HOW TO EAT AND LOSE WEIGHT USING THE POWER OF MINDFULNESS

The evidence attesting to the health benefits of mindfulness continues---unabated.

A new study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, shows that older women who practised mindful restaurant eating lost an average of nearly 4 pounds (1.8 kg) in 6 weeks, even though they were only trying to maintain their weight.

The study researchers looked at the effects of a mindful restaurant-eating program on weight among women aged 40 to 59 who ate out at least 3 times a week. About half of the 35 women in the study participated in a 6-week mindful eating trial focused on preventing weight gain, and the other half acted as a comparison group.

At the end of the 6-week study, the women who practised mindful eating lost an average of 3.7 pounds (1.7 kg), while the comparison group didn't have any significant weight loss. Additionally, the mindful eating group reduced their daily calorie intake by about 297 calories (1247.4 kJ). The really interesting thing is that the researchers say only about 124 of that calorie reduction (or 520.8 kJ) was accounted for during eating out, which indicates fewer calories were also eaten at home.

Dr Jan Chozen Bays, a pediatrician, Zen teacher and author of the book Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship to Food, says the popularity of mindful eating strategies is growing. Dr Bays says that while formal training can help, people can easily adopt mindfulness on their own.

Of course, losing excess weight is one thing – and never an easy thing to do in any event! However, making sure you do not regain that excess weight is another thing altogether. So, we have to be ‘working’ on ourselves all the time – watching our self-talk, using affirmations and creative visualization, eating wisely, engaging in daily meditation, relaxtion and a sensible program of physical exercise, avoiding ‘triggers,’ and uprooting those unhealthy emotions and mindsets which would lead us back into negative and self-destructive patterns of behaviour.

Here is  a short YouTube video on mindful eating meditation presented by psychotherapist and yoga instructor Laurisa Dill from The Mindfulness Clinic:

The other blogs I have written on this topic area---see RELATED POSTS below---give more information on mindfulness and how to eat mindfully. Before you can change anything about yourself, you need knowledge about yourself---insight---and there is no better way to gain insight into yourself than to practise mindfulness. Mindfulness is all about paying attention---on purpose. It's all about conscious awareness---and being aware that you are aware. We are talking about a choiceless, non-judgmental awareness of thoughts, feelings, images, bodily sensations, cravings, etc.

Now, if you are overweight, know this. You possess the power within you to make dieting happen---successfully. Like all things where change is required, you must really want that change---more than anything else! This is not a matter of will power but want power. There is a big difference. Forget about will power. You don't need it. But you must want the change---and be prepared to go to any length to get it. Even wanting to want the change has been described as 'a step Godward.'

You also need to know this---no matter what genetic or constitutional factors may be at work, you are today the direct result of hundreds and hundreds of decisions (choices) you have made for yourself in the past. Further, what you will be tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year will be determined by the decisions (choices) you are making for yourself right now.  You may have come to detest the word 'diet,' but it represents the hope and the possibility---as well as the power---of change in action. And 'action' is the important thing. In the words of the great Unitarian minister and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Do the thing and you will have the power.'

At the same time, do not be discouraged if you do not see instant results. Be patient with yourself---but also firm. (Sometimes we are too gentle on ourselves!) No matter what you may have heard to the contrary or managed to convince yourself, you were not born to be overweight. If I may use a metaphysical expression of speech, you are born not of flesh but of ‘Spirit’---the Spirit of Life, in the form of health, fitness and vitality. Yes, the power of Life within you is a spiritual power. Please recognise the inherent possibilities in that proposition, no matter what intellectual or emotional difficulties you may have with it. See the opportunities for personal growth and change. More importantly, seize upon the opportunity now---yes, now---for beholding the 'new world' which is revealed to you not only at the beginning of each new day but in each new moment of the day. As the Bible says, 'now is the accepted time ... now is the day of salvation' (2 Co 6:2). That means now is the appointed time for you to claim and express health, wholeness and holiness.

Well, what is holding you back---other than your 'self'? Here's some more wisdom from the Bible---'your time is always ready' (Jn 7:6).

Resource: Timmerman, G M, and Brown, A. 'The Effect of a Mindful Restaurant Eating Intervention on Weight Management in Women.' Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, vol 44, issue 1 (Jan/Feb 2012).

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

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STUDY SUPPORTS MINDFUL EATING AND MEDITATION FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Recent research at UC San Francisco indicates that meditation could help people to control their dietary habits and thereby lose weight.  Although this particular research study is small-scale, its findings are consistent with other studies of mindfulness.

The researchers took a randomized group of 47 overweight women – albeit a small test group – and divided them into two groups. Each group received training on the basics of diet and exercise, but no diets were prescribed to either group.Move up Move down  The experimental group received training in ‘mindful eating’ and meditation in weekly sessions. In the mindful eating training, the women were trained to experience the moment-by-moment sensory experience of eating. They also meditated for 30 minutes each day.

The goal of the experiment was two-fold – to use mindful eating to help control cravings and overeating, and to use meditation as a stress relief to prevent ‘comfort eating.’ The preliminary results showed that they were successful. The women in the control group gained weight, while those in the control group maintained their weight and showed significant reductions in their cortisol levels (high cortisol levels are a side effect of stress).

‘You’re training the mind to notice, but to not automatically react based on habitual patterns - to not reach for a candy bar in response to feeling anger, for example,’ says UC San Francisco researcher Dr Jennifer Daubenmier (pictured left).  ‘If you can first recognize what you are feeling before you act, you have a greater chance of making a wiser decision.’

The UC San Francisco findings are certainly consistent with numerous brain studies showing that mindfulness brings about changes in brain areas responsible for body sensations, especially body sensations related to hunger and craving. The changes occur in the brain area called the ‘insula.’ (Interestingly, it has been shown that 'damage' to that part of the brain disrupts addiction to cigarette smoking.)

It should be mentioned that the difference in the weight changes reported in the UC San Francisco study only applied to the women in the study who were classified as ‘obese’ by their BMI. Overall, there wasn’t a statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group when it came to weight. However, the stress levels were different, which is not at all surprising. That also is consistent with many other studies on the effects of mindfulness.

Finally, here is what I think is a very helpful video (courtesy YouTube) on mindful eating – full of practical hints and advice:

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A SIMPLE FORM OF MINDFULNESS SITTING MEDITATION

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

MAKING AUSTRALIA HAPPY ... MINDFULLY AND OTHERWISE

“Eight volunteers. Three experts. Eight weeks. One vision.”

Last night I watched the first episode Making Australia Happy on ABC-1 ... and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here’s the link to the first episode.

For the first time ever, in Making Australia Happy the latest and most fascinating research from the science of happiness has been compiled, consolidated and taken for a test drive on the suburban streets of Sydney. Three of Australia’s leading experts have agreed to “take” eight people from what is said to be "Australia's unhappiest area" - Marrickville, in the Sydney metropolitan area - and “give” them the necessary living tools to empower them to become happier.

As Dr Norman Vincent Peale used to say, we are all in the "manufacturing" business ... each of us, each day, manufactures our own happiness or unhappiness as the case may be. This TV program, along with other writings, talks about the "science of happiness". To me, it's all about "altered attitudes" and "choices" ... no matter what happens to us. Easier said than done, of course.

The eight volunteers, from all different walks of life, all live within the Marrickville area but were unknown to each other prior to being selected for the program. Individually and collectively, these eight people represent a range of ages, backgrounds and life circumstances. What they share in common was the desire to get happy. After screening for clinical depression and mental health issues, the producers selected eight individuals who were "relatively unhappy but ready for change".

Heading up the “team of experts” is Dr Tony Grant, who is an academic and a practitioner and international pioneer in the fields of coaching psychology and positive psychology. he makes the interesting point that an "attitude of gratitude" - familiar to those involved in Twelve Step programs - has been shown to have lasting psychophysiological effects for up to 6 months. Amazing! So, be grateful ... again, no matter what happens.

Then there’s Dr Russ Harris, a Mindfulness expert and the author of the international bestseller The Happiness Trap.

Finally, there is physiotherapist and mind-body specialist Anna-Louise Bouvier. She’s there to attend to the bio-physical needs of the volunteers.

After explaining what Mindfulness is - “paying attention with openness, curiosity and flexibility” was the description given - Dr Russ Harris engaged the eight volunteers in two Mindfulness exercises. The first was “the sultana bit” ... sounds, at first, like the old burlesque routine known as “the lemon bit”, but it's altogether different. You take just one a sultana and look, smell, touch, feel, fondle, listen (!), taste, etc, the sultana for 5 minutes, before ultimately swallowing the sultana.

For those familiar with the writings of the celebrated Zen master and author Thich Nhat Hanh, he, long ago, recommended that you put just one raisin in your mouth and, without doing anything, let it dissolve. Sultana, raisin, orange ... it doesn’t matter.

The sultana exercise was followed by an exercise in Mindful Listening in which volunteers, in pairs, faced each other, taking turns to listen mindfully ... without interruption or commentary ... to each other tell the other person about a happy incident and then a most unhappy incident in their life. All very moving.

I was greatly impressed by the way the volunteers responded to the use of Mindfulness “techniques” (I know I shouldn’t use that word). Mindfulness made a big impact on the way they started to feel about themselves, assisting them to develop empathy and understanding for others as well as learning to stay focused in, and curious about, the present moment.

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I don’t know about you, but I have always been a fast eater ... not a fast food eater, except occasionally, but simply a fast eater. I gulp my food down, rather than savour and taste each morsel of food. I think this way of eating began when I was in high school, and my rigid study schedule only allowed for some 15 minutes for dinner ... at the most! Normally, I would gulp my evening meal down in under 5 minutes ... and not much has changed since then. I must do better!

There is a saying in Zen, “When you eat, eat, and when you walk, walk.” There are any number of variations of that saying. Insofar as eating is concerned, what is being called for is now widely referred to as “mindful eating”, and there can be found on the internet any number of articles, including some very scholarly journal articles, on the subject.

All of us eat ... some of us more than others. Sadly, there are some who eat far too little, even in countries where there is no shortage of food, but who suffer from eating disorders of various kinds. I will return to that subject shortly.

What is this think called “mindful eating”? Well, the Buddhist monk, writer and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh expressed it well when he wrote:

“There is a meditation exercise in which you place a raisin in your mouth. You do not eat the raisin. You meditate and allow it to sit in your mouth unmolested. The raisin plumps up and becomes a juicy fruitiness in your mouth, tempting you to bite it. This is a powerful example of how eating is different when you are truly aware of each morsel.”

Eating then becomes a matter, not so much of what and how much we eat (although both of those things are extremely important for our overall health) but how we eat. Buddhists have a saying, “You are not what you eat, but how.”

Unmindful eating is habitual, unthinking, eating. Like all other forms of unmindfulness, it is not being present - physically, mentally and emotionally - in the moment.

There have been a couple of studies which have concluded that mindful eating can be of assistance in the treatment of certain types of eating disorders. Like everything else, mindfulness is no cure-all, and is certainly not a substitute for professional medical advice and treatment for conditions that can, and often do, prove to be deadly. However, it does look like the principles of mindful eating can be a useful adjunct therapy to the treatment of disorders such as binge eating.

For example, Jean L. Kristeller, PhD, a psychology professor at Indiana State University (and co-founder of the Center for Mindful Eating), and C. Brendan Hallett, a grad student, demonstrated in a 1999 pilot study that the practice of mindfulness increased feelings of self-acceptance and control concerning food and eating, resulting in a decrease in binge eating and also a reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression in just 6 weeks. Kristeller, along with others, has conducted further research into the positive effects of mindful eating in more recent years.

You may also be interested in reading the Fall 2007 edition of The Digest which contains a number of interesting articles on mindful eating.

So, I have made a decision. I am going to start practising what I preach, and eat mindfully ... chewing each bite slowly, with both intention and attention, and slowing down the actual process of eating, so that I can become aware of the taste, feel, smell and texture, as well as the physical sensation of the biting, grinding, chewing and swallowing, of each morsel of food in my mouth.

This blog sets out a simple form of mindfulness sitting meditation.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: See the Terms of Use and Disclaimer. The information provided on this blogspot is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your medical practitioner or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on this blogspot. For immediate advice or support call Lifeline on 13 1 1 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. For information, advice and referral on mental illness contact the SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263) go online via sane.org

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