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Peaceful Mind

MindfulnessPeaceful Mind

The 5 Missing Steps to Mindful Eating…

by Dr. Patricia

The practice of mindful eating—being present, thankful, and focused as you eat—has become a popular way to help people slow down, lose weight, and reconnect with their food.

I am a strong believer in this approach for everyday use, and recommend it to my patients struggling with emotional eating, overeating, and food addiction.

And though much advice is given on becoming mindful while you eat, very little emphasis is given to the importance of mindful meal preparation.

Meal planning, shopping, cooking…all these steps are crucial to cultivating a successful, holistic, connected eating experience.

In today’s post, we will offer 5 Steps to developing awareness around mindful meal preparation to help you reconnect with your food at its source.

If you already practice mindful eating, these keys will only enhance your experience. And if you’ve never practiced mindfulness with regards to food, this is an excellent place to begin overcoming food disconnect for good.

Mindful Meal Preparation Step 1: Mindfulness starts with planning

A menu plan is the first step toward developing your holistic mindful eating practice.

For some, this will mean writing out a fixed menu and grocery list for the entire week, then doing one big shop.

For others, this may mean planning one day for your meals the next day, and shopping each day for whatever foods are freshest. Shopping daily is common in many European cultures where mindful meal preparation and mindful eating is a natural part of daily rhythms.

There is no wrong way to do this, the main points are:

Think about what you will eat at least one day before you will eat it.

Take the time to craft a menu that will be enjoyable and realistic for YOU to plan, shop for, to cook, AND to eat.

  • If you don’t enjoy cooking, opt for simple 20-30 minute meals.
  • If it’s the middle of winter, don’t count on finding fresh figs or heirloom tomatoes for an arugula salad.
  • Set yourself up for success based on your time, skill set, and favorite foods. For example, if you work 60 hours a week, attempting an all-raw menu at home may not be the most realistic course of action.
  • Make a grocery list at the time of menu planning and stick to it. This will help you get organized, save time and money, and keep you focused at the store.
  • Write your menu plan down so you don’t forget.

Not wild about menu planning? Then check out some of my favorite time-saving apps and menu planners:

  • The Nourished Kitchen Meal Plan Subscription offers a sample menu free, then paid subscription follows. Focus on grain-free, fermented foods.
  • Anylist is a great app for families or couples who need to collaborate on a single shopping list, with a free or a premium version that lets you set up location-specific reminders for certain items (eg: if you’re at Whole Foods and don’t want to forget your favorite almond milk).
  • 100 Days of Real Food Menu Planning offers free menu planning focus on real, whole foods.
  • Mealboard app lets you tap and add recipes from your favorite blogs or site while aggregating a grocery list and helping you budget.
  • Veggie Meal Maker offers a free 30-day subscription with a focus on vegetarian/vegan foods.

Mindful Meal Preparation Step 2: Be mindful of where you choose to shop

 

Imagine traveling through time from the 1800s to the 21st century and winding up in a modern grocery store.

Suddenly you would be surrounded by aisles and aisles of brightly package foods only identifiable by illustrations or photos on their labels, bad lighting, bad music, and only a small section dedicated to fresh foods—much of which are also packaged in plastic and Styrofoam.

Apart from feeling immediately overstimulated and confused; you wouldn’t have a CLUE how to procure your food.

If you think about it, the typical grocery store experience is indicative of food disconnect.

Here are some tips to help you shop smarter:

  • Seek out local health food and natural food stores.
    • Also, many local privately owned grocers and grocery store chains stock items from local growers.
  • Frequent local farmer’s markets.
  • Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
  • Look into weekly produce box programs—often offered by farms, integrative health practitioners, health food stores, or local restaurants.
  • When you do have to shop big grocery (and realistically, many of us do) stick to the perimeter, stay true to your list, and buy local and organic as much as possible.

Step 3: Be mindful of whom you support with your grocery dollars

Mindfulness starts on the farm…factory…or feedlot.

Look for produce from organic growers who nurture the land and soil through conservation efforts.

If you can find biodynamic through a farmer’s market or CSA…even better!

If you eat meat and poultry think about the welfare of the animals. Look for organic, grass-fed and finished/pasture-raised, ideally with an Animal Welfare or Certified Humane label.

The term “free range” on eggs and poultry sounds good, but is misleading. More often than not all it means is the chickens have limited access to a tiny, screened-in porch for a fixed number of hours per day.

For fish and seafood, avoid farm-raised, and look for wild fish/wild-caught, sustainable, and steer clear of endangered species.

For up-to-date info on sustainable seafood, visit seafoodwatch.org and download their app.

For more on truth in meat and dairy labeling, click over to the Environmental Working Group’s webpage on decoding meat and dairy labels.

Mindful Meal Preparation Step 4: Develop peaceful cooking habits, cook with love

Food prepared with love just tastes better and is likely a lot better for you.

A study from the University of Maryland showed that food really does taste better to us when we believe it was made by someone we love or admire1.

In addition, the late researcher, Dr. Masaru Emoto, has also done some fascinating research on the effects of positive and negative words, emotions, and music on water crystal formation2, which may explain why food prepared with love feels so different.

Since most of our food is either made up of OR is cooked with water, Dr. Emoto’s research is worth taking to heart in the kitchen.

If you have taken the time to craft a meal that suits your tastes, timeframe, and skill set, then creating a peaceful, enjoyable, and healthy atmosphere in the kitchen will naturally follow.

Here are some peaceful cooking tips:

  • Begin cooking with a thankful heart.
    • If you wish to use a mantra, try this: “Food and life are sacred, and to be enjoyed with a thankful heart and open spirit of celebration. ” I often focus on how fortunate I am to be able to have access to amazing food, a creative cooking spirit (from my Italian grandmother), and friends and family to enjoy meals with.
  • Turn off the TV.
  • Opt for silence or relaxing, uplifting music.
  • Resist the urge to multitask or talk on the phone.
  • Wear comfortable clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty.
  • If you can, cook with loved ones (yes, pets count!).
  • Enjoy a healthful, relaxing beverage while you cook, like kombucha, herbal tea, or even a glass of red wine now and then.

Julia Child had some great advice on the topic of relaxing into cooking…even if you’re a novice,

“Usually one’s cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile … then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile—and learn from her mistakes.”

In other words, enjoy yourself and cook with an open mind and heart.

Step 5: EAT Mindfully

After all the amazing work you have done procuring and preparing your food mindfully, don’t forget to carry that mindfulness into the dining room.

For an easy get-started guide on mindful eating, I highly recommend viewing: The 7 Habits of Mindful Eating video, by author Lillian Cheung of The Harvard School of Public Health.

A Word about Eating Out

If you can’t cook, or just enjoy going to out eat many of the same steps apply.

Plan where you will eat.

Think about whom are you buying from and how are they preparing your food. What’s the atmosphere like? Do the staff seem happy? Do they enjoy their work? Do they source food sustainably?

Eat with a thankful heart and enjoy eat bite mindfully.

When you do have to grab a meal on the go, think light: light food, light attitude…and consider taking some plant-based digestive enzymes if you need them.

And remember, we can’t always control where our food comes from, but we can always be thankful for it.

There you have it, the 5 missing steps to mindful eating that will help you reconnect with your food, get organized in the kitchen, strengthen your cooking skills, and cultivate a stronger relationship with your local food community.

-Dr. Patricia

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Thoughts

The Easiest Way to Stop Negative Thinking in Its Tracks

by Dr. Patricia

Have you ever tried to stop thinking negative, or to start replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts?

Though it seems simple enough, in reality it can be a seriously tough task to accomplish.

Why?

Because your thoughts are invisible.

No one knows what’s going on in your head except you, and unless you voice or otherwise express those thoughts, they have very little tangible outcomes.

Even the great meditation masters will tell you it is futile to try and stop or control your thoughts. Rather, the goal is to become an observer of them—and even that takes a good deal of training.

Today I would like to make the radical suggestion that if you want to create more positivity and happiness in your life, that you STOP trying to change or control your negative thinking.

And instead focus on changing something more tangible: your words.

More specifically: Focus on refraining from complaining.

In today’s post we’ll cover how refraining from complaining can help you build a better brain, reduce common acute and chronic health ailments, and dramatically reduce negative thinking and self-judgment.

How Complaining Slowly Erodes Your Health, Happiness, and Hope

Just utter the word “complain” out loud and you’ll notice it carries an unmistakably whiney tone.

But despite that, complaint has become a chronic communication medium in our society. It’s so rampant that research has shown people complain an average of one time a minute1 in every conversation.

Add up all the conversations you have in a day, week, month, and year and that’s a whole lot of negativity entering and leaving your consciousness.

Plus, complaining is wickedly addictive, widely accepted, AND loves company. Which makes breaking the habit a unique challenge.

However, new research tells us that despite its normalization in modern society, complaint is actually harming our brains and ruining our health.

The Little-Known Health Consequences of Complaining

Complaining is not unlike other unhealthy habits.

Just like smoking or excessive drinking, it signals a pleasure center in our brains and triggers the release of the stress-relieving hormone cortisol, giving us a temporary feeling of happiness…followed by an inevitable crash.

And, just like smoking or drinking, complaint loves company which is why so many relationships are built upon common gripes.

But make no mistake, just because it feels good doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

So, how detrimental is complaining to your health?

Let’s start with how complaining leads to brain damage and memory loss.

According to research from Stanford University2, the stress caused by complaining literally shrinks your hippocampus—the part of your brain connected to the limbic system critical to memory, problem solving and spatial navigation.

It’s also one of the main areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Brain damage and memory loss aside, as we touched on earlier complaining also stimulates the release of cortisol from our adrenal glands3.

Cortisol, known as “the stress hormone” is the same hormone released during fight or flight. It is a beneficial hormone critical for human survival, but…

…when released too frequently it depletes your adrenals and upsets your immune system leading to a slew of health conditions including:

  •         Impaired immunity
  •         High cholesterol
  •         Heart disease
  •         Diabetes
  •         Obesity
  •         Autoimmune disease
  •         Sleep conditions
  •         Emotional imbalances
  •         Exhaustion and fatigue
  •         Premature aging
  •         …the list goes on and on

Complaining is also a sneaky energy-stealer that will trap you in a downward spiral of negativity and fatigue (until you become aware of it).

Fortunately, there are 3 specific steps you can take to break the complaint cycle and protect your physical and mental health.

I call it the 30-Day Refraining from Complaining Challenge, and here’s how to do it step-by-step.

Step 1: Develop New Awareness, Attitude, and Creativity

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” -Dr. Victor Frankl, Professor of Psychology and Neurology and Author of “Man’s Search for Meaning”.

You can’t change what you aren’t aware of. And because of its prevalence, complaining can be a tricky habit to detect.

The good news is, just by reading this blog post you have now become more aware of how complaining may be sneaking into your life.

So, what should you do when you catch yourself complaining?

First, be grateful! Because you’ve developed enough awareness to notice.

Second, shift your attitude away from complaining, negativity, or self-pity, to an attitude of gratitude. You’ve already started by being grateful for your awareness, now just take it a step further and ask yourself:

“What can I be grateful for in this moment and how can I change my words to reflect that attitude?”

For example, let’s say your child ate too much birthday cake at a party and was up all night with a stomach ache.

An attitude of complaining would manifest words like, “Oh my gosh, I’m so TIRED. My kid kept me up all night because he couldn’t control himself at a party. I should have never let him go.”

Whereas an attitude of gratitude would manifest words more like, “My son was up with a stomach ache last night, but I’m thankful he’s feeling better today. I’ll need to get some extra rest later.”

It may feel a little awkward and un-genuine at first (most new endeavors do), but as you rewire your brain through practice, you’ll find that gratitude will naturally crowd out complaining.

The final step in cultivating your awareness is to pay attention to those who attempt to pull you into their pity parties.

Though empathy is key in any relationship, it is important you take steps to break any “unholy” agreements with friends or co-workers.

That doesn’t mean you get preachy or judgmental of others, you simply inform them of your new perspective and refrain from engaging in the behavior you wish to change in yourself.

And as you stick to your guns, these relationships will either make a positive shift or dissolve in response to your outlook on life. Either way, you win.

Step 1 Action Items:

  •         Start by becoming aware of your complaints.
  •         Adopt an attitude of gratitude (a gratitude journal where you write down 5-20 things you’re grateful for each day can be helpful here).
  •         Next practice re-phrasing complaints in the spirit of gratitude as outlined above.
  •         Finally, beware of chronic complainers around you and disengage in those agreements and behavior.

Step 2: Understand the Difference Between Complaining and Relaying Information

Yes, there is a difference and it’s a lot like the difference between observations and judgments.

A judgment has an emotionally-charged feeling attached to it, an observation does not.

A complaint carries a victim mentality with it, a relaying of information does not.

The person with an attitude of complaint always feels as though she is having something “done to her” or “forced upon her”. For example: “I’m just so upset, the accident on the freeway made me late for work again.”

Conversely, the person with the attitude of gratitude is able to relay information and observations without a negative emotional component. For instance: “Looks like we’ll have rain again today. I’m glad the plants are so happy.” Or “Yes, I was late because of the accident on the freeway. I know to give myself more time on the drive to work from now on.”

Changing this takes a small shift in perspective from feeling “acted upon” by circumstances, to being empowered by gratitude to change our reactions to our circumstances or change what we can control.

Step 2 Action Items:

  •         Practice observing circumstances and relaying information as information without negativity. If you can incorporate gratitude into the mix, even better.

Step 3: Find a Like-Minded Buddy

Years ago, we initiated a voluntary 30 Day Refraining from Complaining Challenge at Santa Monica Wellness Center among staff, patients, colleagues, and friends—even the UPS man was part of it.

Though this was no small challenge for those involved, it ended up being easier than anticipated because of the group support.

The group dynamic matters here because when you decide to shift an ingrained pattern, like complaining, it can leave you feeling vulnerable and isolated—especially if you have built relationships or a social circle based on complaint.

For us, the group served as a safe haven as we learned to adjust our awareness, tweak our words, and start to change the way we expressed ourselves.

Your support system will also help you weather the temporary, yet inevitable discomfort that comes along with making a big change.

Remember, discomfort doesn’t mean something “bad” is happening—just like when you experience muscle soreness after a challenging workout, it’s just a natural part of the transformation process.

And for many people, there will be a feeling of emptiness, a void…and that’s okay. I believe Dr. Frankl, whom I quoted above, explained this best:

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Dr. Victor Frankl

Step 3 Action Steps:

  •         Partner up with a buddy or create a group challenge at work, on social media, or within your own family.
  •         Be sure and touch in with your buddy or group at least daily for support and inspiration.
  •         Repeat for 30 days, and see what happens…

What Can You Expect After 30-Days of Less Complaining?

After working with patients, family, and friends on this topic for years I have observed the following miraculous benefits of 30-Day Refraining from Complaining Challenge:

  •         Improved digestion
  •         Feelings of contentment
  •         Less stress and anxiety
  •         Better sleep
  •         Healthier relationships
  •         Increased positive thinking and self talk
  •         Reduced blood pressure
  •         Reduced cravings for sugar and processed foods
  •         Greater self-acceptance
  •         More rewarding relationships
  •         Improved focus, memory, and concentration
  •         Weight-loss
  •         An overall improved outlook on life

I often share with patients how thoughts can be the most harmful “toxins” of all…but that doesn’t mean they always need to be addressed directly.

There’s a strategy in Traditional Chinese Medicine known as “circling the dragon,” where we surround a painful spot with acupuncture needles to facilitate its release. We don’t drive needles directly into the sore spot (ouch!), rather let the surrounding needles do the work, which they do very effectively.

The same principle and strategy apply here.

As you clothe your negative thoughts and complaints in gratitude, friendship, and intention you will find your thoughts begin to mirror your words, and happiness, health, and peace will be your reward.

In health,

-Dr. Patricia

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