Getting Started With Mindful Eating, When You've Got ADHD

Have you heard of mindful eating?

Maybe you struggle with the idea of eating a piece of chocolate 'mindfully' and perhaps it is even reminiscent of your dieting or disordered eating days, where you savoured each mouthful and ate as slowly as you could to try and convince yourself you were having 'enough' food.

But as Ela tells us, mindfulness, mindful eating and movement is about so much more than that.  Listen to the episode and let us know your thoughts.

Through the episode, we also refer to Intuitive Eating.   By comparison, Intuitive Eating is a self-care eating framework Intuitive Eating which integrates instinct, emotion, and rational thought and was created by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995. Intuitive Eating is a weight-inclusive, evidence-based model with over 200 studies to date.*

* This quote was taken from the Intuitive Eating website.  

Click here for more info.

Please reach out if you would like some support with your relationship to food OR movement. Ela currently has limited spaces for Intuitive Eating coaching and if you'd like to reconnect with movement, contact Christine.

AND if you enjoyed this episode, please share and follow the 'Find Your Strong podcast' and if you have time, write us a short review. It would honestly mean the world. Love to you all, Ela & Christine x

Transcript

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Ela Law: Hello! Hello! Hello, everybody! Thanks for tuning in quick warning. Both of us have got some croaky voices today, so there might be a little bit of coughing, a little bit of sexy, raspy kind of voice going on, but.

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Christine Chessman: I don't know if it's if it's sexy, it's more like.

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Ela Law: Okay.

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Christine Chessman: Aki! Oh!

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Ela Law: My cough certainly is hacky.

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Ela Law: Yeah, it's it's made a reappearance. It's just like dry and irritating. Now, really.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, that's really.

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Ela Law: Oh, it really is, but I've got my vase of ginger and honey. Got my cough pastel, so I'm all set. So

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Ela Law: what we're going to talk about today, Christine, I just thought, this is something that's been coming up with my clients recently, and I think probably for your clients as well is the

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Ela Law: ability, or maybe the lack of ability to tune in and to notice and to observe when we do things in relation to food and to movement. Really.

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Ela Law: it's like noticing when you're full noticing when you're hungry. Noticing how your body feels and observing this and doing it in a mindful way which means without judgment, because very often, when we notice or observe things, we have a sort of pre-made

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Ela Law: kind of meaning attached to it, which then makes it into

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Ela Law: potentially something negative. And then we draw on that like something's going wrong. Whereas if we learn to be mindful and observe and to notice just being in the moment and not attaching a meaning to it, we might be able to just see it as something that's happening rather than something that is particularly meaningful to us. Does that make any sense at all?

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, absolutely. It's really interesting. I think we should like break down today what we mean by mindful versus intuitive and stuff like that. So. Interestingly. Well, it might not be I always was turned off by mindful eating by the.

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Ela Law: Were you.

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Christine Chessman: The term mindful eating, because I just always envisioned sort of sitting with no noise, eating, you know, really slowly and savoring. And that's not something I can do as an Adhd person. I you know, I tend to eat in a really non-mindful way, and that's maybe something we can break down.

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Christine Chessman: I usually excuse me. You're gonna have to talk for me for a minute.

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Ela Law: I was, gonna ask you a question. This is going to be fun. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Actually, it's interesting. You should say that about with Adhd it's difficult to actually be mindful, and often food is used as a

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Ela Law: as a stimulant or as a dopamine hit, or as something to do, so, it might not be super easy for some people to eat mindfully. I like that question and that sort of differentiating between mindful and intuitive, and immediately what I thought is like the clues in the word mind. So it's about

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Ela Law: focusing. It's about our mind, and how we think about stuff, and how we literally in our minds notice things, whereas intuitive is more about. Well, what sensations are coming up, and what kind of

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Ela Law: feeling comes up for us, and I had never really thought about the distinction in sort of semantics.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: It's an interesting one, because mindful eating is part of intuitive eating, but intuitive eating, as a framework is obviously way broader than just about. You know how we, how we eat and how mindful we are around that.

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Christine Chessman: I think, mindful eating. I think Evelyn Tribolly in in the book, and Elise Rash. The authors of intuitive eating did make it very clear that they are different.

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Christine Chessman: and I don't. I think they're similar in many ways, but they don't have the same kind of social justice.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Element to them. And it's not.

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Christine Chessman: It's not, you know, it's not to do with kind of wit, stigma, and

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Christine Chessman: the non diet approach and kind of it's it's just being mindful about what you're eating rather than yeah

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Christine Chessman: to the meeting, which is a movement. You know. It's kind of, you know, a framework.

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Ela Law: Yeah. So what is mindful eating for you then? So you said you thought it was kind of no noise, no, nothing, and just been sitting quietly and eating something. Is that sort of your idea of mindful eating.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah. So this is why? Because I know that you you have a lot more knowledge about mindful eating I trained in intuitive eating. So that's a very. I know the principles for intuitive eating, but I know very little about mindful eating.

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Christine Chessman: But.

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Ela Law: I know there isn't Aston, though.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: Eat the chocolate really slowly. And I there is value in that huge value.

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Ela Law: Hmm, but you're confident, that's okay. Yeah, I'm yeah, absolutely. I think

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Ela Law: the sort of the raisin thing is probably something that most people and probably most of our listeners have come across, at least is where you have a piece of food, and you eat it really slowly, but before you eat it. You look at it, you touch it, you might smell it. You might give it a lick. You might just sort of

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Ela Law: just observe what's going on when you look at it. When in anticipation, you notice that maybe your mouth starts producing saliva, all of those things that's a mindful eating exercise. So that's something. Obviously we can't do with every mouthful of every meal, because then we wouldn't be able to go to work or do anything else that we like doing, because we'd just be eating very, very slowly.

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Ela Law: So I,

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Ela Law: yeah, that's the sort of the classic kind of exercise around it, I would say, mindful eating is.

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Ela Law: it can be a lot more relaxed like I approach mindfulness in a very sort of more. This slightly different and less formal way. I feel like you can be mindful literally, with anything that you do. I can be mindful right now.

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Ela Law: just sitting looking at my microphone, looking at the screen, feeling my bum on my chair.

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Ela Law: noticing that my throat's getting dry, and I'll probably have to pop a cough pill in a minute.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, me, too.

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Ela Law: Without really judging anything. So mindfulness is about just being present and observing what is going on for you right now, but not attaching meaning to it, just saying, Okay.

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Ela Law: I'm looking at the screen. I'm looking at Christine. My light is on. It's looking a little bit gray outside. I'm feeling slightly stiff in my upper back that kind of thing just noticing, and you can do that when you brush your teeth you can do that when you eat you could just see. Oh, look! Isn't it interesting how I can grab a fork, and it goes straight to my mouth without me even having to think about. It's those kind of things. That's how I

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Ela Law: often explain mindfulness to people, because it makes it less scary, because people always think mindfulness is like meditating, sitting on a cushion and being all like oh, about it, and.

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Christine Chessman: But it, you know, that is similar in a way to intuitive eating, because it is about tuning into your signals. And just but that's more.

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Christine Chessman: you know, into your hunger and fullness signals. But it's also into all of your signals in terms of mood, how you're feeling in your body all of that. So how does that differ from mindfulness? Is there crossover? There.

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Ela Law: Yeah, I would say, there's a crossover definitely. But I think that that is.

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Ela Law: that is part of intuitive eating. But, as you said before. Intuitive eating is a lot more. There's a lot more to it than just that aspect.

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Christine Chessman: That aspect of it.

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Ela Law: Tuning in. And would you say, how would you say mindfulness with movement would how would you? How would you explain to a client mindfulness and movement.

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Christine Chessman: I don't call it mindfulness, because I don't. For some reason that turns me off.

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Christine Chessman: I call it intuitive movement, or just tuning in to your body. Yeah, because I think that's you know, I'm just taking time. It is definitely mindful. But it is more. When you start a workout. Okay, how do I feel my aching? My shoulders? What hurts, what doesn't hurt? Where is my energy today? Do I feel like full of energy? Do I need to release some energy. Am I angry? Do it? Do I think this workout will help.

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Christine Chessman: you know? Or am I tired? I want to take it easy today. Oh, my left knee's sore, and maybe I'll take it slightly easier in my squats. Maybe it's just about tuning in noticing. It's mainly energy levels. How are you feeling?

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Christine Chessman: Being is leading with that self-compassion? So, knowing if you're low on energy, you're not going to push yourself or force yourself to work out in a way that doesn't serve you.

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Christine Chessman: So that's how I would think about mindfulness in in terms of movement. And I start every session with that. And it's even if if somebody just tunes in for a couple of minutes

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Christine Chessman: every day, it's really helpful. I find it really helpful.

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Ela Law: Yeah. And would you say that the nonjudgment element of the mindfulness part is that part of how you explain it? Like, if you're tired. That's not a bad thing. That is a neutral thing. That is just something that you're observing.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah. It, coming as you are.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: Come as you are, and what you can do on any given day, and all days are different. Any one week is different from the next. So it's it's just normalizing that and not not feeling. Oh, you couldn't do all the workout. Oh, no, that's fine. Do half of it. Do 5 min. It's really given

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Christine Chessman: and making sure people know it's their workout, not mine. I'm just trying to facilitate.

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Ela Law: More.

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Christine Chessman: You don't have to do what I'm saying to the letter.

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Christine Chessman: I'm gonna offer you options. Do what you wanna do, you know.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: Yeah, it does make sense. And I've obviously having attended some of your classes. That's what I really love about it. There's no, this is the better option, or this is the higher option. It's just like these are the different choices you can make, depending on how your body is feeling right now.

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Ela Law: and I think that's quite hard for some people the non-judgment element, you know, in food and in movement. And I think.

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Ela Law: Lot of my clients struggle with that judgment element because they might be eating something. And there's an automatic judgment of the food that I'm eating is I don't know bad for me, or unhealthy, or whatever they want to call it, or you know I'm eating this, and I'm not hungry. Therefore I'm judging myself for it. There's guilt and shame attached to it. So it's

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Ela Law: it's finding a moment of just noticing and observing. I prefer. I don't often use the word mindfulness either. Really, it's just more of a concept.

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Christine Chessman: Hmm.

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Ela Law: But I always invite people to notice without judging, just to become aware. Because if you're not aware, you can't really do anything about it, or you can't really

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Ela Law: reflect on it. But if you become aware of something and you notice something

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Ela Law: without judging it, I think that's when you can kind of maybe see patterns, or you can see where things don't feel great. Does that make sense.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah. And I think everybody has got to come to it in their own way. So I think you don't have to. I was listening to podcast this morning. You don't have to sit and do meditation for half an hour, or you don't. You know, not that's not going to be for everybody, especially if you've got an incredibly busy brain, and you're all over the place with a HD brain. It's not going to serve you just to sort of sit and think.

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Christine Chessman: What? What do I see? What

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Christine Chessman: your head will be like? But I have to do this, and then I haven't done, and you'll be off on a different tangent and cleaning the floor and doing something else. Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: so it's it's about finding how to be mindful in a way that works for you. If you know what I mean for me, I've just forgiven myself in terms of being mindful around food when I'm eating. I do watch TV when I'm on my own eating, because it's a joy for me. It's a time of day that I can watch my favorite show and eat really nice food. That is a pleasure of my life, and I'm not going to just sit and eat without anything.

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Ela Law: No, I'm sure I could, and you know, but if

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Ela Law: it's not enjoyable, I think again, if we, if we are so strict with us that we say we can only ever eat without any distractions. Then it's becoming a rule, isn't it? It's not intuitive anymore. Then, because intuitively, you want to sit on your sofa with your plate of food and watch your favorite program, and that is joy. And I think

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Ela Law: we have to be careful not to step sort of into the. This is right, and this is wrong when it comes to mindfulness and mindful mindful eating.

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Christine Chessman: And it's I mean definitely, if you know mean times, we all sit and chat. That's not but if I'm on my own, it's just.

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Christine Chessman: I just either read a book, watch a show. I just like it. I just it's just something that brings me joy. And I think I do.

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Christine Chessman: Maybe it's just. It's the brain. I struggle with the complete silence. And you know I have a thing about chewing. I hate the sound of people chewing.

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Christine Chessman: Oh, me, too!

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Christine Chessman: Get it so!

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Christine Chessman: Yeah. So I like a bit of noise when.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: But when I'm in.

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Ela Law: Yeah, I hear you. I just find that I sometimes have to leave the room. My daughter's the same. I sometimes just voluntarily go into the other room, and we're eating together because she's like, Oh, I can tell. Someday she's fine, and some days she's like, no mommy.

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Christine Chessman: That that is, that that is a condition called misophonia.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: The actual thing.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: As often.

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Christine Chessman: So I think it's comorbidities. There's lots of things. So if you have autism, you're much more likely to have misophonia. So.

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Ela Law: Yeah, no, no, I have to.

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Christine Chessman: Got it.

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Ela Law: About it in a course. Actually, it's very, very.

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Christine Chessman: Sure, sure.

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Ela Law: So it's an actual thing, absolutely. But just one thing that I want to say to the distractions while you're eating. And I'm 100% on that, because I do the same. I'm not someone who just sits there in silence. I usually either look at my phone or I watch some telly. Every now and again I sit because I just can't hear. I don't want to hear anything I just want, but it makes it harder to tune in

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Ela Law: because you're distracted. That's the one thing that I would say. If that is something. If tuning in is something you're struggling with, I would say maybe once a week find a time when you don't have distractions, just so that you can practice tuning in, because when you have the telly on or you're reading. I don't know. Watching reels on your phone, or whatever you read, even reading a book

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Ela Law: and eating at the same time. You're not tuning in to how your body feels while you're eating. That's the one thing that I'd say. If if that's something that people struggle with, maybe find just one meal a week. It doesn't have to be every day. It doesn't have to be all meals, but maybe one a week to practice.

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Christine Chessman: I mean, I think that's a great idea.

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Christine Chessman: I think that maybe for somebody with a very busy brain that's going to be very challenging just to sit there and think about. Oh, how is this food making me feel at the moment? That's.

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Christine Chessman: And one other thing I mean we we can talk about that. But one other thing I find is a bit diety. I've always found mindful eating a bit diety.

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Christine Chessman: And that's only because I think we're going really slow. So we don't get too.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: And we can stop before. And it's it's do you know what I mean? There was many. It used to be about 2 year food, 40.

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Ela Law: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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Christine Chessman: I don't eat too much, and I think when when I was in the throes of anorexia, I used to eat really slowly and with a tiny spoon, so that I would last longer, and all of that.

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Christine Chessman: So I think it's almost those behaviors I find quite triggering, actually.

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Ela Law: Yeah, yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah. But maybe that's where it's coming from.

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Ela Law: Yeah, could be absolutely. Yeah. I totally agree. I think it might not be for everybody. I think

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Ela Law: it's it's how you I don't know. Maybe it's how you

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Ela Law: how you do it, rather than I totally agree that it has been a diet tool for sure. The slow eating, the if you use it as a tool to eat less.

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Ela Law: then? Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: Intuitively. You want to eat, then it's not a good tool to use at all. If it's something that you use, because you think oh, if I do this all the time I might lose weight, then I'd stay clear of it, because you're still in the diet mindset for sure, and I get that if you come from a restrictive eating disorder, and that was one of the things that you used.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: Who feed the eating disorder.

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Ela Law: Maybe. Don't.

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Christine Chessman: Hmm.

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Ela Law: All I'm saying is, if you want to learn how to tune in, it is harder when you have distractions, but maybe tuning in is also too scary at this moment in time. So if you're in that place.

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Ela Law: don't go there. Don't. Yeah. It's still available to you later on in your journey.

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Christine Chessman: It's a really interesting one. I've never thought about it, so I feel intuitive. Eating for me in terms of my life means that I'm checking in with my hunger and fullness.

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Christine Chessman: The day. It's my energy level. So if I eat breakfast, then I go. Oh, I'm quite full, so I don't need anything else if I go. Oh, I feel hungry.

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Christine Chessman: I'm going to eat, so I don't. Then I'm not mindful when I'm eating.

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Ela Law: And.

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Christine Chessman: Play.

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Ela Law: Huh!

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Christine Chessman: I'm always.

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Christine Chessman: I'm always thinking in terms of my hunger and fullness scale before and after.

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Christine Chessman: Does that make sense.

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Ela Law: Yeah, it does. That is brilliant, because you are able to do that.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: For someone who's not able to do that practicing. That mindful eating can be really helpful. But you obviously, you know what hunger looks like for you. Yes.

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Christine Chessman: Yes, I hear you.

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Ela Law: Being full looks like for you.

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Ela Law: But some people that is not accessible yet.

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Christine Chessman: Very good, point, very.

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Ela Law: So I totally agree that if you, if you can do that and tap into that before you eat.

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Ela Law: then it doesn't really matter so much what you do while you're eating anymore, because you've already sort of practiced that does that make sense? So it's like we keep asking us each other. If things make sense that we're saying today, you notice.

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Christine Chessman: That's it's something I say all the time.

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Ela Law: Me, too. Me, too. I read somewhere that you shouldn't say that because of I.

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Christine Chessman: I know.

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Ela Law: But I say.

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Christine Chessman: Sorry. Sorry. Just.

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Ela Law: Yeah, sorry. Yeah. I know. Does that make sense? It's almost like I'm doubting myself.

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Christine Chessman: Yes.

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Ela Law: I'm not doubting myself. But I'm just like, okay. I need to stop doing that.

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Christine Chessman: Just spend too much time with me, apologizing and asking if it makes sense.

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Ela Law: We, we rub off on each other. But yeah, so yeah, that.

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Christine Chessman: It's really interesting. That's really interesting. So for somebody that is really struggling to tune into their bodies

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Christine Chessman: what would be the 1st step? So shall I say what I would say, so I always look at it in terms of movement. If you can sort of look at it in terms of food. Then, in terms of movement, I always think in the morning spend like a minute.

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Christine Chessman: It doesn't have to be a non-distracted minute. It could just be a minute of right right? How do I feel today?

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Christine Chessman: What is my energy like today, or how do I want to feel when I move my body, so I'll get up in the morning, and I'll be like I'm feeling anxious. I want to feel a little bit of peace, or I want to feel a little bit more at ease. So I want a hard workout, or I'm like, I'm quite tired. Actually, I want something that's quite chilled and close to the ground and just focus on my breath and all of that. So it's

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Christine Chessman: that takes a hell of a lot of practice. So all I'm saying is for 1 min a day. Just think about how's my shoulder? Feeling that was a bit achy yesterday. How's my, you know? And if you're sitting in a chair? Am I sitting with my weight even across both? Sit Bones, you know. What's my posture like even a little thing just thinking about

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Christine Chessman: your body in terms of what's what does it feel like? What's the shoulder feel like? What does my leg feel like? How is my knee today? How is you know anything like that is a great way to start.

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Christine Chessman: Do you know what I mean?

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Ela Law: Yeah, yeah, I do. I think that sounds great, because what you're basically doing is you're tuning in.

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Ela Law: Yes, that 1 min. And I love that because a minute is doable, it's not like

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Ela Law: God. I have to sit there for half an hour and meditate on how I'm feeling today.

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Ela Law: None of that. It's about literally. Give yourself a minute. Just check out what you know.

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Ela Law: Come on, yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Show the roles.

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Ela Law: And you know.

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Christine Chessman: Which is that.

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Ela Law: Don't you notice where the stiffness is and where you're like? Maybe achy or.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: I like that.

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Christine Chessman: Sit still and go. How am I feeling? Do maybe do a spinal roll.

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Ela Law: No.

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Christine Chessman: Oh, oh, that doesn't seem rude on my left side just anything at all like a little tiny bit of movement or a bit of stretch and just just notice. Just know

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Christine Chessman: things.

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Ela Law: Yeah. Yeah. And then sort of respond to it by not making it a massive thing, but just noticing it and seeing it as a neutral. Oh, that. Okay, that's the state of my body today. And that's.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Ela Law: I'm going to listen to. I'm.

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Christine Chessman: That's the freedom of not working out to lose weight, or Lucas, or.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Because it's not about that. It's not about. Oh, but I need to burn this number of calories before I can have my breakfast. No, it isn't. It's about. But I want to work out so that I feel good in my body. That's basically the only reason.

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Ela Law: Yeah, yeah, and it.

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Christine Chessman: Care of myself.

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Ela Law: Yeah, makes sense that it would lead to that. But just doing that little check in.

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Christine Chessman: So tell me about you. Tell me about how would you get? What would the 1st step be towards

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Christine Chessman: eating mindfully.

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Ela Law: Mindfully, I think it really depends. I would have to say

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Ela Law: I'm going to be super vague here, because it depends on the person. So if

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Ela Law: if I'm talking to somebody who has

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Ela Law: a real fear of, because food often has this kind of guilt, shame, fear, anxiety attached to it, maybe I don't know. You tell me if I'm wrong, but maybe more so than just sort of going into your body for a minute and checking out how you're feeling food has got this massive meaning attached to it. And there's

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Ela Law: it can be a big sort of trigger for people. Yeah. So if that is the case, I probably would stay clear of food and practice, noticing in general, maybe do some grounding, maybe do some breath if that feels safe, just to tune into

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Ela Law: sensations in the body, even just doing. You know the interceptive awareness thing where you you notice your heart rate.

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Christine Chessman: Department.

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Ela Law: That sort of thing, or just talk about. You know what it feels like when you need to go to the Loo, or you know anything like that. I'll probably go with that instead of going straight to food. But with other people it might be that mindfulness around one meal a week where you sit down and you try and tune into how am I feeling before I'm eating? How am I feeling during, and how am I feeling afterwards

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Ela Law: notice, taste, sensation, textures. Do I actually like this that kind of thing? So explaining to people that this is an I always tell people that everything that I ask them to or invite them to do. I don't ask them to do anything but invite them to do is an experiment. It's data collection.

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Ela Law: Those people who work with me who might be listening. I don't know if anyone's listening, but they will be sick to their teeth about data collection, because I've got a science background. So it's all about data collection. And I think

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Ela Law: I just sort of describe it as that, and that sometimes takes the fear away. But it's about the noticing in the moment and trying to practice that, and that you can apply that to anything that's not as scary as food. It could be

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Ela Law: literally brushing your teeth, pouring a glass of water, making a cup of tea, anything just to practice that muscle of noticing and of being mindful in the moment, and then maybe we can explore food a little bit.

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Christine Chessman: And it's, you know, it's almost like a bit of nervous system regulation as well, isn't it?

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Ela Law: Huh!

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Christine Chessman: Absolutely and just kind of noticing where you're at and doing some calming practices, and you know, and I think you know, there's a real sense of. Oh, you've got to meditate. You've got to sit still. You've got to do that. No, you know, and that's what I always encourage. People. Get into your body if you're really in your head, just get into your body and move a little bit.

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Christine Chessman: And one thing that I often do, which we've talked about is is balance, because balance will take you out of your head because you have got to focus on the here and the now.

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Ela Law: Yes.

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Christine Chessman: You have got to focus on it. And I there's often judgment. People will often judge themselves. I'm rubbish at balance. I can't. But actually. And that's why I always say balance is a practice. It's something that you can

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Christine Chessman: practice, and some of these are going to feel more balanced than others, and it's but it is.

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Christine Chessman: You don't have to sit still to be mindful. You don't have to stop and have nothing. You can get into your body and move a little bit, or do a stretch, or do a scream, or do a shout, or you know it's it's just as you say, just noticing, just taking a second and finding the way that works for you.

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Ela Law: Exactly that.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: And it's interesting that you're saying there are certain things, especially around food, are really triggering for people.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: You've got to not put yourself in a position that doesn't feel safe for you, or a situation that doesn't feel safe for you. And I think Evelyn talked about the fact that intuitive eating is like writing your name with your other hand, isn't it?

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Christine Chessman: It takes a lot of practice and time and effort. You're not gonna be able to do it at the beginning, and that's.

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Ela Law: Come on!

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Christine Chessman: You know it's nobody. Come.

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Ela Law: No, absolutely. And it's also it's also about recognizing that intuitive eating isn't

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Ela Law: an end goal. It's not something to. It's it's a practice. And we learn all the time because we're continuously collecting data. But you know what I mean. It's very much a practice, not not a shiny object, that we want to get to.

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Ela Law: That's sort of how I feel about it. An interesting thing with the nervous system regulation. This might be a slight tangent, but this is something that I read in Sarah Dosange's book, and Sarah is going to come on the pod in a couple of weeks, which I'm very

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Ela Law: yay, for she talked about how

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Ela Law: We often use food to regulate our nervous system, because by the sheer

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Ela Law: mechanism of eating we're signaling to our body that what we can't be under attack, because clearly that person's eating. So they must be safe. And that activates the parasympathetic nervous system and the rest and digest phase just from the just. The eating

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Ela Law: makes that activates that. So when we notice that we're using that as a way to calm our nervous system down, I think that might be a good point to stop and pause, and maybe think about. What alternative ways could I find to

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Ela Law: to be a bit more mindful around that, and maybe find things that work

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Ela Law: maybe slightly, more efficiently and better for me than using food, if that is an issue for somebody. So I'm sort of tying in that kind of mindfulness element, and that observation into that.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, it's interesting with the digestive or the rest and digest for the parasympathetic nervous system, because actually digestive issues are also a sign, or indicate that we may be dysregulated in terms of.

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Ela Law: Hmm.

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Christine Chessman: Nervous system, because we're not getting into that rest and digest

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: So it's there's lots around that, so I can't wait.

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Christine Chessman: Reload the chat.

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Christine Chessman: But that's really interesting, and that's that's part of coping with your feelings with kindness, isn't it so? It's another.

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Ela Law: That's right.

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Ela Law: All of them should have eating. Look at that, buying it all together, aren't we?

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Ela Law: Wow!

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Christine Chessman: Right, Ella. Let's not shell it.

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Ela Law: Nutshell it. Okay, do you want to go first? st

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Christine Chessman: Did you just go? What is she saying? Did you just.

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Ela Law: I had a moment there, I thought not. Shell.

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Christine Chessman: I know it's my.

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Ela Law: And then I thought, no nutshell nutshell. Nutshell it. Yeah. And I love that you made that into a verb. I love that so much.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, I mean.

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Ela Law: Shell it.

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Christine Chessman: Let's do it. So I just think, 1st of all, be kind to yourself, because we are never kind enough to ourselves. Second of all little, so do less lower the bar. So maybe 30 seconds, 1 min every day of just trying to notice how you feel in your body.

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Christine Chessman: That's.

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Ela Law: Yeah.

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Christine Chessman: That's it like, make it small.

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Ela Law: Okay.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, there's no point in trying to change everything. There's 0 point in that. So just make it re.

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Ela Law: Yeah, agree. I'd put that in a nutshell as well. And also I would add to that, I've got another little shell next to it, which is to an invitation to

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Ela Law: to not do formal mindfulness necessarily, but just to notice when you when you eat, when you feel hungry, when whatever's going on. Just notice and try not to judge it. Try and take the meaning out of what you notice.

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Ela Law: Just be in the present, and maybe use in terms of grammar. Use a present continuous way of saying it. I'm noticing that I am doing this, or I am noticing that I am thinking this because then you don't make it part of

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Ela Law: your story like, Oh, I always do this, or I always do that. So just try and be in the moment and notice.

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Ela Law: but it doesn't have to be formal.

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Christine Chessman: I love that, Ella. I love that, and I'm going to try and eat some chocolate this week mindfully.

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Ela Law: Lovely.

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Christine Chessman: I really struggle with chocolate. I just want to eat it quickly, you know.

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Ela Law: Yeah, yeah.

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Christine Chessman: Yeah, I've.

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Ela Law: Find it hard to chew chocolate, so I often just have it in my mouth. Melt it because I find it

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Ela Law: when it is in my teeth. I just don't like that. For some reason. Chocolate.

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Ela Law: I don't know.

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Christine Chessman: I don't. I don't understand what you're saying.

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Ela Law: No, clearly not on that note.

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Christine Chessman: So. Yes, thank you, everybody for joining us, and we will be back next week, so look out for it. But until then have a lovely week.

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Ela Law: Bye.