Kia ora and hello valued reader
How are you?
Instead of skipping over that, let my question of "how are you" be an invitation to take a moment to notice what you are feeling in your mind, body, heart and gut at this time.
Doing this simple thing gives you permission to take up space and show yourself that you matter.
Today I want to talk about giving yourself time to slow down, and specifically slow down with something you do everyday, several times a day - eating.
Most health and wellbeing advice about eating focuses on what you eat rather than how you eat, but as I noted in this week's article and podcast, HOW you eat is also incredibly important and may be a missing link in understanding some of your health issues.
In this week's article and podcast I explore the seven ways that stress can impact your hormones in midlife. I also talk about how stress is not just mental and emotional. Your body is also managing many other forms of stress. The links to the full article and podcast are below if you want to know all the details.
What I want to give you in this newsletter is one simple thing that you can do to help reduce the stress load on your body - and this one can influence mental, emotional and physical stress.
It is vital to healthy digestion that when you eat you are in a relaxed state. Why? because when your are feeling rushed, upset or stressed your digestive system shuts down and does not work efficiently. Eating when your digestive system is shut down can lead to poor nutrient uptake, bloating and gas. Done repeatedly over long term it can also lead to blockages and malabsorption issues that damage your gut. As I talked about in this week's article, eating when you are stressed or anxious (feeling fear) simulates the production of cortisol and can decrease the production of estrogen and progesterone in women and testosterone in men.
Slow down and relax when you eat. It sounds simple right? Yet I know from my own experience that this simple thing can be very challenging.
I confess, even though this is a small shift I struggle with it. I set the intention to sit and relax when I eat and do it for a while, then life happens and I start rushing or multi-tasking again, and then I come back to being mindful when I am eating, and then I slide again and come back.
The thing to focus on is not the "back-sliding" and "failing", it is the constant coming back. The consistent return is the success, because life is not consistent - it throws us curveballs on a regular basis.
Adding to the stress we feel when eating can be subconscious fears that we have about eating. Many of us feel a lot of discomfort when we sit down and eat mindfully because we have attached a lot of fear beliefs to eating. These can come from long term dieting and weight loss issues. Many people are afraid to eat in case it leads to weight gain. For me, my fear and control issues around eating come from skin issues. I am fortunate to have an athletic body type and excess weight has never been an issue for me. My issue has always been acne. I have battled with having acne my whole life. My fear is that the food I eat will make me break-out. These fears can play into us wanting to rush eating or distract ourselves while we are eating to avoid feeling the worry and navigating the negative thoughts. I get it. I also understand that it is not healthy.
By midlife, many of us have so many negative beliefs attached to food and eating that mindful eating becomes not just a physical healing practice, but also an emotional and psychological one. Before you eat your next meal, sit down, take a full slow breath and notice what is active in your mind and body. Name whatever is coming up for you, and tell yourself that it is okay for you to feel that - you can feel or think that and love yourself anyway. Take another breath in and when you exhale imagine breathing out the energy of that fear or negative thought.
The other thing that I have started doing is acknowledging and appreciating my food before I eat it. This creates a moment of presence - of really seeing the food I am about to eat and feeling gratitude for it's beauty and how it will nourish me. Saying a grace prayer or karakia can have a similar effect when you feel into it rather than reciting it out of habit or obligation. Here is what I say to my food in my head before I eat:
I acknowledge and appreciate you
Thank you for transferring your energy to me
Thank you for nourishing me
I bless you with love and light.
Let's Connect
Your feedback helps me to serve you in ways that are valuable to you.
If you try the mindful eating practice I describe in this newsletter, then I would love to know what you experienced and whether it was helpful for you.
You can reply to this email or message me directly at support@janinelattimore.com
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A quote for the week...
“Life really does begin at forty, up until then you are just doing research”
— Carl Yung
Weekly Article: Stress and Hormones in Midlife: The Hidden Factor Nobody's Talking About
Read the articleSave the infographic on Pinterest
Listen to the Podcast Version
Remember:
Simple can be effective.
You don't need to know everything. You just need to know and do the things that are important to you. One simple thing practiced daily is enough.
That's how effective change happens.
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Until next time...
Keep living midlife well
Aroha nui, much love
Janine
Janine Lattimore | Living Midlife Well | janinelattimore.com