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By Lynne Goldberg, co-founder of OMG. I Can Meditate! a meditation app for beginners to learn how to meditate.
We’ve all been there; feeling nervous, or anxious, maybe even a bit aggravated. Maybe we were stuck in traffic, had a bad day at the office, or are having relationship issues. So we automatically reach for the Ben & Jerry’s or bag of Skittles.
We eat for many reasons that often have nothing to do with actual hunger. We eat when we are stressed or upset, when our clock tells us it is “mealtime”, when we are in certain social situations, or even just out of boredom.
Sometimes, we eat past our hunger pains and become more than satisfied. Our tendency to eat too fast doesn’t allow us time to listen to our body’s warnings of when we have had enough. This type of mindless, emotional eating leads to weight gain as we take in much more than what our body needs and metabolizes.
Here are two ways meditation is helpful for losing weight.
Meditation actually helps us to combat stress and become more aware of our thoughts, feelings and emotions, from moment to moment. When we’re stressed, our body releases stress hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol actually stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism for fast energy with the possibility of increasing our appetite.
In addition, meditation can be an antidote. While you meditate you release hormones like oxytocin, the “Love” hormone and serotonin the “feel good “ hormone.
Secondly, meditation makes us more mindful and attentive to our everyday activities, including our eating habits. We learn to enjoy our food more by eating slower, meditating on every bite.
Secondly, meditation makes us more mindful and attentive to our everyday activities, including our eating habits. We learn to enjoy our food more by eating slower, meditating on every bite.
We become more conscious of the impulses that drive us to indulge, preventing us from eating mindlessly. So that means thinking twice about eating that whole bag of potato chips. Meditation allows us to become the captain of our own ship instead of being tossed around by our emotions.
Experience a meditation for weight loss for free, in the Specialty Meditation section of the OMG. I Can Meditate! program. No experience required, just 15 minutes sitting in a chair.