Episode 10: Mindful Eating & Mindless Eating for Weight Loss

Most of the weight loss literature discusses how to consciously take control of your eating by counting calories, keeping a food diary or weighing out your food. These methods, although effective for a time, are difficult to maintain for a lifetime.

What if there were a better way, a way that uses the power of your strong subconscious mind rather than your weak conscious mind.

On our weight loss podcast and blog, we have discussed many of the principles around consciously changing your diet and lifestyle for weight loss purposes. In today’s article and podcast, we will discuss methods of using your subconscious mind to achieve your weight loss goals.

Mindful eating involves being present when you eat; paying attention to the taste, texture and flavors within the food. By using the principle of mindful eating, you allow your brain time to register the food.

Mindless eating is a scientific approach to tricking your brain into eating less. Mindless eating principles are based on the scientific fact that your satiety is determined more by your environment than your hunger signals. By using a number of scientifically validated techniques, you can literally trick the brain into decreasing calories without feeling deprived. Some of these principles include:

1. Using plates that are 10-20% smaller than your usual plates. The brain feels obligated to eat everything that is on your plate. By decreasing the size of the plate, you can trick the brain into feeling satisfied with less food.
2. Start the meal by throwing out 15-25% of the meal. This works on the same principle as described above. If you throw it out, you no longer have to consciously ask yourself if you have had enough.
3. Leave the uneaten food on the table. When your brain is able to see the remains of your eating, it is able to gauge the quantity that you have already eating.

Although mindful eating and mindless eating are both very powerful; by putting these two principles together you can dramatically change your lifestyle and eating habits without feeling deprived! This is a very powerful way to consume less without feeling deprived.