5 Ways to Support Open Eating
Remember, Open Eating is aligning your body, mind, and hunger. It is eating for YOUR health, YOUR way - not diet style and with restrictions and guilt-ridden requirements. Eating what you want, and being healthier because of it.
Nothing busts motivation more than failing over and over again. How many diets have you begun, and yet got nowhere? That was in the past - because now, you’re bringing yourself into the decision tree not just doing what other people should say you ‘have’ to do in order to be successful like them.
One of the biggest roadblocks to finding your success in open eating is not knowing your current eating habits.
So Open Eating Tip #1: Take the time to track.
Not talking about tracking calories here. Recent studies show that it isn’t as simple as calories in, calories out. It’s the source of those calories, the timing of eating them, and the nutrients that go along with them. All of these factors get complicated very quickly. What if you didn’t have to do all the figuring out? What if your body was uniquely designed to figure it out for you, and simply communicate to you through biofeedback?
That’s how it is folks. Start tracking your habits. Track what you eat, and how it makes you feel physical. Make note of your hunger level before eating. Jot down what you ate so you can decide if those foods are supportive of your energy levels, clarity of mind, and overall, and keeping you strong. Understanding your current relationship with food is the first step to redefining it from a body battle to the best collaborative relationship between you, your food, and your body.
When did you first realize Open Eating might help you? Have you ever tracked before? What benefits have you seen?
Moving to Open Eating Tip #2: Drumroll, please….
Fill up with variety. Think about what it means to be hungry. Empty stomach right?
Think about what it means to be full… Satisfied?
Did dopamine hit from extra sweet or extra savory food? What if you took “full” to be its literal meaning?
Actually, literally FULL. Now, think about what you would fill your stomach with. If you fill it with a lot of only 1 thing, you’re limiting your body’s fuel to come from only one set of nutrients.
Now… I’ve studied this for a LONG time… but even before I made this subject my passion, I knew from basic observation of EVERY diet and advertisement… that certain nutrients helped my skin, others helped my energy, and completely different nutrients helped me to sleep and to heal from injury.
So in reality, if I want a well-rounded (not round in the physical sense) body - as in receiving adequate nutrition to support my ENTIRE body - I need to look at that single space in my body that holds food and think about how to give it the BEST variety of nutrients with every chance I give it to eat.
The foods that have the greatest variety of nutrition? Yep, you guessed it… fruits, vegetables, high-fiber grains, nuts, healthy fish, and oils. All of those things are so amazing with their variety of nutrients. Try to take a little from every section and get that variety in with every meal. I guarantee you’ll begin to see improvement in energy levels and how you tackle life.
Interested in learning more about the foods and how to structure this more in your life? Ask me about my classes - I’d be happy to take you through a personal tour of Open Eating and how to rock it out!
What is your favorite meal that has LOTS of different nutrients?
Open Eating Tip #3 MOVE another piece into your puzzle.
There are two major pieces to being fully in tune with your body and the signals it is giving you for what it needs to help you through each and every day. The first is the fuel you give it. The second is how you use them to get where you want to go.
In addition to learning about how your body accepts and digests foods by keeping track of how it feels and responds to open eating, start moving. Let your body figure out the most effective way to boost your metabolism and use the foods.
No - you don’t have to train for a marathon or master a workout series. Just get up and move. It could be a walk, playing with your kids/grandkids, just standing and stretching, doing some yoga, or even dancing your heart out to your favorite song.
Yes, it doesn’t even have to be a workout, but just getting moving and doing something fun! Your body will send you new signals of hunger or fatigue to let you know it’s using that food you gave it, and teach you how that food works under pressure. You’ll feel your body feeling happier and stronger each day.
How does moving rejuvenate your day and help you be in tune with your body?
Open Eating Tip #4 Set down your OCD and add a little SPUNK to your routine
Your body is so efficient that it is going to find the best way to make every action efficient. Even how it processes your food. If you keep eating the same thing over and over again or doing the same exercises, not only will life get VERY boring, but your body will adapt to it too well. It will have all of the stock it needs in the nutrients it’s getting every day, and your muscles will be perfectly trained for the exercises it’s doing, so your body will put less effort into toning, and building muscle with the foods it eats, and try to just coast so that it can put its effort into searching for the other things it needs.
Keep it guessing. Keep it puzzling. Just like working problems and puzzles in your mind makes you quick and responsive in solving hard situations in a short amount of time, giving your body a variety of different movements to help it adapt to ever-changing circumstances. As you pay attention to the messages it is sending you… more of this, less of that… you’ll be an expert in any situation of how you and your body can work together to improve your overall well-being.
Have you ever found great results in changing up your routine?
Open Eating Tip #5: Eat Slower
Most people with hectic lives don’t have the time to truly enjoy their meals; rather, it’s just a chore to swallow and get back to work. However, by not chewing your food sufficiently, you are short-changing your ability to really listen to your body’s responses and renew your relationship with food as one of the true pleasures of life. Slow down and give your mind, your body, and your spirit the opportunity to really collaborate on your behalf. After all, you are your true expert!
How has listening to your body improved your relationship with food?