24 Surprising Health Benefits of Mindfulness

1) Reduced anxiety

Anxiety is one of the two most common mental health conditions, with the other one being depression.

Anxiety causes chronic, uncontrollable, and excessive worry.

The practice of mindfulness has been shown in several studies to be very effective.

2) Depression

The conventional treatment for depression includes certain medication and psychotherapy. However, this doesn’t prove to be effective for everyone.

Mindfulness is a great natural way to manage depression.

Antidepressants work by artificially increasing the presence of feel-good chemicals in your brain, such as dopamine and serotonin in an attempt to enhance your mood.

Mindfulness does the same but in a natural way.

3) Mental clarity

It can be hard to achieve mental clarity in today’s society.

Stress and distractions are way too common in all of our lives.
However, if you start practicing mindfulness, you’ll be able to change that.

You’ll be able to achieve mental clarity, eliminate stress from your life and allow yourself to practice relaxation.

This will not only help you focus on particular tasks, but it will also boost your mood and energy.

4) Increased grey matter concentration

As you grow older, the grey matter concentration in your brain begins to deteriorate, however, this is a process that can be slowed down, stopped, or even reversed if you practice mindfulness.

This practice is linked to increased grey matter concentration in areas of your brain, which is responsible for regulating emotions, memory, learning, and sense of self.

5) Reduced stress levels

Stress is without a doubt one of the most common causes of many health problems today and the stress hormone cortisol can cause brain fog and mental deterioration as in problems with focus and concentration.

Practicing mindfulness every day can greatly reduce stress and keep your mind and body healthy.

6) Reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease

By practicing mindfulness meditation just 30 minutes a day, you can reduce the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

7) Increased happiness

Many people are unhappy because they only look at the things they don’t have instead of being happy for the things they do have.

Practicing gratitude for each moment of your life is the best way to start feeling happiness and joy.

There’s no better way to learn about gratitude than to start practicing mindfulness.

8)Improved memory

Mindfulness is known for improving both short-term and long-term memory. Most people deal with poor memory due to stress and multitasking.

9) Improved productivity

You may think that multitasking is the way to go if you want to accomplish numerous tasks within a limited amount of time, but really, it’s not.

Focusing on one task at a time and giving it your full attention is the way to go if you want to be productive.

Mindfulness will help you achieve incredible results daily.

10) It will make you more creative

According to a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, mindfulness has an incredibly positive effect on both divergent thinking and creativity.

11) Reduced symptoms of panic disorder

In a study published by the American Journal of Psychiatry, 22 patients who were suffering from panic or anxiety disorder started going through mindfulness meditation training.

Out of those 22 people, 20 showed significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety in panic after only 3 months of meditating.

12) It will prevent binge eating and overeating

By practicing mindfulness, you’ll learn more about self-control and self-awareness.

This can be very effective when it comes to treating binge eating and night time syndrome

By gaining self-control, you’ll learn how to resist the urge to binge eat your trigger foods.

13) Personal and self-development

By practicing mindfulness, you’ll be able to observe yourself closely without judgment to really get in touch with who you are, your true and real self.

You’ll be able to identify all of your character flaws, and then start working on changing them.

14) Food will start tasting better

Most of us don’t even know how to properly enjoy a meal.
Nowadays, eating breakfast means scoffing down food in the car while on your way to work, while dinner means mindlessly eating while watching TV.

Mindfulness will help you slow down and start noticing the different layers of flavor in the food you eat.

15) Improved sleep quality

You can experience numerous health problems if you don’t sleep well or enough.

Mindfulness is considered one of the best practices for enhancing sleep quality.

16) Reduced emotional eating and stress eating

Many people eat unhealthy food when they’re feeling sad, stress, or worried.

This unhealthy habit can lead to a number of different health issues.

Thankfully, by practicing mindfulness, you’ll have better control over your emotions, which will allow you to resist the urge to eat when you’re feeling stressed out or sad.

17) Recognizing hunger and fullness

Most people don’t know how to recognize the signals their brain sends them, especially when it comes to signals involving hunger and fullness.

Although you may feel hungry at times, maybe you’re dehydrated but just don’t know it. Or maybe you’re full by the time you eat half of your meal, but you always finish the plate regardless.

Not interpreting the signals your brain sends you can lead to excessive weight gain and unhealthy eating habits.

18) It will help you avoid distractions

In today’s world, it takes an enormous amount of mental strength and stability to avoid distractions such as checking your social media accounts or checking your email every few minutes.

However, by practicing mindfulness, you will learn to control yourself and overcome distractions.

19) It will protect you from the dangers of multitasking

The truth is: multitasking is a huge source of stress. It has an overall negative impact on your brain and is also linked to memory loss.

Instead of multitasking, mindfulness will teach you how to focus on one task at a time and how to accomplish it effectively, so that you can immediately start working on the next one.

20) It will help you gain control over your energy levels

By establishing a connection between your mind and body, you’ll be able to gain control over your energy levels and access them accordingly.

You’ll have the ability to calm down or increase energy whenever you want.

21) It will allow you to have better control over your thoughts

By practicing mindfulness you are able to control your thoughts and even erase negative ones from your mind and replace them with positive ones at will.

22 )It will provide you with better control over your emotions

Letting negative emotions control you is very unhealthy.

By practicing mindfulness, you will learn how to be in total control of your emotions.

23) Improved breathing

Mindfulness meditation will require you to breathe deeply.

By breathing deeply, you will inhale more oxygen than you normally do, which means that your brain and the rest of your body will be delivered more oxygen.

This will allow both your brain and body to work more optimally.

24)Improved alertness

By practicing mindfulness, you will be more alert and aware of things that are happening in and around you.

39 Ways to Transform Your Relationship with Food

1. Improve your overall health

2. Improve the aging process

3. Prevent chronic disease: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cancer

4.Prevent obesity-related premature death

5. Make moving and walking easier

6. Stop being sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired

7. Get off the yo-yo fad diet merry-go-round nightmare

8. Stay alive for your kids and family

9. Boost energy

10. Look great

11. Feel great

12. The sense of joy and excitement you will feel when you succeed

13. Ditch fad diets. Instead, start changing your eating habits, and think lifestyle not diet to keep you motivated for the long term. Best idea: eat real whole food.

14. Avoid the hassle and frustration of counting and measuring! Instead, use small plates to eat small meals and snacks. Try healthy fats, like avocado, nuts or almond butter.

15. Eat the rainbow. Learn about the vast amount of healthy and delicious foods that are available to you. Don’t be afraid to try new fruits and veggies.

16. Clear your kitchen of all junk food and processed food.

17. Use clear containers to prep healthy food so it’s ready to go and within easy reach in the fridge.

18. No starvation required! Instead, work on setting habits towards choosing healthy food, eat to satisfaction not until your stuff.

19. Make a list of how you will look, feel and how your health might be in 1 year, 5 years, or even 10 years, if you don’t get healthy and change your relationship with food. Be completely honest with yourself, and it’s important to realize that having an unhealthy relationship with food is NOT okay.

20. Confront your fears, write down all the things that scare you in regards to your health and food, and overcome your fears with a list of alternatives.

21. Write down all the reasons you want to get healthy, improve your relationship with food and lose weight.

22. Print and pin a picture of the digestive system on your fridge and notice the size of a human stomach, it does not take much food to fill it and satisfy it.

23. Remind yourself and read your list every morning, or several times a day if needed.

24. Set small goals, it’s much easier to think of small actionable steps at a time, then huge steps and mark off achievements as you go.

25. Stick with the one day at a time motto, or even one hour at a time if needed.

26. Make a running list of healthy substitutes for your unhealthy favorites.

27. Every time you create a meal you love, take a picture of it and save them on your phone, this makes meal planning much easier and allows you to quickly access great meals in the future.

28. Learn moderation, you don’t have to completely give up your favorites. The key is to learn moderation, think 1 cookie on occasion instead of 5 every day. Order a dessert on special occasions, but eat 1 slice or a smaller portion of it.

29. Set your mind to lifestyle changes, not another temporary diet plan. Your overall motivation needs to be long term and lasting. Changing to healthy eating habits will give you permanent lasting results.

30. Choose healthy foods YOU really like, if you hate fish and Brussels sprouts it won’t be long before you quit.

31. Get the whole family involved in healthy eating and exercise.

32. Be very mindful of how you feel eating healthy whole food When you eat real whole food, you will find that you have more energy, and feel better overall.

33. Be very mindful of how eating smaller portions makes you feel. You might be surprised to find that you actually need much less food than you thought.

34. Silence inner negativity, any time your inner critic tries to sabotage your efforts, replace those thoughts with positive affirmations. Keep a list of those affirmations handy.

35. Master emotional eating habits that occur when you eat or overeat behind certain emotions, such as sadness, anger, loneliness, frustration, or boredom.

36. Ask for help, support from friends you trust or family members, and tell them exactly what you need from them. For example, if your spouse keeps sweets in the house, ask him to get rid of them or at least put them out of sight.

37. Seek progress, NOT perfection! Forgive yourself when you slip up and get right back to focusing on your healthy habits and lifestyle.

38. Yes, you can eat out! Just remember portion control, most restaurant plates equal about 4 meals worth, so take the rest home and divide it up. Another good trick is to order from the appetizer menu.

39. Remember: You love yourself and want to take better care of yourself.

Healthy Habits: 11 Ways to Stop Mindless Eating

Being mindful is "The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something."

Here are 11 practices that can help you be conscious, aware, and mindful of every step of the eating process.

1. Chew slowly. It is one of the easiest ways to be more aware at mealtime.

2. Watch your posture. Slouching and laying down while eating put a great strain on your digestive system. You get the most nutrients out of the food you eat when your back and the trunk of your body, as well as your head, are perpendicular to the ground.

3. "Listen" to your body. Often times you may find yourself eating just for the sake of eating. If you begin to be more aware of how you feel while you eat, you can learn when you are full, and when it is time to put your fork down.

4. Just eat when you eat. This means, turn off the television and put down your phone. Be aware of the eating experience, who you are eating with, where you are eating, as well as the food you are eating.

5. Acknowledge your thoughts, feelings and emotions before and during mealtime. This can help you curb unhealthy emotional eating.

6. Give thanks. Rather than wishing you had more food, or another type of food, be thankful that you are blessed with this meal.

7. Put your fork down between bites. This is an easy way to slow down the eating process.

8. Sit down. Relax. Take your time. Truly enjoy the experience.

9. Eat in silence if you can.

10. Eat food that requires work. If you have to peel, shell or seed food, or cut it before eating it, this can make you more aware of the process.

11. Consciously change what you eat from time to time. Learn to eat the rainbow, enjoying fresh, natural foods of all colors.

10 Ways to Transform Your Life with Mindful Living

Mindful eating is just one part of being more conscious and aware of your existence.

Here are 10 ways to transform your life with mindful living that can lead to even more emotional, physical and mental wellness. 

1. Walk in nature regularly, smelling, seeing, touching and hearing your surroundings.

2. Meditate. Take time to breathe deeply, calm your mind, clear your thoughts and just focus on the current moment. Don't think about the future or the past, just the present.

3. Focus on one task at a time.

4. Plan unplugging sessions every day. Detaching yourself from all electronics on a regular basis can help you reach a mindful awareness of yourself and your existence.

5. Appreciate yourself. Take time every day to recognize and verbally appreciate your positive attributes and skills.

6. Consciously drink water throughout the day.

7. Be conscious of what you put into your mind. Your mental fitness dictates your physical health, and vice versa.

8. Get plenty of rest. If you are not rested upon waking, it is hard to practice mindfulness and become conscious of your life.

9. Recognize failure as an event, not as who you are. If you make a mistake or fail, that is simply a lesson and something that happened, and it does not become who you are.

10. Simplify. Minimize. When you have more things than you need, you are distracted and overwhelmed, rather than being aware and focused.

10 Ways to Practice Gratitude

Here are 10 Ways to Practice Gratitude

1. Keep a gratitude journal. At the end of each day, write down 3 -5 things for which you are grateful for in the day.

2. Make a gratitude jar: every time something amazing happens, whether big or small, write it down on a piece of paper and fold it up and place it in the jar.

Then, on a challenging day, you can pull out a paper and remind yourself of something wonderful that happened.

3. Say a few words of heartfelt gratitude for your food before you eat a meal. Give thanks to all the people who worked hard to bring the food to your table.

Give thanks for the farmer, the wholesalers, the retailers, the delivery people, and if you happen to be in a restaurant, the chef, cooks, and servers who all work hard to bring you delicious and nourishing food.

Savor your food and try to eat mindfully. Focus on the texture, color, and flavor of the food as you chew each mouthful and give thanks for the nourishment this food brings to your body.

4. Keep a gratitude stone in your pocket. It may be a beautiful stone you found on the beach or on a walk, or a stone you purchased, one that already has a positive memory associated with it.

Every time you touch the stone, it will trigger you to think of something you are grateful for.

5. Look in the mirror and give thanks to your body. Thank it for supporting you, carrying you, nourishing you.

Thank each part for the constant and faithful work it does for you in keeping you active each and every day.

Thank your legs for transporting you, your arms for being able to hug your loved ones, your hands for being able to lift and sort, and use tools.

Thank your eyes for seeing the way, your ears for hearing and your mouth for communicating and tasting.

6. Give thanks for your breath. Life is a mystery and a miracle and every breath you take is a gift that has been given to you.

Imagine yourself breathing in thanks, and breathing out peace. As you breathe in, imagine the feelings of gratitude washing over your body on the inside and outside, instilling in you a sense of peaceful calm. As you breathe out, let that sense of peaceful calm carry out into the world around you on the outbreathe.

7. Keep a list of all adversity that you have overcame in your life, and keep it current.

Gratitude for your own strength, and ability to walk to the other side when hard times hit hold a lot of value.

8. Consider the lessons you learned through adversity, and there is always at least one.

Keep a track of those, be grateful for each one, as these help shape, and mold your own personal growth.

9. Share what you are grateful for around the dinner table with your family and encourage each one of them to do the same.

For example, it might be one thing you are grateful for that happened to you today. Say, “I am grateful for…what about you?” Go round the table in this way. If you have young children you could make a game out of it and see who can come up with the most things they are grateful for on that day…

10. Every morning, give thanks for the new day that has been gifted to you.