taste every mouthful

taste

notice

enjoy every bite

It doesn't matter how much you paid for it. It doesn't matter how long it took to prepare. If you aren't tasting the food 100% you don't need it and it is doing you no good. Don't waste even one more mouthful of pleasure

Stop eating the moment you stop savouring the food or the moment your mind wanders away from the sensation of the food. If you've been eating chaotically, every eating experience from now on is a chance to change that. Each time you eat when you are hungry you are building confidence. You are learning that you can feed yourself and look after yourself too.

Don't cheat yourself of the deep pleasure of eating well. Pay attention to what your stomach really wants. Notice which healthy foods really please and satisfy you. Notice the foods that leave you feeling uncomfortable. Observe which foods are so moreish you feel you can't stop eating them. When this happens it means that your taste buds rather than your hunger have taken over. I sugary things make you crave more sugar so that you feel you really can't stop, eat the sweet food first rather than last. If you are eating a meal this might mean starting with dessert and having other foods as a second course. Following dessert with fish or pasta or noodles will quell the urge for the sweet taste. You won't be depriving yourself. The sweet food doesn't become a bad food that has to be avoided. You can have the sweet thing that you find delicious in a way that feels safe for you. Of course sweet foods should be eaten in moderation!

See how the foods you eat sit in your body. Do they make you feel good? Do they give you energy? Do they make you feel drowsy? Do they make you feel sick? Notice which foods leave you with contented feelings after eating them. Notice which foods taste good in your mouth but feel awful when you are digesting them. Notice which foods feel sinful, making you feel guilty for eating them. Certain foods may disagree with you. This could be any kind of food. Our bodies are very personal. Sometimes the way we respond to a specific food depends on when we eat it. We can digest it better in the morning than at night. Sometimes whole groups of foods - meat, nuts, dairy - don't agree with us.

Each of us needs to find out how specific foods affect us. Some foods may: Bring you out in hives or spots. Make you feel bloated, constipated or give tummy upset. Make you feel hyper or dizzy Be wise and avoid them. It might make you feel a little sad that your body rebels when you eat certain foods, but you need to respect your body's reactions and feel the regret that certain foods you like the taste of aren't for you. There are plenty of delicious foods that will nourish you without producing a negative reaction in your body. If you crave endless amounts of a certain food even when you realise your hunger has been satisfied, this particular food probably doesn't agree with you.

Perhaps you are responding to the sugar or salt in the food and the chemical receptors in your brain crave more of those flavourings. Your salt and sugar receptors are working overtime and will never be satisfied. Once you have gone beyond a small portion there actually is no right amount. It becomes hard for you to stop because you are not responding to hunger but to a craving that has been induced by the salt or sugar. This doesn't mean never eating sugar or salt. It does mean being aware of their affect on you and eating them along side or backed up by other foods that neutralise the craving effects of the sugar and salt.

hints

If you are in danger of eating everything that's put before you, try to leave a mouthful of every type of food on your plate. When someone else is deciding how much shall go on your plate, or even when you have served yourself. Leaving a little of each food begins to put you in control of your food. This will help you to discover the right amount for you.

If certain foods worry you, if sweets, bread or bananas scare you, try having enough of the particular food around you so that you can never eat it all. If you think you could binge on: 3 chocolate bars, a packet of biscuits, a pot of chocolate mousse keep 8 or 10 times as many of them in the house. This may sound a strange thing to try but this is how to change the mystique associated with these foods. If you have plenty of them around, more than you could possibly eat in one go, you will start to see them just as foods, foods you enjoy, foods that are staples to have when you are hungry for them. Gradually, you will experience yourself as able to select these bingey foods in a positive way. You won't rush to finish them or banish them because they are sitting there challenging or threatening you.

When you do make the choice to eat those foods you will fully savour and enjoy them. To help you if you lose attention while you eat, carry a small notebook and pen with you. If you notice yourself eating more than you are hungry for. If you are eating without noticing. If your fork or spoon is going to your mouth automatically.

If it ceases to matter what you are eating STOP: Take out your notebook and jot down your thoughts. Notice the thoughts that have turned you focus away from your eating. Are they negative, disconcerting or frightening thoughts? Are they exciting or pleasurable thoughts? Turn your attention to them. They are more important then eating right now. If you are eating with others when this happens, you can still stop eating and quietly go inside yourself to register the thoughts that are claiming your attention.

If you can't write them down or think about them at the time, remind yourself to do so later. They matter. They can help you understand why you eat when you are not hungry. Knowing yourself more fully will allow you to interrupt the habit of eating without awareness.