When someone has an eating disorder, it can be hard to find a way to eat in a healthy way that does not trigger eating problems. However, when it comes to mindful eating, studies show that it is a way to combat eating disorders.

Mindful eating is essentially learning how to pay attention when you eat, so that you can become more in tune with your body's signals of fullness by becoming aware of all the senses you use when you are eating or planning to eat. Because of this, mindful eating is not focused on good food or bad food, or a right or wrong way to eat. The focus is on simply being aware of your actions as you are doing them.

In addition, mindful eating helps anyone with eating disorders focus on the following:

* Real Hunger Signals – The body has about seven types of hunger signals it sends to your mind. Which ones are real and what else are they trying to feed? Maybe you just need to spend more time with your mother over having half that apple pie.

* Listening to Your Body – The body lies sometimes, so when you learn mindfulness you also learn how to properly interpret your body after years of ignoring its signals. It may take some time to get the signals right.

* Knowing Thirst versus Hunger – You can learn how your body differentiates its signals between hunger and thirst by learning to be more mindful. It may take a few months of questioning and listening, but you will get there. ...

Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

Your entire life you've likely been told to deny the natural signs your body gives you when it is hungry. Therefore, until you have retrained your body, you may have to really consider whether you are genuinely hungry or if it's something else.

There are seven types of hunger that have been identified. Let's go over each type and talk a bit about how you can ensure you feed that hunger without going overboard.

1. Eye Hunger

When you see good food, your eyes can see something they like so much that your eyes cause your brain to signal to your stomach that you need more food. The problem is, sometimes it's just your eyes and you're not really in need of food. You've heard the saying, "My eyes were bigger than my stomach." This fits here. When we first see food, that's how we decide what we want and how much we want.

2. Nose Hunger

Know how you can start out walking around the mall and not feel hunger but within a few moments of the sights and smells you're suddenly craving a Cinnabon? To feed this hunger, fix fragrant foods. You can also add essential oils to your day to feed this type of hunger.

3. Mouth Hunger

If you look at good food and your mouth waters, it's a sign that you may be hungry. What makes your mouth happy is usually a good combination of fat, salt, and sugar. Instant food manufacturers and restaurants know exactly how to do this. You can do it too but on a smaller scale to avoid overeating. Make all your food taste good, and you'll satisfy this type of hunger...

Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

One of the reasons so many people are overweight is that people tend to eat mindlessly. In other words, they do not think about what they are eating, when they are eating, or why they are eating - much less how.

Eating mindfully requires planning and thought. The great thing is that when you do it, you tend to eat higher-quality food that contains more nutrients, but less of it, so you consume fewer calories and end up losing weight or maintaining weight loss.

Let's look at some of the best tips on how to eat mindfully.

* Eat Only When Hungry – This seems simple enough, but we've been trained since birth to eat during meal times. Meal times are arbitrary times that are designed for people who had to go work in the plant or the office and could only eat at these certain times. However, if you plan to eat only when truly hungry, you'll be a lot more mindful about your meals.

* Make Eating an Event – Even if you eat in the living room around the coffee table, you can make eating an event by always planning what you'll eat, where you'll eat it, and how you'll eat it. Plus, you should know why you are eating something too. It tastes good is a fine reason....

Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

If you want to be more mindful when you eat, there are a few things you should avoid having around to ensure that you really can eat mindfully. Now keep in mind, especially if you have a family, that no mealtime will be uninterrupted. Having said that, you can try to make the experience more enjoyable by making it an important enough event in your life to avoid certain things that make eating mindfully impossible.

* Electronics – Unless you have a real reason to have them on such as waiting for an emergency call, all electronics should be off during mealtimes. This is especially true when you're enjoying meals with other people.

* Screens – During mealtime, the TV should not be on either. You don't need to watch the news, or movies, or anything during a good meal. Instead, focus on how good the food smells, looks, and tastes and be thankful about the nutrition you're ingesting.

* Calls – Mealtime lasts at the most 45 minutes for most people. Like electronics in general, if you're not waiting on an important call for a child or work, you can turn ringers off for the duration of the meal. You cannot do anything about anyone else during that time most of the time anyway. ..

 Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

To better understand how you can incorporate mindful eating into your life, take the time to consider the difference between mindful and mindless eating. When you know the difference, you can practice mindfulness during eating more consciously.

Mindful Eating Means:

* Recognizing Nurturing Opportunities Surrounding Food – Humans like to interact, with food being the center of attention. This is a normal thing; after all, eating is a very pleasurable experience. It does more than just provide nutrition and life – which is everything; it provides pleasure and joy too.

* Understanding the Difference between the Different Kinds of Hunger – When you are eating mindfully, you don't place meaning on hunger that doesn't exist. You also don't think being hungry is a bad thing. You can analyze your feelings and choose how to deal with them.

* Not Judging Food Likes and Dislikes Harshly – When you eat mindfully, not only do you not place judgment on what you choose to eat, you don't do it to others (like your kids) either. There are plenty of choices one can make with food, so there is no reason to eat things you dislike. ...

Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

Learning to eat mindfully carries with it many benefits that are both obvious and not so obvious. The main thing is that by being more mindful about your eating, you're going to build better relationships, enjoy food more, and even lose some weight. Let's look at the many benefits of mindful eating.

Better Relationships

This is especially true for people who have experienced eating disorders. Sometimes food issues can cause relationship problems. However, when you focus on mindful eating, you will build stronger relationships because of the time spent together doing something as important to life as eating.

Less Stress

It's downright stressful to be worried about food constantly. The diet industries and media have made it really difficult to know what is right and wrong about nutrition. In the process, we forget to listen to what our bodies were telling us. Getting back to the body will reduce your stress exponentially.

More Enjoyment

Eating mindfully will bring back your joy surrounding food. Let's face it; food is supposed to be enjoyed. It should not be the minefield that it is for many people. There is room for all types of food in almost every diet....

Read on by downloading the eBook here-below!

How Thoughts and Thinking Control Your Emotions

Your emotions are controlled in two ways: thoughts and actions. Any thought or action you take will create an emotional response. If you can’t adjust your thinking or thoughts and actions together, it is unlikely that you will be able to control your emotions. Thankfully, it is possible to control your thoughts. This means that you can also manage your emotions.

Positive thoughts and thinking lead to positive results. This is a common philosophy many people strive to live by, and you should too. The more you think positively throughout your day, the more your emotions will stay positive. Likewise, any action you take will also lead to thoughts. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more positive energy you will receive.

This is mainly due to how powerful emotions can feel especially negative ones. Negative emotions and energy are hard to shake off and are contagious to others. If you have a negative emotion before you do something, chances are it won’t be done well because you are not at your best.

Have you ever noticed how, when you start your day off badly, it feels like the rest of your day keeps going wrong?

This is likely because you never got over the bad mood and keep thinking and acting negatively. If you make a mistake or notice you are in a lousy mood, brush it off quickly, do something to help, you focus your thoughts differently. If you can, laugh, and then move on. Chances are, you will make fewer errors and you will also be happier throughout your day.

Your thoughts can lead to three different responses to your emotions:

• Negative – If you have a negative thought, it is likely your action will be adverse, and your emotions will match the negativity of those actions.
• Positive – Positive thoughts can lead to more positive actions and emotions. In a more positive state, your brain is active, and you are likely to try your best, leading to fewer mistakes and better decision making.
• Neutral – A neutral or indifferent response can lead to both a neutral or negative response because being indifferent means you are not wholly responsive, which can lead to poor judgments or lackluster work. However, sometimes a neutral reaction is better than a negative one.

As you can see, what is going on in your mind can produce unwanted emotions that can negatively affect your life. The emotions can affect how you act, which then impacts your life in an even more negative way. This is why many strive to think more positive thoughts because it is one thing they can control on this wild ride of life. 

10 Ways to Reduce Everyday Stress

Stress is responsible for many problems in people's lives. Stress causes worsened health problems, poor-quality work, and unsatisfying relationships. Managing and reducing stress is essential to everyday life if you want to be happy and fulfilled.

Identify Stress Starters

Take the time to see if there are obvious things that are causing stress and figure out how to solve it. If it is work-related, can these tasks be delegated to others, or can you find a better position? Or maybe as you identify stressors, you realize that your stress is increased after you had your coffee for the day.

Eat A Well-Rounded Diet

The old saying, ‘you are what you eat’ will always be true. Most of the time, if you don’t feel good, it can be traced to a poor diet. Unnatural food and unnatural or overly processed food and sugar are known to make stress worse.

Exercise Daily

Exercise reduces stress because anytime you exercise, you activate hormones that make you feel good. Conversely, the hormone cortisol is responsible for stress and is significantly reduced during exercise, so you both reduce hormones that make you feel stressed and boost hormones that make you feel good through exercise.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleeping poorly means an increase in cortisol in your blood, which leads to stress. Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep each night to function optimally. Likewise, don’t oversleep. Adults typically don’t need more than 9 hours a night of sleep.

Drink Enough Water

Dehydration can also increase cortisol levels, so make sure you get enough water per your weight. The standard message of drinking eight glasses of water a day applies but double-check with your healthcare professional to find out how much you need based on your weight, health, diet, and other factors unique to you.

Get A Blood Test

Stress can easily be caused due to underlying medical conditions or your vitamin levels being off. Get a comprehensive blood test to see where you may be having issues. Low vitamin D, B12, and iron are responsible for symptoms of stress.

Laugh Often

Get those feel-good chemicals activated by laughing. Laughing reduces muscle tension, increases oxygen intake, and reduces your heart rate and blood pressure— all reducing your stress.

Meditate Daily

Meditation uses mindfulness techniques to achieve a mental and emotionally stable state of being. This is why it is such a great technique to reduce stress, as this is the primary goal. Even five minutes daily after you wake up can make a big difference.

Practice Breathwork

Breathwork encompasses easy breathing exercises that can be done right away when stress feels overwhelming. It is as simple as holding your breath for a few minutes or following a phone application that has you tailor your breathing to the imagine. These exercises work by having your focus on other things while also bringing in a sense of relaxation due to increasing blood oxygen levels from regulated breathing patterns.

Listen to Music and Get Moving

Music and moving around are great medicine for many problems, not just stress. Moving and music can make people feel happy and energized. The more you produce feel-good hormones, the more your cortisol levels will decrease too. So, turn up that music and cut a rug.

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to seek the advice of a health professional if your stress is taking over your life. However, these ten ways to reduce everyday stress are a great way to start.

Why Physical Health Is Just as Important as Mental Health

The hard truth is how you treat your body with exercise and food can impact your life in harmful or detrimental ways, including your mental health. If you opt for a poor diet, avoid drinking water, and don’t move around much, it is likely your mental health is reduced too.

Your physical health is as important as your mental health because the mind and body work together. Your physical health is based on eating a proper diet, and incorporating exercise into your daily life, along with other things. If you aren’t healthy physically, your brain isn’t at it’s peak either. Below are a few instances and issues related to physical and mental health issues that you want to watch for, since they can lead to diminished functions and a shorter life expectancy.

Worsening Mental Health Symptoms

A poor diet can lead to weight gain and a sedentary lifestyle that can ultimately lead to depression and stress. Some mental health conditions also cause you to eat a poor diet. For example, if you have anorexia or orthorexia, you may be using food in unhealthy ways that contribute to worsening mental health symptoms.

Decreased Mental Focus

Poor nutrition from an improper diet often leads to symptoms of brain fog. This affects your ability to focus and perform optimally. Most people are walking around dehydrated too. Dehydration can also lead to issues that keep you from using your brain to its full ability.

Weight Gain and Obesity

Those who have a poor diet and lead a sedentary lifestyle are more likely to be considered obese. Obesity can cause many health problems, including depression and even death. While everyone should practice body-positivity, understand that obesity is a health condition that has many issues associated with it, and it can be prevented.

Sedentary Lifestyle

Research shows that twenty percent of deaths above the age of thirty resulted from a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting for longer than four hours each day can decrease your life expectancy exponentially, so get moving more. If you’re trapped inside, turn up the music and dance it out. You only need to do it for 30 minutes a day to change your health for the better dramatically.

Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Obesity and other symptoms of poor physical health can lead to cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the USA. Even if you’re not obese, a lack of vitamins and nutrition can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety.

As you can see, treating your body right and doing what is needed to improve your physical health is just as important as working on your mental health. If you only focus on improving your mental health and ignore your body, you may waste your time focusing on the wrong solution, when your physical health is really to blame.

Always work on both. Thankfully for some, all you have to do is change or eliminate bad habits that lead to poor physical health, and your mental health will improve. Get moving every day and be sure to hydrate appropriately. The better you treat your body, the more your mental health will improve. However, don’t be afraid to get mental healthcare if you’re doing all this and still suffering.

Ways to Develop a More Positive Mindset

Having a positive mindset can lead to a more fulfilling and optimistic life. Many believe that the more you think positively, the more life will reward you. This is because of the energy you provide to others and your reactions to certain situations when you are in a positive state. Many aspire to have a more positive mindset, and you can, too, by following these eight methods.

• Brush of negativity quickly; don’t dwell – Anytime you think of something negative, brush it off quickly, and don’t let it waste anymore of your time. Turn it around into something positive or, at the very least, neutral. For example, if you think something negative about your appearance, tell yourself one thing you do like about your appearance today instead.

• Engage in positive self-reflection – At the end of your day, write down or tell yourself positive things about yourself or something good that you did that day. Also, take this time to realize and accept that you are not perfect, and it is okay to make mistakes. When you do this, you give yourself the ability to analyze where you went wrong so you can avoid repeating it in a healthy way.

• Find inspirational and motivational things to read – Use your mornings reading or listening to inspirational and motivational speakers or people you look up to. If you start your day off positively, it is likely the rest of the day will follow.

• Recognize accomplishments – Don’t allow yourself to dwell on the things you haven’t achieved yet. Instead, focus on what you have accomplished and be proud of it. Reward yourself, talk to friends and family about how satisfied you feel about your achievement. Don’t take your accomplishments for granted. Celebrate them and make the  and never forgotten.

• Focus only on what you can control – The great thing and maybe a hard thing for some to grasp about life is that you can’t control every single thing. It is not always up to you. This is okay and the reality of life. Take it as a perk and sincerely analyze your ‘problem’ for what It is. If you can’t control it, you are only wasting your time focusing on it. Use this time on something more valuable.

• Focus on today only – While you need to plan some aspects of your future, don’t spend your today only on that. Use all your time as wisely as possible. You are not guaranteed tomorrow, and the only thing that is real is right now.
• Don’t focus on other people’s success – You can’t copy people's success no matter how hard you try because you will never be them. The only person you can be is you. If you focus on their success, it will only lead to your failure or, more accurately, your feelings of failure. If you focus on your progress, it will lead to success. An easy concept that can often be overlooked sometimes is that you will bring attention to whatever you focus on.

• Change your perspective about challenges & stressors – Those who can solve problems easily live a more positive lifestyle by changing their perspective. These people often understand that problems, challenges, or everyday stressors are not something that should be seen as always unfavorable. These are experiences that allow them to grow and develop new skills. Without them, life would likely be a little boring.

As you can see, with these easy strategies, anyone can learn to have a more positive mindset. As you implement them, you will discover a more beneficial and rewarding life is waiting for you.