What if the key to feeling better in your body isn't in what you eat,
But in how and when you eat it?
Many of us rush meals to eat on autopilot.
What would happen if you slowed down and gave your body space to breathe and reset?
For women over 40,
This balance can be transformative.
I'll share a tool that can help you connect with your body during meals,
A mindful eating meditation that you can use today.
So grab your smoothie or a cup of tea and join the conversation.
Let's go.
We're exploring the powerful,
Powerful rhythm of fast and eat slow.
Now it's not about dieting.
It's about aligning your eating patterns with mindfulness.
Also adding a little bit of fasting,
Which gives your body rest.
Learning how to be slow and intentional with your eating.
This allows your body to truly receive nourishment.
So there's always three key things that I like to share.
So number one,
Understanding your natural rhythm.
So I know you've heard that term intermittent fasting and doing this and doing that with what you're doing with your life as far as with your eating pattern,
Your eating cycle.
Now,
A lot of times that intermittent fasting can be kind of rigid maybe,
But we're not gonna get all into the depths of all that.
When we're talking about fasting here,
We're talking about giving your digestive system a little break between your meals,
Just allowing time to restore balance and balance your energy.
So it's nothing formal as you'll see a little later and how we're gonna approach this topic,
All right?
So also number two,
Slowing down when you eat.
So eating slowly helps your body properly digest your food and signals your brain when you're full.
This also is very important when you are really focused on your metabolism,
Just making sure there's a metabolism shift in your midlife because things change,
Of course,
After 40,
Right?
Now,
We've talked about a lot about mindful eating in the past.
However,
It's good to just revisit all of this.
A lot of times we can hear things a couple of times and then we forget about it,
But I'd heard someone say,
Maybe you should hear it about seven times before you actually get down in your bones and really take heat to it,
Okay?
Now,
With everything that we share,
Use your own judgment.
Also,
Before you start any new cycle regimen process,
Always check with your healthcare provider.
So let's get back to the third tip or the third focus.
Mindfulness tools.
There are a lot of different tools out there that you can use,
But I like to use this guided meditation to connect my eating experience.
So I started out just with my certification as a certified mind-body eating coach in a process that we focus on really slowing down with our meals.
And so around that,
I decided to create a mindful eating meditation.
So that is actually listed on Insight Timer.
Insight Timer is a wonderful platform where I have put my meditations on over the years.
And so far we've had some great reviews.
So highly recommend that you actually tune into this mindful eating meditation.
It's very quick.
You can actually play it as you are sitting down beginning to eat your meal.
So it's a great way just to,
Even if it's just one time a week,
Just really being in tuned what you're doing and being intentional about your meal time.
So just to give you like a little feedback about where my journey started with mindfulness,
Of course,
I told you about my certification,
But really I always was a fast eater.
Always just scarfing everything down,
Trying to multitask.
If you are my age,
If you are a midlife,
We grew up back in the day where multitasking was something you put on your resume.
You're always doing all these different things and also having children,
Trying to coordinate all the lunches and everything.
So throughout that,
There were times that I actually skipped meals or eating fast in the car and then also overeating as well.
But when I started honoring my body's cues,
Really seeing,
Okay,
Is my body really ready to receive the food and learning how to slow down,
I felt less bloated and more in tune with my hunger and also more at peace with my food.
Just adding those short little breaks,
Short little fast in quotes,
Eating slowly,
It helped me feel better,
Helped me feel in my body again.
And you can too.
So for this week,
I want you to try something.
So with this fast,
Don't get scared now.
With this fast,
It's all about really breaking your fast as far as after you eat your dinner,
Decide your dinner time and whatever your cutoff time,
Say if you want to at 7 p.
M.
,
A lot of people will do that now,
7 p.
M.
,
Don't eat anything over 7 p.
M.
And do a fast,
Which your body is actually,
You know,
Resetting itself as you sleep all the way until the next morning when you have your breakfast,
You're breaking your fast.
So whatever that period may be,
Say if you want to do a 12 hour period,
Whereas dinner time,
You cut that off,
Don't eat anything else.
Of course,
You want to drink some water if you need water to drink between that time if you're going to bed,
You know,
Say around 10.
So that's a great window.
If you stop eating at 7,
You got that three hour window and then you go to sleep,
You're not even thinking about food,
You sleep,
You wake up,
You do your morning rituals,
Have your lemon water,
Whatever it may be and then you actually have your breakfast.
So at your first meal,
You are going to pause,
You're going to take a deep breath and then you are going to eat,
Sit there and eat without distractions for at least five minutes,
Okay?
And just notice what you notice,
Notice how your body feels.
That's all you're committing to,
Five minutes just to slow down with your meals.
So try that,
Find your cutoff time,
Then you go to sleep,
Wake up,
Have your morning time and then take five minutes to actually just be in tuned with your eating.
Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode on Insight Timer.
I can't wait to connect more with you.
Nutrition is more than what you eat and the weight that you carry.
Talk to you soon.
