There are terms and books and ideas (like those espoused in one of the recent books I've read Mindless Eating) around the notion of eating mindfully, eating with purpose, eating consciously - several of these books (and articles) talk about how many people eat until they are full. Full as in they don't feel like they can eat anymore, whereas in Okinawa (known by many children of the 80s as the home of Mr. Miyagi), but known in health and dietary research circles as one of the places with highest incidences of centenarians in the world there is a cultural notion of "hara hachi bu" which translates roughly to eat until 80% full.

So, as I look at what I eat and how I eat it and why I'm eating it, I'm going to start to eat more mindfully giving consideration to not just portion but consumption. I'm going to give thought to the size of plate and not just what's on it. I'm going to eat until I am no longer hungry, not until I'm full. I know some of this will be a bit of challenge as I continue on my Year of Living Less Dangerously, but I know that little changes can have big impacts. I'm going to embrace "hara hachi bu" and hope that I continue to see positive results like I did during this past week, where according to my scale there is a little less of me as I write this #YLLD post than there was when I wrote the last one. That said, I'll leave you with a video from Dr. Susan Albers on the topic of mindful eating and I hope that it has some resonance for you (and it has only the most minimal of a sales pitch for one of her latest books at the end):




Header Photo Credit: Bob.Fornal via Compfight cc