Weight Maven

Summer Tomato’s Darya Rose is a fan of Dr. Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing technique:

When you eat mindlessly your environment wins and you’re more likely to overeat. You also appreciate your food less, since you aren’t focused on the sensory pleasures of eating. Cultivating mindful eating habits is therefore one of the most valuable tools in your foodist tool belt, because it helps you eat less while enjoying it more. …

Remembering to eat mindfully can be very difficult. If you’re being mindless, how are you supposed to remember to be more mindful? If you remember to be mindful, aren’t you being mindful already? It can be tricky, so 4-7-8 breathing is an incredibly valuable tool to help build the habit.

Here’s the 4-7-8 breath how-to from Dr. Weil:

• Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
• Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of seven.
• Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
• This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

And here he is demonstrating it:

One minute before meals? Sounds like a good plan: be more mindful while eating and also help aid in digestion. Winner, winner, chicken dinner ;).