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Happiness Isn't Brain Surgery
Happiness Isn't Brain Surgery
Mindful Eating
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Mindful Eating
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
DocSnipes.com
Podcast Host: Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery
Objectives
~ What is mindfulness
~ What is mindful eating and why is it important
~ What are some techniques for mindful eating
What is Mindfulness
~ Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the current moment.
~ Aware of what is going on around you as well as inside you at the present moment without tying up energy in past regrets or future worries.
~ You are in tune with what you need to improve the next moment or continue on a positive path.
~ Mindfulness requires radical acceptance of life as it is. If you are angry….okay. If you are sad…okay. If you are happy…great! It is what it is.
~ Mindfulness means focusing on the things in the present moment that you have control over and recognizing that you do not have to be stuck in a certain feeling.
What is Mindful Eating
~ Mindful eating means focusing on the here and now and turning all your senses to your meal and your body’s response.
~ In American society we often “eat on the run” which leads to poor digestion, over eating and the tendency to eat whenever we have a thought about food instead of only when we are hungry.

~ Eat to live, don’t live to eat
Techniques
~ Mindfulness scan before eating
~ How am I feeling
~ Emotionally?
~ Mentally?
~ Physically? (Include cravings and dehydration)
~ Interpersonally? (Lonely?)
~ Environmentally (unsafe? rushed?)
Techniques
~ Unhooking
~ I need to eat ~
~ I am having the thought that I need to eat.
~ I really want ~
~ I am having the thought that I really want…
~ Thoughts pass in a few minutes. Do something else.
~ Often thoughts of wanting to eat are triggered by a desire for dopamine and stress relief or dysregulation of feeding hormones due to being over tired.
~ Distract yourself or attend to the need (do something fun, power nap…)
Techniques
~ Nutrition Diary
~ Date and time
~ How you are feeling emotionally and physically
~ What you are craving (salty, sweet, sour, spicy)
~ What you eat and how much
~ How much water you consumed throughout the day
~ How many ounces of caffeinated drinks you had
~ Whether or not you worked out
~ How well you slept the night before

Techniques
~ Eating Mindfully
~ Eat sitting at a table with no distractions
~ Focus on what you are eating (taste, texture, smell…)
~ Put your fork down between bites
~ See how small of a bite you can take and still get all of the flavors
~ Notice the difference in flavors between different foods
~ Try to identify the spices and foods used to make the dish.