The simple, yet often-overlooked fat-burning factor we ALL need to be aware of

A little while ago, I sat down to enjoy some organic smashed avocado on homemade gluten-free bread, a bowl of raw red pepper soup and my favourite courgette hummus with veggie sticks. The lunch of champions, full of such beautiful goodness that always makes me feel so happy eating it! 

A alert then came through on my phone, letting me know that Chesney Hawkes was now following me on Twitter  😯  😯  😯 

So I felt I had to then immediately go into Twitter, to check that it was in fact a real and verified account from the actual one and only (sorry…) and not some troll imposter trying to impress Southampton-based personal trainers.

When I got my confirmation that it WAS him (and did a little happiness dance to celebrate that I’d officially ‘made it’…) I then proceeded to scroll through the one and only’s tweets, Instagram posts and Facebook page, to see what he was up to these days.

Doing this reminded me to download a couple of 90’s songs, that I’d previously shazamed. I then had a quick scroll through my own Facebook feed, replied to a few Boot Camp enquiries on my page, then scrolled through both my Instagram feed and those of my new followers, who’s photos (mainly of raw, vegan and/or gluten-free food…) looked pretty pleasing.

These photos reminded me that it was still lunch time, so I put down my phone and went back to my selection of delicious awesomeness.

Only to find that it was all gone.

😮 😮 😮 

After my initial “wtf moment”, I became painfully aware that whilst doing all of the above on my phone, I had mindlessly eaten the whole lot. Without even realising it. 

I felt cheated! And so annoyed! I’d “missed” my lunch, for what?!

Everything I did on my phone in that time could have waited until later. There was no emergency, no gun held to my head saying this all needed to be done now. If I’d instead chosen to switch off or leave my phone in another room while eating my lunch, I would have:

a) been fully aware that I HAD actually eaten my lunch

b) been no worse off, with regards to all that I had just accomplished on my social media, which would have all been done later on anyway

More importantly, this accidental episode of mindless eating also made me feel that I could quite easily go and fix myself another serving of everything! My brain hadn’t actually registered that there was food in my system, meaning I could have easily eaten twice as much!

So just how often are our phones causing us to mindlessly over-eat? Being on my phone while having my lunch meant I missed every aroma, taste, flavour and texture of every mouthful; as well as not registering each release of the happy “feel-good” hormone, that accompanies eating nourishing, nutrient-rich foods.

Having enough to eat, as well as the privilege, opportunity and freedom to have such a vast choice of awesome food available to us should be cherished and enjoyed – not missed! Is it any wonder so many of us. who believe we have a healthy diet are mindlessly overeating?

A little while ago, my husband and I decided there would be no phones/tablets/laptops/any electronic devices at the table. This is our time together to chat, share and enjoy our meals together.

Perhaps if we all made a point of keeping our devices away from us whenever we are eating ANYTHING (even if it’s just a snack!) therefore resulting in us eating without any distractions, our eating would become what it should be: mindFUL. 

When we choose to eat mindfully, every aspect of our food is savoured in the present moment, it is chewed and therefore digested properly, and we stop when we are full. 

Try doing this with the next thing you eat today, you’ll be amazed at the difference. And if you are (ironically) reading this article on your phone, before you switch off or walk away from it, I’d like to say a huge sincere thank you for visiting my blog – it’ll certainly still be here when you  come back 😉

With love, peace and mindfulness always,

Gen x