Eat, Drink & be Mindful

It occurs to me that most of us seem to be mindlessly drifting through life without too much concern about what we eat.  But we need to eat and drink, and be mindful of when and what we are about to consume. If we feel hungry we go to the fridge or the pantry to see what’s there.  A biscuit perhaps, or some left-over of last night’s dessert?  Hmm…?

No real thought goes into when we eat or drink… it’s just a matter of whatever’s available at the time.

It is a well-known fact that many times when we go looking for something to eat, we are in fact thirsty.  For some reason we seem to mistake the cue.

I became aware some time back when I was doing some research on various vitamins and minerals etc., that we needed to be more aware of how much of a certain food we ate in comparison to our overall consumption.  I made out a large chart and it sure gave me some very good information.

More recently, I’ve become aware of the timing. Basically we get up in the morning and eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack and it goes on and on.  Do we really need all that food?  When we look around at the obesity rates, we’d have to say “I don’t think so!”

The next interesting information that came my way was intermittent fasting… hmmm… what was that?  When I looked into it I thought, “Ah-ha!”  Here they are telling me something that really gels with me, after all it goes along with my previous realizations.

Eat, Drink & be Mindful with Intermittent Fasting

So what is intermittent fasting?

The concept is built on the fact that we are living in an age where much of our food is compromised one way or another.  What with GMO’s, pesticides, weed killers, nano-particles, ugh… the list just goes on.  How do we escape it?  So with our bodies needing to rid itself of so much, maybe it’s possible it can’t manage to do that just over night.

Intermittent fasting can be done however it suits the individual

One way is to eat today and fast tomorrow… alternatively.  A better way, I believe, which is much more user-friendly, is to lengthen your night time fast for a few more hours.  Let’s say you eat your last meal by 7 pm and have no more to eat until about 11 am or 12 noon.

I’ve begun to do this now and I must say I’m flexible.

There’s no hard and fast rule.  I can’t do it every day as sometimes my husband doesn’t start until later in the day, and he loves for us to have breakfast together.  That’s ok with me.  Fine.  But other days when he’s off at work, I choose to continue my night fast until around midday.

I drink plenty of water during the morning

That’s because the whole idea is to flush out as many toxins as possible.  I think about this with every glass of filtered water I consume.  I’m mindful of the toxins leaving my body.  Good thoughts.  At this time I’m going through the Cleansing Phase.

Around 11 am I have a vegetable juice

Then I do some exercise.  I’m not 100% sure this is the best way, but it suits me at the moment. Obviously it wouldn’t suit those who go out to work, but they can work out their own routine. After I’ve completed my exercise regime, I’ll decide what I’m having for lunch which is often a combination breakfast/lunch.

Up until after I’ve finished my dinner between 6 – 7 pm…

I think about what food I’m going to put into my body.  This is the Building Phase and I want the food I eat during this time to be as high a quality as possible.  You see, I’m thinking… not just raiding the fridge mindlessly.

In line with my concept of making one change at a time, this one was quite marvelous. I’ve found it’s making me more aware of every bite I take… and every drink I consume.  It’s great and it’s not one bit hard to do.

Who else is mindful of how they eat and drink?   Are you?  If so, what gems can you share with us?  Use the comments section below.