Don’t get me wrong — calories are important. If you reduce your caloric intake drastically, you will indeed lose weight. But this type of weight loss isn’t always sustainable or healthy. To help gain freedom around your eating habits, I like to use the analogy of being on a budget. When you’re following a financial budget, you don’t spend exactly the same amount every day. Occasionally you’ll splurge on something. So how do you apply a reasonable amount of attention to your food without going too far? Here’s how to overcome seven common “calorie obsessions” using alternatives that balance mindfulness of calories with mindfulness of taste, hunger, fullness, and, yes, even joy. How about dipping those raw vegetables in some guacamole or hummus instead of eating them plain? Maybe just a hint of brown sugar is what you need to make those slow-cooked oats more palatable. Just a small amount of richness or sweetness often goes a long way toward making a meal more pleasurable. Obsessive calorie counting will leave you focusing on the numbers before everything else. Mindful calorie awareness is different — it’s about keeping everything in balance and allowing yourself to eat small amounts of almost any food, without the guilt and regret. To free yourself from obsessive dieting and move into a more flexible, balanced relationship with your eating, pick up my new book The Joy of Half a Cookie: Using Mindfulness to Lose Weight and End the Struggle with Food, available where books are sold. Related reads:
