weight loss . So

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remember the goal is progress , not

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perfection . Start small , be

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patient with yourself . Even if you only one

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mindful meal a day , that could be an improvement

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over what you've been doing right . And

12:00

make sure and download our free DiRobi undi it

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the seven principles to help you in your health journey

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. It's available at dirobicom

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under resources . Also

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at your heart desires . Thank

13:49

you so much for listening . I hope you got something out

13:51

of this episode and also enjoyed my dog

13:53

, kiki , in the background for parts of the

13:55

episode . She doesn't join us every time , but

13:58

sometimes someone comes to the door or makes

14:00

a noise , or Amazon comes by , whatever

14:03

, and she likes to make herself

14:05

known . So until next time , this is Dave

14:07

Sherwin , wishing you health and success

14:09

.