Mindfulness

In our busy world we are constantly distracted by texts, emails, television, and social media updates. This information overload leads to stress and prevents us from living in the moment. By working on mindfulness, we can better navigate our data heavy world. 

What is mindfulness? 

According to mindful.org "Mindfulness" is the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. Basically, it is being present in the moment by paying attention to yourself and surroundings. 

In Mindful thinking, there are no good or bad thoughts, just an open mind. Mindfulness takes practice and can include meditation. The mindful.org website is a great resource implementing meditation practice. 

Successful mindfulness leads to a more balanced life, healthier choices, increased wisdom of self and surroundings, and acceptance of what is. 

So why is your Dietitian talking about mindfulness? When we translate mindfulness into eating, we start to eat with intention, we move away from the diet mentality, and tend to make healthier choices. 

Mindful eating helps us become aware of the positive and nutritious opportunities available through food selection, preparation, and respecting our own inner wisdom. 

Mindful decision making involves thinking about how food will make the body feel. Fast food is often high in sodium, saturated fat (grease), and low in fiber. High sodium intake can cause water retention and swelling. Greasy meals make us feel tired or sluggish and cause weight gain. Foods low in fiber will lead the body to feel hungry before the next meal. In contrast, three to five ounces of baked chicken breast, a half cup of steamed broccoli, and a quarter cup of brown rice will give the body energy and keep it feeling full hours later. 

Mindful eating uses all five senses.

Before eating, take a look at your food, what are the colors, how does it smell? What sounds did it make while cooking? Take a bite. Notice the flavor, can you taste every seasoning used? Does the food taste fresh? Is it smooth or crunchy? What sound does it make when you chew? What’s the texture and consistency? How does it change as you chew it? Being aware of all five senses keeps us in the present moment and helps us reduce cravings.

Mindful eating acknowledges responses to food without judgement. 

There may be food at the table you don’t like. Instead of judging that food, “Ew I hate broccoli.” Think about what you dislike about that food, “I don’t like broccoli because of the taste/texture/smell.” Think about a food you like, determine what about the food makes you like it, “I like radishes because they are a pretty color, they have a mild onion taste, they give a nice crunch to my salad, and they are high in fiber and vitamins.”

Mindful eating allows the body to determine when it is time to begin and end eating. 

We should take inventory of our hunger throughout the day. Once you're to a three or four on the “hunger scale,” start eating. Ignoring these feelings, causes hunger to become strong. This leads us to want easy, fast food. Del Taco, Jack in the Box, and McDonalds seem to be the easiest and fastest foods available, but not necessarily healthy. When the body’s hunger feelings are strong, it wants to eat more than our stomachs hold. We tend to eat food quickly, not allowing the stomach time to tell us we’re satisfied. We overeat and weight gain occurs. 

Instead, we should consistently eat near the same time everyday. When we know we will be eating, we can plan to bring healthy snacks and prepare healthy meals. Our bodies eventually learn to become hungry at these specific times and we understand that in a few hours, it’ll be time to eat again. Therefore, we chose healthy foods, eat slowly, and stop once satisfied. This improves weight loss, and/or maintenance. 

Mindful eating is not a diet. 

When someone eats mindfully, they allow the body to guide choices. There are no food restrictions. If we only eat when the body is hungry and stop when it’s satisfied, calorie intake will be right where it should be. Surprisingly, our bodies are pretty intuitive! When we chose to eat foods that make us feel good and provide beneficial nutrients, we choose healthy foods most of the time. 

For times we choose less healthy foods, we should make sure to enjoy them. If we eat a donut in front of the TV, the brain is less likely to remember we had the donut; it was more focused on the TV. Therefore, the craving for the donuts isn’t satisfied, so we will eat another, or a few more. Instead, get rid of all distractions. Think about how satisfying eating this food will be. Enjoy the look, smell, flavor, texture, consistency, and sounds of chewing. Then, be done and move on. 

Keys to mindful eating

Acknowledge that there is no right or wrong way to eat, but varying degrees of awareness.

• When eating by yourself, mindful eating is easy. Other times you'll be eating with friends or family, which takes some concentration. Practice taking a bite and setting the fork down to talk. Maybe even turn away from the plate while you are talking. Remember to be conscious of each bite you take and check in with your hunger level throughout the meal.  

Accept that your eating experiences are unique.

• Everyone’s perspective is different and perspective can change based on what’s going on in our lives at that time. Take a moment to think about how someone else's perspective at your table is different than your own. 

You are an individual who, by choice, directs your attention to eating on a moment by moment basis. 

• Eat without distraction and try to be aware of each bite taken. How can you do this with a bag of snacks in front of the TV?

Gain awareness of how you can make choices that support health and well being. 

• Think about when cravings occur. What type of food are you craving at the time? We can usually determine a pattern; I crave salty foods at 3:00 pm every workday. This could be due to boredom or need for change of scenery. Instead of eating potato chips, I go for a walk around the building and the craving goes away. 

Become aware of the interconnection of Earth, living beings, and cultural practices and the impact of food choices on those systems.

• Raising beef, pork and chickens for human consumption significantly adds to green house gas and pollution on Earth. Eating fast food, which comes in bags and wrappers also hurts Earth by adding more garbage to our landfills. Having a diet based mostly on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and a small amount of protein is not only healthy for our bodies, but much better for the environment and our future on this planet. 

Once you have mastered, or at least improved your mindful eating practices, you will notice many changes. 

Fewer cravings.

• If your mind is present for every bit you take, it will crave less food. Once you’ve forced your brain to realize how good your body feels when eating healthy food, it will not crave junk.  

Less feelings of loss of control, concern about body image, emotional eating.

• Mindful eating will promote healthy food choices. If we aren’t eating junk, our weight and waistlines will reflect this. If we only eat when hungry and stop once satisfied, we wont feel loss of control. For the times we do chose unhealthy food, we have to be okay with it. We need to savor every bite and immediately start healthy eating at the next meal. 

Each meal is a new experience instead of habit.

• Enjoy the meal instead of mindlessly eating in front of a screen day in and day out. 

Increased preference for healthful foods.

• For example, you may naturally prefer healthy fruit as a dessert instead of ice cream because it contains more vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Or, you won’t crave a cheeseburger because it hurts your stomach and causes bloating and gas. 

Mindfulness is not easy. It takes constant practice. If you’re just starting out, take time to check in with your cravings, emotions and feelings about food. Ask yourself, how does it make you feel to eat foods you like. Imagine eating only unhealthy foods, how would you feel? What happens when you overeat? What can you learn from these feelings? Constant experimentation and curiosity are all part of the fun. 

Recipe Corner- featuring bite sized meals. Perfect small portions for after weight loss surgery and fun small sizes for kids to eat as well.

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Wonton Cupcakes

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup broccoli florets, chopped (buy frozen)
2 cups cooked shredded or diced chicken breast (buy a rotisserie chicken and discard the skin)
1 cup light Alfredo sauce
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
24 wonton wrappers (buy in frozen section, get at Costco so you have more to make all the recipes)
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven the 375. Lightly mist a standard muffin/cupcake tin with cooking spray. 
2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. 
3. Transfer the broccoli to a mixing bowl and combine with chicken, Alfredo sauce, Italian seasoning, and pepper.
4. Place a wonton wrapper in the bottom of each muffin tin. Using half the chicken mixture, spoon evenly into the wonton wrappers. Sprinkle 1/2 the Mozzarella cheese evenly over the cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining chicken mixture and Mozzarella cheese. When complete, sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of Parmesan cheese over the top of each cup. 
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden. 

Recipe Credit: http://www.emilybites.com/2015/01/chicken-broccoli-alfredo-wonton-cupcakes.html


Skinny Meatloaf Mini's with BBQ sauce

Makes: 9 Mini Meatloaves

Ingredients:
1 package 99% fat-free ground turkey breast
1 slice whole wheat or multi grain bread, or 1/2 cup store bought bread crumbs
1 cup onions, finely diced
1 egg
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for topping (careful here, the better tasting the sauce, the more sugar it seems to have)
1/4 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a standard muffin tin with cooking spray. You'll have three empty holes. Fill the empties with water before placing in oven, this will promote even cooking.  
2. Place bread in a blender or food processor and pulse until it turns to crumbs (or use store bought bread crumbs). 
3. In a large bowl, add ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, salt, and pepper. Using your hands or a large spoon, thoroughly mix together until well blended. 
4. Add meatloaf mixture to the 9 muffin cups, flatten the tops. Top each meatloaf muffin with 3/4 tablespoon barbecue sauce. 
5. Bake for 40 minutes. Run a knife around each muffin to loosen it from pan. Enjoy!

Recipe Credit: http://www.skinnykitchen.com/recipes/skinny-meatloaf-muffins-with-barbecue-sauce/


Crab Salad in Crisp Wonton Cups

Makes: 18 Mini Wontons or 9 cupcake sized

Ingredients:
non-stick cooking spray
18 wonton wrappers, thawed
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dressing:
2 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salad:
1/2 pound lump crabmeat (canned is fine)
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1/2 cup finely diced mango
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions: 
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 2 mini muffin tins with cooking spray. If you don't have mini muffin tins, a regular sized one will work, you'll get 9 larger wontons.
2. Brush wonton wrappers with oil, and place each in a sections of the mini-muffin tin. Gently press each wrapper into the tin so it forms a cup shape. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until brown and crips. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. While wontons are cooking, whisk together zest, lime juice, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Add the oil and whisk until well combined.
4. In a medium bowl, toss together the crabmeat, celery, mango, scallion, cilantro. Add dressing and toss to combine. Fill each cup with crab salad and serve.

Writer's note: If you don't want to bother with the wontons, just do steps 3 and 4. This is great on Triscuits!

Recipe credit: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/crab-salad-in-crisp-wonton-cups-recipe-2012982

Chicken Cordon Blue Wonton Cupcakes

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
12 oz, or 2.5 cups of diced or shredded chicken breast

3 oz thinly sliced deli ham, chopped
8 wedges of Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese wedges, chopped (these are great snacks outside of recipes!!)
1 teaspoon mustard
24 wonton wrappers
6 slices 2% Swiss cheese, cut each into 4 equal pieces
1/3 cup seasoned croutons smashed (Italian seasoned bread crumbs or Panko can be subbed).

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Lightly mist 12 cups in a standard muffin/cupcake tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a microwave-safe mixing bowl, combine the chicken, ham, chopped cheese wedges and mustard. Stir together. Place bowl in the microwave and heat on high for 1 min 30 seconds. Use a spoon to mix contents and smoosh the cheese wedges until they've coated the meat.
3. Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each muffin tin. Using about half the mixture, spoon evenly into the wonton wrapper. Place one of the 2% Swiss pieces on top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining chicken mixture and 2% Swiss cheese.
4. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven. Sprinkle the crushed croutons evenly on top of each cup and return the the oven for another 8-10 minutes, until wontons are golden brown and contents are heated through.

Recipe Credit: http://www.emilybites.com/2015/04/chicken-cordon-bleu-wonton-cupcakes.html