Mindful Eating and Exercise

Nowadays, many of us are not focused on the task at hand, at great risk to our health and well being. Rather than admit that we are not focused and functioning efficiently, we say that we are "multitasking."

Many of us can never leave the office behind; we carry it with us in the form of a cell phone. I have seen people talking on a cell phone while running on a treadmill. Aside from the obvious dangers, can these individuals honestly say that they are getting an optimum workout? Are they communicating effectively with the other party? Would you pay your lawyer or CPA for advice they give you while weaving in and out of traffic?

But cell phones are not the worst menaces on the road. A recent study by the American Automobile Association revealed that "dashboard eating" leads to more traffic accidents than talking on cell phones. The study only focused on the dangers of the road. It did not focus on the long-term health hazards of eating while driving. Let me enlighten you on these hazards.

I used to be a dashboard diner. Many of my meals came from the drive through window at McDonald's or Burger King. By the time I got home, all that was left of the "meal" was non-biodegradable Styrofoam. I would have an upset stomach and then feel hungry again within a couple of hours. Of course I would eat again, adding even more calories to the thousands I consumed from the fat-drenched, sodium-filled burgers and fries. The next meal would be eaten rapidly while sitting on the couch watching TV.

My weight and my continual overeating were out of control and I had no idea on how to stop. The comments I got every day from complete strangers reinforced this behavior. I soon felt ashamed and self-conscious to be seen eating in public and felt "safe" eating alone in my car, in my living room in front of the TV or at my desk in my office with the door closed. As I gained more weight, I became depressed and drowned my troubles in a sea of milk shakes while driving or watching TV.

I finally decided to do something about my weight that probably saved my life. I started to keep a log of everything that I ate or drank and what I did and how I felt while I was eating. I soon discovered a pattern of overeating: I overate on foods that I did not necessarily enjoy while I was distracted and/or depressed. What an amazing revelation! To this point in time I thought that I overate because I enjoyed food too much. I realized that my problem was not what I was eating, but what was eating me.

I made a couple of adjustments. I would only eat foods that I truly enjoyed and I would make sure that I could enjoy them. Only the best food would cross my lips and I made sure that I chewed slowly and concentrated on the taste and texture of every bite. All meals would be at my dining room table or at a nice restaurant in public. This practice enabled me to easily stop eating McDonald's, Burger King and Round Table Pizza. (I have not eaten any of their food in ten years.) Occasionally I might eat a hamburger or pizza, but I make sure that it is hand-ground sirloin or prepared by hand at a restaurant where only Italian is spoken.

I also took up gourmet cooking as a hobby. I find that if I slave over a meal, I am more likely to appreciate the food and not wolf it down in a fraction of the time I took to prepare it.

This mindful eating without distractions enabled me to reconnect my mouth, brain and stomach and stop overeating. I soon realized that mindful exercise would accelerate the results I achieved from mindful eating.

What is mindful exercise? It is exercising efficiently and intensely with your mind connected to your body. It is setting a goal for each workout and getting through that workout in less than one hour without stopping for any distractions such as phone calls or chitchats with friends. Your mind is on your workout and not on your problems at home or at the office.

Two things will help you achieve a mindful workout. A heart rate monitor will help you exercise at an optimum intensity level during cardio workouts. A knowledge of which muscles are stimulated during weight exercises will help you perform the exercises correctly. If you don't feel the muscle being worked, you know that you need to change your form or the amount of weight you use in performing the exercise. It took me several years to learn that 98% of the results we achieve in lifting weights are from proper form and 2% of the results are from merely moving a weight around.

If you are already eating and exercising mindfully, bravo! If you are not, I hope you will consider my experience.

"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."
-Alexander Graham Bell