Tag mindful habits

OK let’s talk about our driving habits.

You might be thinking what have my driving habits got to do with my weight gain or weight loss?

Quite a lot as it turns out! Here’s why.

Distracted eaters, overeat.

And driving — or at least eating while driving — is a BIG distraction.

For example, this week I worked with a lovely lass who would pop through her local drive-thru on her way home from work.

She’d eat the burger on the drive home from work, and once home, she’d hide the evidence of the burger and proceed to eat the home-cooked dinner that her partner had cooked for her.

So essentially, every week day she was eating two dinners: her burger and her home-cooked meal.

But, because she was eating the burger whilst driving and distracted by the traffic – she wasn’t even fully aware of eating the burger.

I’m not anti burgers! If you want a burger – eat the burger.

But do yourself a favour and eat the burger in the restaurant – in McDonalds or Burger King. Eat it slowly, enjoy the flavours, savour every mouthful.

Or, if you want to go drive-thru,  go and find a picturesque place where you can sit down in nature and focus on the food, enjoy the food and savour the food.

Stop eating while driving

Just because we women can multitask ….doesn’t mean we should!

By multitasking, and eating while distracted we’re gaining so much unnecessary weight unintentionally.

When you’re eating—eat.

When you’re driving—drive.

I hope you found that helpful : )

If you’re looking for long-term sustainable weight loss, the virtual gastric band hypnosis can help.

C’mon over to Lighten Up.

So how exactly how do your reading habits influence your happy shape and size?

It’s a great question!

If you’re a voracious reader, and you eat while reading, there’s a very high chance you’re setting yourself up to fail when it comes to your weight.

Here’s why.

The simple fact is — if you eat while reading, you’re distracted.

And if you’ve been following me for a while now, you know the truth — distracted eaters overeat.

We eat without realising how much we’ve eaten.

We’re mesmerised…

What happens is we’re busy being mesmerised by the story.

We’re mesmerised by the characters in the book, and we’re transported off to another era, another time, another place.

And we forget ourselves and what we’re doing here and now.

For example, a client I worked with recently in the Lighten Up programme would frequently read a book while eating her favourite chocolate – Lindt balls.

She’d often get to the end of her chapter and wonder who’d eaten all her Lindt balls.

“Where did all the chocolate go?!”

Now, this lady lives alone, so it’s not as though she could accuse her husband or her children!

If you want to read, read.

If you want to eat the chocolate Lindt balls, eat the chocolate Lindt balls.

But stop multitasking.

No more eating while reading: whether it’s a novel, the newspaper, or social media.

Eating is about nourishing your body. Reading is about nourishing your imagination.

Just because you can do them simultaneously —doesn’t mean you should.

Or at least, not if you want to be your happy shape and size.

If you’re looking for long-term sustainable weight loss, the virtual gastric band hypnosis can help.

C’mon over to Lighten Up.

Recently, while on holiday in New Caledonia, I struck by some super interesting eating habits of the locals.

One habit, in particular, was the direct opposite of what we see here in New Zealand.

Here’s what I noticed:

Nobody eats on the run

Whether I was at the mall, the central business district, or at the beach – nobody ate on the run.

Nobody was eating a sandwich or munching on a sushi roll or tucking into a packet of crisps while walking down the pavement.

Eating on the run is something we see sooooo much of these days. It’s become our new normal.

We’re so busy rushing through our day, rushing through our to-do lists, rushing from meeting to meeting or rushing to pick up the children.

Eating has become just one more thing to tick-off our to-do list.

And something I’ve noticed about women who eat on the run, they very, very rarely ever feel satisfied with what they’ve eaten.

It’s an honouring ritual

In New Caledonia, the locals would take a lunch hour. It was a ritual they’d perform every single day – no matter how far behind they were on their to-do list! They all took a lunch hour.

There were many groups of people sitting together or individuals sitting by themselves. But the key thing is, they were all seated while they enjoyed their food.

When food becomes one more thing to tick-off our to-do list, we forget to take pleasure in it. Pleasure is soooooo important.

So take a seat – no more eating on the run – and enjoy your food. Enjoy the flavours, and enjoy nourishing your wonderful body.

If you’re looking for long-term sustainable weight loss, the virtual gastric band hypnosis can help.

C’mon over to Lighten Up.