Nancy Mramor Kajuth Ph.D.

What is Real Conscious Eating?

Real Conscious Eating is an awareness of what you eat, how much you eat, what goes on in the body during eating that predicts how much you will eat, how you feel when you eat and what motivates you to eat. Awareness is followed by a process of change that results in making the best choices for you, mind, body and spirit. So what happens when you eat and why is it important to know? You see and smell food. The smell receptors n the mouth call up memories of past meals such as Sunday breakfast, a favorite lunch, dip and chips at a football game. The memories entice you and so you take a bite. As the food reaches the stomach, a spike in insulin occurs. Fats and nutrients send hormones to the brain (hypothalamus) where the brain decides when you are full. A number of biological processes occur during this time until you feel full, but there are tricks to get you to feeling that awareness of being full even sooner that I will share with you. What gets in the way of using the tricks you learn are early childhood food experiences, your Culture, Emotions, An urge for variety and Force of Habit As a result, you are likely to eat 92% of what is on your plate regardless of portion size. And changing your behavior is challenging because once the pleasure centers in the brain recognize certain foods as tasty and rewarding, then those centers continue to see those foods in a positive way, even once you decide to restrict them in your diet. Then habit sets in to work against your decision. But there are factors that you can adjust to master all of those challenges! Some of these secrets include:

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