How Your Eating Environment Affects your Nutrition & Hormones
Do you scarf down a breakfast bar every morning while racing out the door to work? Do you have lunch while responding to emails? Are you watching the news while you eat dinner? How we eat impacts our well being just as much as what we eat. If you are distracted or rushed when you are eating, it could be affecting your ability to eat mindfully and balance your hormones.
Eating Mindfully
If your attention is divided at meal time, you are not able to pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues. Having this connection with your body and mind is one of the keys to unlock food freedom! When you aren’t listening to your body, you can end up eating more than your body needs or to the point that you are uncomfortable. When you create an environment free of distractions and clutter, it promotes a more peaceful and mindful meal time. When that happens, maybe you linger longer with your food and actually enjoy it. By setting the stage, you are better able to tune into how your food smells, tastes, and ultimately how it makes your feel.
Balancing Hormones
Another benefit of a peaceful eating environment is that it helps you activate your rest and digest pathway. If your body experiences stress while you are eating, such as eating while driving or reading a negative article, your body can go into fight or flight mode. In this state, your heart rate spikes, digestion slows, and adrenaline pumps out. This is not ideal for digestion and hormone regulation. When you are in a state of rest and digest, your body can better absorb nutrients, balance hormones, and eliminate waste. This helps you thrive rather than just survive!
Tips for a Mindful Eating Environment
Unplug - Try eating without any visual distractions (Facebook will be there when you are finished). If you want something on in the background, listen to music instead.
Sit at the table - When you have a dedicated space to eat, your body automatically knows what to do when you sit down. This allows you to more efficiently absorb those nutrients!
Get grounded - Take a few deep breaths before you start eating or complete a mindfulness exercise like the one to the right!
Are you ready to show up for yourself and understand how to help your body function properly? With my customized programming, my clients learn to stop fighting their body and instill practices that help them level up in their health, their well being, and their lives. You can too. Click here to apply for a free discovery call today!
