This week I spoke with someone in the process of weight loss. They have had some dramatic weekly weight drops, while practicing some very basic nutritional changes and habits. Some key messages they passed on to me was along the lines of: "You know, my mind has changed. I used to think every meal had to be a steak, but now I realise that sometimes a good bowl of hearty soup is just as much a meal as the steak and potatoes. I also used to think I had to eat the whole plateful, but now I often find myself considering: Do I need all of that? Or could I share that with someone? When I go to a party, I've started to think about what I'm eating and how much. I'm seeing just how much my mindset and awareness really makes a difference." Pretty powerful stuff really. If you saw the changes on the scale that they were experiencing, you'd be pretty amazed.
Change starts in the mind, there's no doubt. The first steps towards positive change often come with a simple awareness and asking simple questions such as "What am I really feeling here? Why am I experiencing this/doing this? What is happening in me right now?" Asking ourselves questions about our experiences and actively naming what we are feeling/experiencing can be powerful.
Think of it in terms of hunger. We get an urge to eat for many reasons. Boredom, frustration, guilt, true hunger, sadness, high "curb appeal" of certain foods etc. We might say there are three types of hunger. Stomach hunger (the "true" hunger of a growling tummy that is reminding us meal time ought to be arriving soon), heart hunger (the kind that comes from emotional roots - sadness, depression, anger, guilt, celebration with others etc) and eye hunger (the kind that comes from looking at something that just looks unbelievably tasty even when we know we aren't actually hungry).
So, let's put our minds to use. The next time you experience hunger, take a moment to ask yourself what is happening. Are you truly hungry? Or is this food temptation for a different kind of hunger? Is it emotionally connected? If so, what and where is this emotion really coming from? Would a small bite do? Or could you share it with someone else? Mindset is everything.
Thanks to RD Irene Pace (https://irenepace.ca/) for her expertise and teaching about these kinds of hungers.