Eating With Patience

Do you eat fast? Do you know why?
Every day someone mentions to me the difficulty of being patient with themselves. 

We only live this life once. Dig-in to food with passion. Tune-in to flavor. How you eat is a mirror of how deeply you taste life. How hungry are you? 

Eating is intuitive; you eat to survive. By using patience to notice taste and smell, you will find self-control that leads to satisfaction. Intuitive eating  is an easy sensual flow of anticipation and connection. 

Everything in our lives and bodies has cycles. Eating really fast means we miss the point, which is to find pleasure with our senses at the same time we nourish our body. When we tune in to flavor, texture, scent and size of what we're eating, our mind calibrates pace.  

What you sense keeps you on track. Studies done by The HeartMath Institute show that our heart and brain are in constant communication. As you eat with patience, you naturally eat less. Sensual intuitive eating is your connection with self-control. 

People who devour their meals, are often responding to social pressure or unconscious fears. Fear and pressure make us needy. Being needy reveals fear that we call insecurity. Insecurity turns into a need to devour. 

Tuning-in to your senses, by using patience when you eat, changes fear to self-respect. 

The fact is, the only thing we control is how we think. When you notice what you sense, you are thinking with your senses. People who eat without tasting and only stop when they notice the plate is empty, are not in touch with their sensuality. 

Our senses keep us connected with physical reality we need to understand patience. Patience is the door to the house that is your soul, where you care about your body. The key to the door is simply to trust what your sense. Do this when you eat by noticing how the food tastes and smells. 

Patience is an intuitive filter that guides you to honor yourself. Animals devour, Gods celebrate. Celebrate your life by tasting what you eat, seeing who you love and trusting the rhythm of your heart. Tune-in to what you sense and let sensuality set your pace. 

#janebernard

Food Plan That Works

The perfect plan is at your fingertips and tattooed on your DNA. Use your senses to connect with your body and watch it work!

How To Start:  Learn from your past. Take time to see yourself and live in your potential.

• Live with your weight goal. Remember what matters to you. If you're happy but could lose a few pounds, post a reminder where you will see it on your computer/refrigerator/bathroom mirror. If you need to lose 20 pounds, go out and buy 20, 16 oz cans of soup. Carry it around to be clear about what you want to lose. When you lose the 20 pounds, give the bag of canned soup to a homeless shelter.
• Losing or maintaining weight is not a choice; it's a decision. Balance what you eat with what you need. Do this by tuning-in to your body, not emotions around food. Tasting food more with every mouthful guarantees that you eat less. To drop weight effectively, give up regular desserts and drink more unsweetened drinks. 
• Don't be ruled by ideas or emotions when you eat. Overeating is psychological hunger. Your senses are your natural physical inner guidance system. This includes your 6th sense which we often call common sense. Respecting your body is how you are in control - by taking control.

How To Stick With It:  Respect your soul because only you can understand it.

• Focus with your intuition, not your mind. Intuition is physical, so you feel it, you don't think it. **Be curious about how the food you're eating will impact your body. Curiosity is intuitive; you feel it. **Connect with dignity before eating a plate of food - How much feels dignified, and how much feels like a pig? You know your answers. **Use the 3-minute rule when you feel the urge to binge.  For 3 minutes: Notice your state of mind, notice what's triggering your urge and use your 6 senses to notice if you are physically hungry. 
• Feed your social appetites to maintain your weight. As often as possible, change the topic away from food! If the topic is food, use conversation to talk about how good it tastes. Everyone likes to share ideas and experiences about pleasure.
• Don't compromise because of social pressure to eat. People respect a person who respects herself. Don't make a fuss, but be firm. 

What About Calories, Exercise, Food Choices?  Thinking with your senses and feeling with your mind is the food plan that works. Am I Really Hungry has the eating plan for this. 

• All calories are not equal. Think about quantity, not calorie count. 
• Exercise is personal. If you move as little as possible and find you're watching TV a lot, chances are you have some personal pounds of fat that would melt off if you gave yourself a chance. Exercise doesn't have to mean sweating or going to a gym. Take 5 minutes to focus on enjoying every day by taking a 5-minute walk. This will exercise your mind and your body.
• Food choices that are common sense plus convenient, are intuitive. Choose for energy and health. Don't eat what doesn't look or smell good, or when you're not hungry. Beware of portions that put on pounds. Take control by asking for a second plate or container to remove half of the portion from your plate; then either put it away for another meal or give it away.  

Intuitive Exercise

Use your intuition to overcome uncomfortable emotional urges.

• Emotions make you feel heavy. Emotion-driven situations can make you feel like you're drowning. Remember: emotions are not more important than your body, especially when it's about eating. 
• Emotions make waves in our lives 24/7. It's the gamut of living. Your intuition keeps your head above the water, so you stay clear about your priorities while riding the waves. 
• You can't satisfy emotional hunger with food. That's why bingeing doesn't work. Instead, you can use intuition to know what's going to help you. 

Here's how to  flex your intuitive muscles to refresh and re-focus the next time you feel an emotional wave driving you towards an uncomfortable or compromising  choice.  

1. Try this:

•  Think of yourself when you're tense. Feel your body. Where are your shoulders? How does your neck feel? Where does your body hold tension? I hold mine in my stomach.

•  How do you look when you feel comfortable and relaxed?  What's on your mind? ... probably nothing :) How are your shoulders? How's your heart?... probably peaceful (*

When your shoulders are relaxed and your heart is comfortable, it's automatic to be aware of your priorities and personal boundaries. It's intuitive & healthiest for you to keep an emotional / physical / mental balance.

2. Look at yourself:

• When you're not really comfortable, it's automatic to lean forward just a little and this presses your heavy chest bone against your beating heart. Lift your sternum away from your heart. Notice the difference.
•  Use inner strength to be courageous and to be patient. Identify with someone you admire who could do it : James Bond, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter, Mother Teresa, etc. You can use the strength you recognize intuitively.
•  Use foresight to ask yourself : How does this choice feel? Tune in to your body.  Where are your shoulders? How is your heart?

3. Let your eyes and body distract you from your emotions.

• Breathe firmly in and out and really see what's in front of you. Look at colors and shapes. Notice what you notice. 
•  Breathe firmly in and out. Turn around and see what's behind you. Notice color details. 
•  Now your posture is alert, refreshed and re-focused. You're in sync with your intuition. It's pretty amazing, isn't it.

When life hits frustrating emotional walls, use your 6 senses  to stay clear about what you want. You will be in control of eating choices and look great.

• It's so easy, anyone can do it.