Look Great, Feel Great Eat Great / Three Tips

It's holiday party season and you want to look your best. Because going up and down like a yo-yo physically and emotionally feels awful, and forcing yourself to follow an eating program that feels like a struggle is awful, it's time to stop. To look great you need to feel great.

When you feel great, you know you look great and that makes it easy to eat intuitively. Here are three tips for turning holiday stress into looking and feeling great:

1. Eye Contact : No matter who you are talking to look them directly in the eye. This relaxes you because it's not superficial. Everyone looks best when they are relaxed.
2. Share Tastes : Pick your favorite holiday food and share a taste with someone you want to know better or with someone you want to renew your sense of connection with. It's almost like starting a conversation with a tease of taste. Begin with eye contact and talk about how good the food tastes. This will cause both of you to smile. You look great when you smile.
3. Soul Food : Deepen the wonder of who you are by letting yourself enjoy music, chocolate (in moderation), dancing, prayer, or being playful. Suddenly, you will remember that the gift of being alive is great and that you don't need to force yourself to do anything that doesn't feel right. The purest soul food is self-respect. It's never abusive or mean. Find a place to sit and don't do a thing. Tuning-in to your soul is liberating. You feel younger and you look great!

When you feel good, there is no emptiness to hide or cover. You respond to hunger easily and enjoy the taste and the pleasures of satisfying your body, feeling great and enjoying this holiday season. Here are three tips for eating great:

• Eat with your eyes.
• Taste with your tongue.
• Love with your heart.  

Laugh more, eat less and fill your heart with sparkle that comes from eye contact, sharing pleasures and honoring your soul.  You will look great! Guaranteed.

 

Taking Smaller Bites

You want to do the right thing which is - not gain weight that your body doesn't need. You are committed to looking your best. So what happens? This is what happens to me: stress, deadlines, bills, social commitments, etc., and before I know it, I've lost my perspective of what I want.

Of course, I want to do the right thing. It's not always easy. When I reach the point of not remembering exactly what my last meal tasted like, I know it's time to take an intuitive pause. This means, I must find some alone time and use my senses to find out or end - what is wrong. Yes, it is wrong to ignore the power of our senses. The more we ignore, the more confusing life becomes. Personally, I don't like feeling confused.

Here's how I tune-in to my intuition. I eat a snack alone. I choose something healthy that I enjoy.  Today it was a piece of crusty bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter smeared across it and some yummy honey spread delicately on top.

• I look at it and pause:
• to realize how lucky I am to have it.
• to see how much I took and if the portion is what I really want to eat.
• I decide to only take small bites instead of eating the whole thing in large mouthfuls
• to really taste what I'm eating. I chew each small bite savoring it, with my tongue. This is surprisingly exciting and satisfying. 
• Because of the size of the bites, I realize I'm starting to relax non-food related emotional tension. Focusing on the food for it's flavor, has liberated me from the dragon of stress.
• I discover I'm enjoying myself. My perspective is no longer tense.

You can even do this with an energy bar or a cup of coffee. The decision to take smaller bites (or sips) and use your senses to see and savor what you are eating, is an intuitive pause that will reset your perspective so you can do the right thing for yourself. Because of the way we are wired, eating with smaller bites resets every part of our being. We relax.

Remember this the next time life is too complex, or confusing or just too busy:

• Take a smaller bite. Chew each well and swallow. Then take another.
• Let each part of your tongue tease your sense of taste so that you feel pleased.
• Be grateful you are not homeless or hungry.

How I feed myself food is a reflection of how I feed myself life. I'm determined to taste and savor every morsel of what life throws at me, because I like to feel very alive. Whether the glass is 1/2 full or 1/2 empty, we can always add more. Sip, don't guzzle, and enjoy the personal satisfaction of self-control. 

For practical intuitive solutions that are common sense for maintaining a your healthy weight, download: Am I Really Hungry? 6th Sense Diet : Intuitive Eating

and overcome eating challenges.

"If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules." P. Arden