Make Peace with Food

This is the final installment in this Gratitude Series.
The first was Gratitude and Happiness, the second was Gratitude and Sleep and this week we take a peek at Gratitude and Food.

(Trigger Alert)
What if you're MAD at your food,
or yourself,
or you feel guilty,
or demonize certain foods?

Yup, I’ve been there, done that.

It's no secret that the sum of what we eat is called our diet.

Diet = habitual nourishment.

Really? But…

Do any of these other associations resonate with you?

• it's connected to your outward appearance

• it's connected to judgement around social trends and norms

• it's often a plan or guide with relatively short term goals

• it can reset a healthy lifestyle

All can be true, BUT let's fix the disconnect between our diet and actually eating to nourish ourselves.

Why should you care about this?

~Because you only have one body and you need to keep it running well.
~Because it's time to get off the emotional food roller coaster.
~Because without gratitude you tend to eat mindlessly.

When you eat mindlessly, you tend to OVEREAT, and even put DIRTY FUEL into your 'tank'.

SO, try this now, today, for your next meal...

Food Gratitude

It can be hard to feel gratitude for food when most of the time we take it for granted.

BUT, think about the many steps it takes to get that food to you, you know, from seed to table! -Hard not to feel gratitude when we pause to remind ourselves of that.

The most 'dialed in' way to activate food gratitude is to slow down and pay attention. Remind yourself of this when you plan your meals, when you shop or order your food, when you prepare it and of course when you sit down to eat.

How to get started?

Choose one or more of these easy-peasy Gratitude Activators to nurture your relationship with you food and your diet. They're a great way to reconnect with your best, vital, awesome self.

• Slow down!

• Cook mindfully-use your senses to notice what you're doing.

• Get colourful-colour is not only nourishing but keeps us interested.

• Mindfully Eat-chew your food, let your mouth start digestion, really taste the flavour layers.

• Show gratitude for your foods' journey-the soil, the rain, the farmer, the market the delivery driver, the cashier, the cook... your hands...

• Grow your food-nothing beats nurturing a plant that 'gifts' you with nourishment.

Ask yourself, "Does it nourish me? Am I growing stronger and thriving?"

And remember…

taking baby steps are still steps, so go get 'em!

Try This to Sleep Better

Okay, you may not be ready for a nap right NOW but do feel like getting a little more sleep would be helpful?

Studies have shown that practising gratitude helps with the quality of your sleep by slowing down your pre-sleep cognitions, which just means it helps us to STOP worrying so much.

We all do it. We're REALLY GOOD THINKERS.

We think that more thinking will solve everything.
But, OVER-THINKING can turn into a hamster wheel that takes us nowhere, and it keeps us awake.

Using a guided relaxation meditation can help to build a really good pre-sleep routine and cut out the habit of thinking at bedtime.
One of my most popular audio relaxation tracks, called the Deep Deep Relaxation Meditation, can be found here in The Calm Shop.

In my PREVIOUS BLOG-Build Happiness Pathways in Your Brain, we focussed on gratitude to activate happiness and now HERE I'd like you to keep it up so you can potentially benefit from a better night's sleep.

• Daily "Thank-you's"

• Gratitude journaling or lists

• Showing gratitude

Make it a habit, and it gets easier and easier.

You're rewiring your brain ALL THE TIME,

SCIENCEY STUFF*

"Hypothalamic regulation, triggered by gratitude, helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally everyday. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and energetic every morning (Zahn et al., 2009)."

so let's CHOOSE to rewire it in ways that help us to thrive.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.
The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar

Until next week...keep thriving!
Take care.
Michele

*Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions

Build Happiness Pathways in Your Brain with Gratitude

All day long we're building pathways, pathways in our brain. Neuropathways.
Let's build Happiness pathways!

Your Happiness is an essential nutrient for life.

Happiness. Contentment. Joy. Fulfillment.

Let's get MORE of it.

We all know that each time we walk down the same path it becomes more familiar.
A familiar path gets easier and easier.
The same goes for our neural pathways-repetition wires them in.

Research* has shown that Gratitude builds many neuro pathways...
This week let's build your brain's PATHways to HAPPINESS.

Step 1: Notice things to be grateful for. (Look for beautiful moments.)
Step 2: Think about why they trigger gratitude. (List it out.)
Step 3: Feel your connection to those things. (How does your body feel?)
Step 4: Act on expressing those things. (Write a card/email, Say thank you. Share the gratitude.)

Feeling stuck? Try asking:

• What is the best part of your day?

• What other ways can you say 'thank you 'without using those 2 words.

• What food are you most grateful for today?

Gratitude also builds your MOTIVATION pathways.
I teach you an easy gratitude 'life-hack' to get motivated to exercise in this video.

Notice how your happiness overflows to those around you!
Remember, you always have an impact.

* Neuroscience Reveals: Gratitude Rewires Your Brain to be Happier