Tag: mindful eating

Master Your Eating Habits Like Your Martial Arts Moves

Oscar AgramonteWah Lum

I want to share some practical tips to help you stay on track with your health goals while fully enjoying your meals. 

Just as in Kung Fu and Tai Chi, where precision, awareness, and discipline are key, mindful eating can greatly enhance your overall well-being and training.

It’s all about paying attention to your food- savoring each bite, listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues, and enjoying the overall eating experience without distractions. 

Tips for Practicing Mindful Eating:

  1. Slow Down: In Kung Fu and Tai Chi training, every move is deliberate and controlled. Apply the same principles to your eating. Take your time to eat. Chew each bite thoroughly and savor the flavors and textures.
  2. Eliminate Distractions: Try to eat without distractions such as TV, phones, or computers. Focus solely on your meal and the company around you. Just as you would eliminate distractions to concentrate during training, do the same during meals.
  3. Listen to Your Body: Pay attention to your hunger and fullness signals. Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re comfortably full. When training at Wah Lum, listening to your body is crucial to avoid injury and optimize performance. Apply this awareness to your eating habits.
  4. Enjoy Your Food: We tell our students to enjoy the process of mastering a new technique. Apply the same principle to appreciating each meal – its taste, aroma, and presentation. This can enhance your satisfaction and reduce the desire for unhealthy snacks later.

By incorporating these mindful eating strategies into your routine, you can enjoy delicious food while staying on track with your health goals, just as you balance enjoyment and discipline in your martial arts training.

Sifu Oscar

 

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are ways we can help you get started.

1. Schedule a time to observe a class.
Interested in Kung Fu or Tai Chi?  First step is to watch a class and see if we would be a good fit! Email: kungfu@wahlum.com for an appointment.

2. Become part of my exclusive Coaching Group with CYH Remote Coaching.  Get personalized coaching delivered right to your phone and catered to your specific goals. Email: kungfu@wahlum.com for info.

Tip of The Week: Slow Eating

Oscar AgramonteWah Lum

I’m a big believer that slow and mindful eating is one of the MASTER SKILLS for fat loss.

Because the goal is to eat a sufficient amount to be reasonably comfortable, but not more than that.

This week I wanted to share some recent research published in Appetite on how what you hear while you eat can impact how fast you eat.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

The scientists report that:

  • People ate faster when they listened to music with a fast tempo (145 bpm). (Example: “Born to Run”—Bruce Springsteen)
  • People ate slower when they listened to music with a slow tempo (45 bpm). (Example: “Call Out My Name”—The Weekend)
  • When people listened to any kind of music—even the up-tempo stuff—they ate slower compared to when they ate in silence.

The researchers hypothesized that faster music makes people feel more aroused or excited, stimulating their senses and making them eat faster. 

Slower music, on the other hand, may help people feel calmer and more relaxed, which could lead to more mindful eating.  

The study’s findings also affirm something bigger: What people feel while they eat is important.

Folks who struggle to eat slowly and mindfully may be more likely to succeed if they take steps to feel more relaxed during meal times.

And if slow music—or tunes of any tempo helps—you do that, then it could be worth trying. Think of it as “setting the mood.” (But please: No Muzak.)

PMID: 32682852

Mathiesen SL, Mielby LA, Byrne DV, Wang QJ. Music to eat by: A systematic investigation of the relative importance of tempo and articulation on eating time. Appetite. 2020 Dec 1;155:104801.

Sifu Oscar

 

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are ways we can help you get started.

1. Schedule a time to observe a class.
Interested in Kung Fu or Tai Chi?  First step is to watch a class and see if we would be a good fit! Email: kungfu@wahlum.com for an appointment.

2. Become part of my exclusive Coaching Group with CYH Remote Coaching.  Get personalized coaching delivered right to your phone and catered to your specific goals.
Email: kungfu@wahlum.com for info.