Re: How Much Is Too Much?

Hi Raine, you’ve probably read this but it’s always useful to be reminded.

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Animals eat with full attention.

The basic needs and instincts of all living creatures are air, water and food, clothing and shelter - with food as the most basic. All life everywhere knows its needs in food to survive and every creature on this earth knows how to eat. It is an inborn instinct which does not need to be learned and it is present from the moment of birth onward - in one-celled life forms (amoeba) up to the largest animal forms in existence.

All of these living creatures, eat in the same manner. They eat with full attention, chew their foods as much as is necessary for the species and are fully absorbed in the taste of the food while they are eating it. When the sensual enjoyment of the taste begins to recede and disappear, they stop eating and walk away from the food fully content.

This enjoyment of the food, closely interlocked with the taste of the food, is how the bodily instinct guides the animal to cease eating when the body's needs are fully provided for. All living creatures have been faithfully guided by this sense of taste instinct since the beginning of time and there has never been a problem with it.
Why no problem? - Because they all eat the same way - with full attention, totally immersed in the taste of the food, even closing their eyes to avoid distraction, and ceasing when the sense of taste begins to lose its enjoyment. Even all little insects eat with total attention.


Divided attention.

When the attention is divided, say for example, watching TV while eating, emotions and feelings are aroused which conflict with the ideal digestive atmosphere.
This inhibits gastric and digestive secretions needed to digest the food optimally.
The great sensual enjoyment of eating, which is so basically important to the body and emotions necessary to inner happiness, is largely bypassed, because the attention is on something different than the taste of the food.

The result is that - since the taste enjoyment is largely reduced or eliminated, the body is unable to signal the eater when to stop. So the person eats, mechanically stuffs himself and stops only when the discomfort of the distended stomach signals its protest….

Eating without awareness or attention - invariably leads to overeating and dismissing the important role of the taste of the food in directing us to stop eating when we have had enough to satisfy the body's needs.



http://drbass.com/attentive.html



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