Managing your weight? Keep it simple!
July 16th, 2008, 2:28 pm · 4 Comments · posted by Michelle May, M.D.
While we were in Australia visiting my sister-in-law, I had the opportunity to observe her twin ten month old boys and three year old daughter. Here I am at a restaurant entertaining one of the twins who’d lost interest in eating once he was full:
The children affirmed my belief that the solution to resolving our weight problems is to go back to eating like we did when we were kids. Here are five things they did consistently:
- They only ate when they were hungry. On the occasion when they were eating simply for fun (a taste of mum’s scone), one or two bites was plenty.
- They stopped when they were full - even when mum tried to coax them into eating more.
- They only ate what they liked - and they liked a surprising variety of foods. How much less food would adults eat if we skipped the so-so stuff?
- They used up their energy playing, exploring, and growing. TV was just too boring to hold their attention compared to learning new things.
- When they were tired, they slept.
We’re making weight management too hard! It’s time to get back to the basics.
Michelle
July 17th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Hello Dr Michelle
I am enjoying your travel tales…..the affirmations of your teachings as you live them on this trip are enjoyable and helpful to me…enjoy the trip and well deserved time with family!!
Rena
July 17th, 2008 at 7:48 am
I couldn’t agree more. We’ve lost touch with our bodies, which gives us the guidance we need to take good care of ourselves. We lose it as we grow up following household rules as to when we can or can’t eat, as we are governed by the clock at school and then later by our work lives, and as we accept society’s diet mindset of depriving ourselves when we are hungry.
It is time to get back to basics and rewrite our internal beliefs of what we should do and instead listen to what we need. It isn’t easy at first, but once you start paying attention to your hunger, as you always say Michelle, and honoring it, you feel so good you wonder why you didn’t do that before.
You are addressing the real issue of weight management in your blog Michelle. Thanks for sharing so much wisdom and making it easier to understand there really is a better way to feeling and looking good.
Alice Greene
http://www.feelyourpersonalbest.com
July 17th, 2008 at 9:52 am
[...] Managing your weight? Keep it simple! [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Thanks Rena and Alice! The truly wonderful thing about mindful eating is that you don’t need to cart around a book of rules so you can manage your weight (almost) effortlessly any time, any place!
Michelle