By now you may have heard of mindfulness. We are all busier than ever, and we are having a harder time living in the present moment. Practicing mindfulness can have many benefits. Did you know that mindful eating can help you reach your health goals? Eating mindfully will help you learn to listen to your body’s natural hunger cues, achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and stop overeating by taking time to enjoy your meals.
Did you know the average person spends nearly 50% of their day in thoughts about the past or the future? This means that we are only spending half of our day in the present.
For example, have you ever sat down with a plate of wonderful food and then suddenly noticed it was gone? No real memory of eating it or enjoying it? This is an example of not practicing mindful eating. It is not uncommon to become distracted by our to-do lists, projects and deadlines. But it becomes a problem when the distraction eliminates the enjoyment of the simple – but important – things in life.
For the purpose of healthy digestion as well as maintaining an optimal weight, mindful eating maybe one of your most important tools.
Below are some of our clients’ favorite tips for mindful eating:
Tip #1: Always eat sitting down. Never eat standing up.
We have all gone to the pantry or the fridge looking for a snack and while we are looking for what we want, we are grabbing and eating other things mindlessly. Or, you find yourself passing by a plate of something at work or home and grab a bite without really thinking about it. Or, you are clearing off the dinner table and finishing the food off of your kids’ plates.
These can all be eliminated by making a rule for yourself that you will only eat when sitting down. Always be sure to reduce distractions during meal times. Turn off the TV, don’t check your emails or social media, and put your work aside until after you have finished your meal.
Instead, focus on the pleasure of your food. Use meal times as an opportunity to take a step back from the fast-paced life and take time for yourself. Enjoy each bite of food think about the flavors and the textures.
Tip # 2: Time how long it takes you to eat a meal.
When when people decide to time their meals, they are surprised to find that they finish the whole meal in a matter of minutes. Not only does this negatively impact digestion, but it doesn’t allow your body to send signals to tell you when you are full. Your body has very important hormones called ghrelin and leptin to tell your brain when you are hungry and when you have had enough. One reason that people gain weight is that they are not waiting for these important signals.
Tip # 3: Use the Hunger-Fullness Scale
Have you ever eaten when you’re not hungry? Or waited so long to eat that you end up stuffing yourself? Or, maybe you have lost touch with your body entirely and aren’t sure whether you are hungry or full. Below is the Mindful Eating Hunger-Fullness Scale:
Before you eat, assess your hunger. Ideally, eat when you are at a 3. This is when your stomach starts growling and anything sounds good. Eat slowly enough to notice when you are at a 6 or 7. This is when you are satisfied – not hungry enough to continue eating, but not so full you feel uncomfortable. The Hunger-Fullness scale is an important tool to improve your awareness of your body’s natural signals. Using it consistently will help you get reconnected with your body and stop overeating as often.
When you practice mindful eating, you will experience better digestion, enjoy your meals more, and it is far easier to maintain your desired weight. Mindful eating is a key tool in reaching any health goals you set.
For more tips, head to our Facebook page where we post helpful videos on a variety of topics! To book a free coaching session, click here!
In other words, the relationship we have with food; the one that has been cultivated throughout the course of your life. Our own unique food story is shaped by a collection of experiences over the years. These experiences have the power to change the way we look at food, both positively and negatively.
If you struggle with emotional eating, the first step to overcome it is to get in touch with your food story. This will help you understand why you see food a certain way and who – or what – was involved in shaping your relationship with food.
One of the most important points to remember is that you can CHANGE your food story!
Realize you are not tied to emotional eating forever. You don’t have to cycle through diet after diet, only to regain the weight. When you are willing to do the work to identify and change your internal narrative around nutrition, you can break free of the reigns food has on you!
To uncover your food story, take out a piece of paper or open a Word Doc. Answer the following:
What foods did I eat as a child? What were meal times like? Who cooked?
Are there any foods I don’t like or can’t eat? If so, why not?
Were there any people in my life who said negative things about food or their body?
Who in my life has been a positive influence in how I feel about food or my body?
What comments have people made about my eating habits or body? How did they make me feel? Have any of these comments stuck with me?
Have I ever tried to modify my food intake in some way (diet, allergy, doctor’s recommendations, etc.)? For what purpose?
When was the first time I ate when I wasn’t hungry (emotionally ate)? What triggered it?
Have I ever made a conscious decision not to eat, even when I was hungry? Why?
Foods I typically crave are __________. Foods I can’t stop eating are _____________.
Think about the words “healthy eating.” How do those words make me feel? What foods come to mind?
In what ways has society/culture affected my view of my body or food?
What do I know about nutrition?
How do I feel about eating as a whole?
Now that you have answered these questions, you can begin to see how your upbringing, people in your life and your environment all have shaped your food story. Awareness is the first step to change!
The next step is learning how to eat mindfully, which is explained in this post.
If you want more guidance, schedule your free coaching session today by calling 720-531-4911 to learn how we can help you break free from emotional eating for good!
The topic of cosmetic surgery frequently comes up when you work with clients who have significant weight loss goals. Everyone here at The Better Weigh loves to promote beauty in all its wonderful shapes and sizes when it’s part of living your best healthy life. That being said, we understand that living the best healthy life doesn’t mean much if you don’t like the image that’s staring back at you in the mirror every morning.
Sometimes with dramatic weight loss, all of the exercise in the world doesn’t seem to be working to your satisfaction. You struggle to get your skin and tissue into the shape you want them to be. You’re healthy, vibrant and alive! You want every part of your body to look the way you actually feel! That is why we created a partnership with Dr. Dastoury and Modern Surgical Arts of Denver.
Dr. Dastoury doesn’t just want to perform a body contouring procedure and call it a day. He wants his clients to be able to maintain their ideal image over many years. The team at Modern Surgical Arts understands that the best way to achieve optimal long lasing results for cosmetic surgery is to have a certain BMI and healthy lifestyle in place prior to any procedure.
Cosmetic Options
Modern Surgical Arts of Denver provides state of the art and innovative technology to give you multiple surgical and non-surgical cosmetic options. They even have holistic med spa services on site. These minimally invasive treatments may be all you need to reverse some of the signs of aging. It is also beneficial in helping to maintain any contouring procedures you may decide to undertake. Dr. Dastoury will sit down with you and help you find the best options for you and your body.
Dr. Dastoury is not only board certified through the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery (ABCS), but is also board certified through the American Board of Maxillofacial Surgery (ABOMS). Plus, Dr. Dastoury has extensive training in conscious sedation and general anesthesia. He holds certifications in general anesthesia in the state of Colorado and California.
If cosmetic surgery and body contouring is an option you want to explore, you are in the best hands with Dr. Dastoury and the surgical experts at Modern Surgical Arts of Denver.
The Better Weigh is proud to be one of the select facilities to offer the Ideal Protein weight loss program. This healthcare program was specifically created to help people who are looking to lose weight or have had unsuccessful weight loss attempts in the past.
What is Ideal Protein?
Ideal Protein is a doctor-designed, Ketogenic weight loss protocol that treats weight loss as healthcare. It uses food as medicine to reset your body to burn fat. It offers a wide variety of Ideal Protein food, as well as, a huge selection of healthy meals and snacks to choose from to keep you satisfied on your weight loss journey. The coaches at The Better Weigh will give you expert guidance throughout the program to keep you on track and motivated.
What can I expect during the program?
Getting started:
Your Better Weigh coach will sit down with you to go over your health history and answer any questions you might have. You will work together with your coach to set health and weight loss goals.
Phase 1: Resetting the Body
In this phase of the program, you will start restricting you carbohydrate intake. This is designed to set your body into ketosis, a natural state in which the body uses fat, instead of sugar, as its energy source. This will optimize fat loss and, through healthy food choices, increase the nutrients your body needs to maintain energy. You will remain in Phase 1 until you have reached your weight loss goal.
Phase 2 (Stabilization): Resetting the Mind
Creating a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about losing weight. It’s about creating healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
Following weight loss, the body and mind fight to regain the lost weight. They are telling you that you need more calories than you require, making weight loss difficult to manage and maintain. Your Better Weigh coach will help you to adjust your intake of protein, fat, and carbs to effectively manage hunger, promote greater satiety and maintain weight loss. You will have weekly follow-up sessions over the course of two months or more to monitor carbohydrate reintroduction and track weight.
Phase 3 (Maintenance): Master Your Metabolism
You will continue to receive education and support from your Better Weigh coach for the first 12 months following Stabilization. It’s a good idea to check in regularly with your coach during this time. Ideal Protein has made it simple to stay connected by adding the option of using the Ideal Protein app and Wi-Fi scale. It is also strongly encouraged that you schedule two semi-annual “tune-ups” to make sure you are still on track.
The Better Weigh will be with you every step of the Ideal Protein process to help you achieve your ideal health goals!
If you have any questions about the Ideal Protein program or would like to start your weight loss journey, please contact The Better Weigh at 720-531-4911.
Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions, vowing to better their health. At the top of the list, along with eating better and losing weight, is to exercise more. So, we run out and join a gym. We buy exercise equipment. We throw ourselves into a teeth gritting, punishing workout regime, determined to get the body we want.
Nutrition and Joyful Movement
All of us want to be able to move our bodies freely. We know that exercise is crucial to our long term health, but many of us struggle to stick with it. We long to be able to exercise in a way that makes us enjoy the experience, rather than seeing it as a punishment.
Part of the problem lies with poor nutrition. When our bodies don’t have the proper nutrition it makes our workouts unenjoyable, even painful, for very little reward. Additionally, the timing of your workouts and nutrition is another consideration that many do not take into concern. When not taking these factors into account, and ensuring proper nutrients, your efforts in the gym may only result in tearing down muscle without giving it the nutrients to build back up.
Personal Training
Making regular exercise a joyful movement is also about knowing what exercises work for your body. And ensuring that you are helping your body versus harming it. That is why we appreciate the skilled personal trainers at Body Worx.
Body Worx includes body structural analysis to help avoid injuries and unnecessary pain. An exercise that is beneficial for one person may be overly stressful or even harmful for another. They create an exercise plan that works with the body rather than against it. Body Worx also understands the power of nutrition and will work with you to maintain your healthy food regimen.
It is never too late to give yourself the gift of health. Find those people and organizations that will empower your healthy choices and offer you the best chance of success. The teams at The Better Weigh and Body Worx are here to support your journey to optimal health!
We work with many bodybuilders at The Better Weigh. What bodybuilders have learned, that the casual or impulsive gym goer hasn’t, is that building and toning muscle is more than just exercise. It is also about nutrition.
Macro Codes for Bodybuilding
At The Better Weigh we assist our bodybuilding clients in knowing their weight loss, weight maintenance and muscle building macro codes. Macro is short for macro nutrients. Macros are the ratio of proteins, carbs and fats a person needs to lose weight, maintain weight or build muscle. It is also very specific to each individual person.
Instead of simply counting calories, macro codes help you understand where your calories are coming from. They also help you understand that not all calories are the same and each has a different effect on the body.
If we don’t get the proper nutrition, we will not see the results we want to see with our workouts. We are breaking down our muscles but not taking the necessary steps to build them back up. The body that we want to see from all of our hard work is not happening.
Downside of Macro Counting
Without guidance, you could meet your macro code goals without ever having to touch a single vegetable. That’s right! You could be a macro counter and still have an unhealthy diet. This nutrition imbalance will hamper your workout regimen and potentially lead to injury.
With our bodybuilding clients, we go a step beyond macros to evaluate and establish the right nutrition for your body and your fitness goals.
But, tracking my food is a pain!
One of the most common frustrations we have heard about with macro codes is that people do not want to spend the rest of their life tracking foods, especially with a grueling workout schedule.
Macros eating can seem overwhelming. The Better Weigh makes eating the proper nutrition for your body and your exercise needs second nature. We teach you how to make your nutrition into a lifestyle, a habit that lasts a lifetime.
The Better Weigh also assists clients in timing meals for optimal muscle growth. We ensure that they get the proper nutrients within their anabolic window to repair the muscles that were broken down in the workout. Once our clients start seeing the results, they never want to go back to their old habits.
