Hey, welcome back everybody to Week 2 of your Eating With Intention 4-week series that I started last week. So, if you're not sure what I'm talking about, go back to last week, listen to that video because I'm going to be building on each of those each week. 

So learning to listen to what your body is actually asking you for, as opposed to just eating out of habit or ritual or emotions can take a lot of time and practice. So when you feel that hunger approaching, I want you to stop and ask yourself, what is my body asking for? What does it need for nourishment? Ask what would give you energy? What would sustain you? What would make you feel satisfied and well nourished? 

Is it asking for a raw salad? Or is it asking for something more warm? When you get comfortable with this, your eating experiences will change tremendously because your body knows on a deep level at its core, what it wants. We just don't listen to it, right? I know I've been so guilty of that. Food is going to go beyond satiating hunger at meal times because providing our bodies with nutrients that it needs to thrive is a very special ritual. This is one that we really should treat as special and think about it instead of just mindlessly eating while we're watching TV or, you know, talking at our kids and calling out spelling words or whatever it is. Creating your eating habits to be one of mindfulness and honor is key to a healthy relationship with food. 

So, in our daily hustle and bustle that we have, we sometimes forget to just slow down and enjoy our meals. But slowing down is what helps you become more aware of the experiences, like increasing your mindfulness while you're working on the task. So, pay attention to your breathing throughout your meals, take time to breathe deeply. So, what I like to do is set a timer, 20-minute meal, see the first time that you eat, if you ate all of your food in two minutes, fine. Just take it as it is. Next time that you do another meal, try to do it for three minutes. Okay, if you have a smartwatch, set a timer, if you have your phone, set a timer, set a timer on the microwave, if that's all that you have. But set a timer and see how long it takes you to eat, and then see if you can increase that time up to 20 minutes. 

Breathing in between bites, not inhaling your food and hurrying and rushing out of the door, these are all going to be key. So deep breathing is going to help you to combat stress, which is also a crucial component to your overall health. So ingesting your food with mindfulness will aid in healthy digestion, rest and digest, right? 

Lastly, a helpful tip is to slow down even more when it comes to healthful benefits like chewing your food well. I have been terrible with this, throwing the food and not chewing my food, two, three bites, swallowing it because I'm in a hurry. Okay, but I want you to chew every bite until it's completely broken down, which will allow your digestive tract to not only be able to just do work, but would not have to do extra work. This is also a really great way to cut down on digestive issues like bloating, constipation, and all this stuff, Because when you slow down and actually enjoy your meal, all of those processes work so much better. 

So understanding habits this week, things to think about. Do you find yourself eating more out of habit or hunger? Why do you think this happens? What are you generally doing when you find that you're having the urge to reach for foods outside of your typical meal time? So what's happening? Is it the kids coming home from school? Is it your spouse coming home from work? Is it your night time routine with little kids who are you're trying to get into this night time routine of them staying in their bed? Is it teenagers that are coming in or they're asking to go out? What is it that is going to push you to want food outside of breakfast, lunch and dinner? 

Next thing, new tips to work on? How can you create a more mindful eating experience for yourself? So think about your meal times? What do they look like right now? Are you sitting at a table? Do you use real plates? This is something big, right? As moms, if you're a mom like me, paper plate is our go to because no dishes, right? But if I really want to sit and enjoy a meal, I'm going to grab that nice plate, pretty plate, I'm going to have colors on the plate, I'm going to have real spoons, real forks, real knives, right? All right.  So, I want you to think about how can you make this a more mindful experience for yourself, whatever that means for you. See if you can up level what you're doing right now. 

Also, what are some ways that you can slow down and connect more deeply with your mealtime? Is it spending mealtime with your family, so you can have meaningful conversations? Or is it simply setting that timer and seeing how long you can go smell your food, see your food, taste your food, feel the different textures? Is it cold? Is it hot? Is it crunchy? Okay, think about those things while you're eating instead of like, oh, I've got to hurry up and eat this because we have soccer practice in 30 minutes. Time block your time so that you're able to sit and at least enjoy a 20-minute meal. That's not a long period of time. 

Okay, and the last thing is picking out patterns. So I want you to spend an entire day concentrating on what runs through your mind before you decide to head to the kitchen. Okay, what is it? What are these triggers, right? I want you to write down your pre-meal thoughts to patterns that trigger you. All right, so Eating With Intention for Week 2, it's talking about your triggers. So I want you to be aware of that this week.

Next week, I'll come back for your third one of the series for Eating With Intention. I hope this is helpful. These are all things that I've worked on from the very beginning whenever I had an eating disorder. And now I'm able to conquer my food times without feeling like I'm just thinking about food all day long because I have a lot of other things to think about just like you do too. 

I'll see you back next week. I'm so happy that you're here. Have a great week, guys. Bye. Bye.