Mindless to Mindful to Mindless Eating :

Have you ever noticed, no matter where you go, most people don't think about what they put into their bodies? They eat what they're used to eating - out of habit, boredom, or for emotional comfort and reward. That's mindless eating. And the results? Just look around.

Too much weight, too little energy, too many aches and pains, too many scary diseases, and too many people getting old too fast.

Try this. For one day, maybe even one week, think about everything you put into your mouth - well, not your toothbrush, but you know what I mean. Before you take a bite, ask yourself, "Is this food giving me the most nutrition for the calorie buck?" Then make the decision - to eat or not to eat.

Obviously, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as sprouts, whole grains, like brown rice, and legumes, like black or kidney beans, are your weight warriors and health heroes.

Chocolate, pastries, chips, buttered popcorn, cheese, pasta, meats, dried-up cereals, brown-colored white breads, processed, packaged, junk, fast foods, oil-based salad dressings, mayo, butter, margarines, pop, and lattes are not.

Mindful eating leads to mindful (and wiser) choices. Mindful choices shed those extra pounds and boost health, energy, and most importantly of all - your feeling good about you. Mindful eating takes practice, like learning anything new. Lots of practice.

But the more you think about what you're eating and how you're nourishing those 50 trillion little geniuses in your body (your cells), the easier it gets, and the better choices you make.

Then a funny thing happens. Mindful eating becomes effortless and shifts to mindless eating once again. Get it? In other words, your new health- and life-supporting eating habits become so automatic that you no longer think about the foods you're eating - they're mostly foods that give you the most nutrition for the calorie buck.

That's mindless and effortless eating at its best - freeing your mind to think about other things besides food.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go from mindless eating to mindful eating and, ultimately, back to mindless eating - on autopilot for filling up on the best-for-you foods.

Eat well. Be well. And be free to be all that you were born to be.