"Mindfulness isn't difficult. What's difficult is to remember to be mindful."
Stumbled upon this article today. A great piece on The Neuroscience of Mindfulness.
http://bit.ly/1X0acG
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Guide To Intuitive Eating
Intuitive Eating is a concept that is intended to help individuals create healthy relationships between food, mind, body and health. In practice, it may sound simplistic. However, the basic tenets are often overlooked. Significant problems with relationship to food, maladaptive coping with weight fluctuation, eating disorders, shame/guilt about one's appearance, and general dissatisfaction can occur when intuitive eating is not a principle of everyday life.
The basic premise of Intuitive Eating is to pay attention to your body's hunger cues, rather than focusing on caloric intake or to count grams of carbohydrates, fat or protein. In many ways the basic principles of Intuitive Eating are the direct opposite of dieting which. Intuitive Eating involves learning the distinction between true physical hunger cues and emotional cues, the latter of which drive compulsive eating behaviors such as overeating, binge eating, and choosing unhealthy foods. This process involves making amends with your own beliefs about food, including what food you label as "bad" or "fatty."
Some tips for incorporating Intuitive Eating into your life:
1. Rid the notion that you have to eat at set times with set portions.
2. Think of hunger much like a gas tank, with extremes of Empty and Full. Consider Empty to be a score of 0 and Full to be a score of 10. The goal is to keep your level of satiety between a 3 and 7 at all times, to ensure that you are never completely empty nor completely stuffed.
3. Address when you are eating to cope with stress, pain, sadness, anxiety, or any other emotional reason. Examine if there are other coping skills to address these emotions rather than food.
4. Spend some time exploring your own food beliefs, specifically which labels you give to certain foods that lead to rigid eating behaviors.
5. Stop counting calories, carbohydrates, fat grams etc. Pay attention to your own bodily cues for hunger. Do you notice hunger pangs in your stomach, a drop in energy, or increased irritability when you are hungry?
The basic premise of Intuitive Eating is to pay attention to your body's hunger cues, rather than focusing on caloric intake or to count grams of carbohydrates, fat or protein. In many ways the basic principles of Intuitive Eating are the direct opposite of dieting which. Intuitive Eating involves learning the distinction between true physical hunger cues and emotional cues, the latter of which drive compulsive eating behaviors such as overeating, binge eating, and choosing unhealthy foods. This process involves making amends with your own beliefs about food, including what food you label as "bad" or "fatty."
Some tips for incorporating Intuitive Eating into your life:
1. Rid the notion that you have to eat at set times with set portions.
2. Think of hunger much like a gas tank, with extremes of Empty and Full. Consider Empty to be a score of 0 and Full to be a score of 10. The goal is to keep your level of satiety between a 3 and 7 at all times, to ensure that you are never completely empty nor completely stuffed.
3. Address when you are eating to cope with stress, pain, sadness, anxiety, or any other emotional reason. Examine if there are other coping skills to address these emotions rather than food.
4. Spend some time exploring your own food beliefs, specifically which labels you give to certain foods that lead to rigid eating behaviors.
5. Stop counting calories, carbohydrates, fat grams etc. Pay attention to your own bodily cues for hunger. Do you notice hunger pangs in your stomach, a drop in energy, or increased irritability when you are hungry?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Screen Time Advice
The transition from spring to summer means increased free time for many of us, especially for families and those with children. Many popular television networks that offer programming for children and families promote 'special summer schedules.' Research indicates that the average American youth between the ages of 8 - 18 spends approximately 4 hours per day watching television or DVDs/videos, 1 hour per day on the computer, and roughly 45 minutes playing video games. That totals roughly 6 hours per day of total screen time for the typical American youth. As little (or much, pending your viewpoint) as 2 hours of total daily screen time has been shown to be problematic. Research indicates connections between 2 or more hours of total screen time and obesity, lowered self-esteem, behavioral problems, academic difficulties, sleep disturbances, and overall health problems.
MindBodyHealth has several guidelines to consider to promote a healthy relationship with screen time.
Monitor Overall Screen Time:
Are you aware of how much time you, your family, and your children are spending in front of television and computer screens? Monitor overall usage for one week. You may be surprised at your findings.
Set Limits:
Be firm with how much time you allow yourself and your family to spend in screen time on a daily basis. Let expectations be known ahead of time. MindBodyHealth recommends no more than 2 hours of screen time per day (which is liberal considering most research recommends no more than 1 hour per day). A good rule of thumb is to break total screen time down into smaller increments, for example, 2 hours could be best used in four 30 minute chunks.
Be A Good Model:
Most of us remember the slogan "Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs." The same concept applies to screen time. Parents who model excessive television and computer usage tend to have children who learn similar behaviors. Parents who model appropriate exposure to television and computer consumption have children who grow up learning this valuable lesson.
Explore Other Activities:
There are numerous other activities to explore, especially in the summer time. Activities can range for outdoor physical exercise, to reading or drawing on a blanket in the park, to indoor arts and crafts activities. Get creative - you and your family will be appreciate it.
Make Screen Time Family Time:
Screen time should never be used as a distraction or babysitter. One way to promote overall family functioning is to utilize screen time as a family movie or game night. Time spent in front of the television can be promoted as another means of quality family time. MindBodyHealth also recommends active programs, such as Wii sports.
MindBodyHealth has several guidelines to consider to promote a healthy relationship with screen time.
Monitor Overall Screen Time:
Are you aware of how much time you, your family, and your children are spending in front of television and computer screens? Monitor overall usage for one week. You may be surprised at your findings.
Set Limits:
Be firm with how much time you allow yourself and your family to spend in screen time on a daily basis. Let expectations be known ahead of time. MindBodyHealth recommends no more than 2 hours of screen time per day (which is liberal considering most research recommends no more than 1 hour per day). A good rule of thumb is to break total screen time down into smaller increments, for example, 2 hours could be best used in four 30 minute chunks.
Be A Good Model:
Most of us remember the slogan "Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs." The same concept applies to screen time. Parents who model excessive television and computer usage tend to have children who learn similar behaviors. Parents who model appropriate exposure to television and computer consumption have children who grow up learning this valuable lesson.
Explore Other Activities:
There are numerous other activities to explore, especially in the summer time. Activities can range for outdoor physical exercise, to reading or drawing on a blanket in the park, to indoor arts and crafts activities. Get creative - you and your family will be appreciate it.
Make Screen Time Family Time:
Screen time should never be used as a distraction or babysitter. One way to promote overall family functioning is to utilize screen time as a family movie or game night. Time spent in front of the television can be promoted as another means of quality family time. MindBodyHealth also recommends active programs, such as Wii sports.
Monday, October 13, 2008
You Only Have Moments to Live
"Oh I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day" - This excerpt taken from Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. highlights how much energy and time we spend disengaged from the only moment that we can truly live in - the present. Detachment from the present is shown to lead to numerous problems in living, including depression, anxiety, and adjustment issues.
We have created this blog as a means of community outreach. From time to time you will see postings related to topics relevant in the current popular media, issues affecting Colorado, recent advances in health, and of course, all things mindfulness.
For more details regarding our mindfulness-based, health psychology private practice in Denver, visit us at www.mindbodyhealth.us, or feel free to call (303) 831.6248.
Keep well,
Justin Ross and William Clancy
We have created this blog as a means of community outreach. From time to time you will see postings related to topics relevant in the current popular media, issues affecting Colorado, recent advances in health, and of course, all things mindfulness.
For more details regarding our mindfulness-based, health psychology private practice in Denver, visit us at www.mindbodyhealth.us, or feel free to call (303) 831.6248.
Keep well,
Justin Ross and William Clancy
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