Womens Moon Wisdom Podcast Intro - Rebecca Rankin (00:01):
Stories, teachings, and guidance. Welcome to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with your host, Rebecca Rankin.
Rebecca Rankin (00:19):
Welcome back to Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with me, Rebecca Rankin. How we consume anything is how we consume everything. And it's important that we're mindful. Now, we can probably all agree that this past two years, our habits have shifted quite a bit. And one thing is still certain, we are probably all pushing ourselves just as much to be productive. I read a survey by Torque that reported 91% of people report working just as much, if not more than prior to the pandemic. It's just ingrained in us to be perpetually productive yet it's not sustainable at all.
Rebecca Rankin (01:10):
Taking cues from the natural world around us shows that even the Earth rests. And so should we. Something as simple as taking your lunch break can be the recharge that you need to rest, recalibrate and refresh for the rest of the day. Yet why is it that we can have this feeling of guilt when we do take a proper lunch break? Especially for those of us that work from home, we feel like we should be multitasking and getting the household chores done on our break time. Now in the same survey, they mentioned nearly 40% of the people surveyed say they only occasionally or rarely, or even never take breaks during the workday saying that they feel guilty for taking a break. And, get this, women were 67% more likely to skip their lunch break than men. And oftentimes when they do choose to take a break, they chose to do chores.
Rebecca Rankin (02:12):
So where is it that we can come back to a place of mindfulness and still be productive? Well, in a way, the productivity comes from being mindful. When we are fully present in each thing that we do, even taking our lunch, there's less room for distractions. And we all know when we put away the distractions and just do the task at hand, we get it done quicker and wow, doesn't that feel good? So I'm excited today. So I'm excited to share five mindfulness tools for you to put into place before you put the food in your mouth. And some of these I can honestly say have changed a ton for me. They've changed everything from my family's behavior at mealtime to even minimizing bloating. And yes, some of these have helped my stretchy pants I always wear, stretch less. And, no judging.
Rebecca Rankin (03:08):
Okay? I'm a yoga teacher. And also, I love comfy clothes. So let's dig in. Like what I did there? Get it? Dig in? Okay. Mindfulness tip number one. Eat sitting down. Now standing while eating is a byproduct of a busy life. As a parent of little ones, it can often sometimes feel like the only go-to option to actually eat a warm meal. Now, while standing think of it this way, if you're pacing and eating, while standing you're in go mode, which basically means a state of heightened stress, it can actually lead to higher cortisol levels, which is basically saying to your body 'hold up, don't spend your energy on digesting. We might need energy to, uh, save a child from getting hit by a car or', you know, you get the picture also interesting. In fact, there was some studies by the journal of consumer research that showed that eating while standing can lead to like worsening gas or even lead to like more bloating.
Rebecca Rankin (04:07):
And it actually showed that food was less enjoyable as in food didn't taste as good when standing versus sitting down. And I think they did this by giving like two different groups, like a group that was sitting to down a group that was standing, brownies from a bakery and the ones that were standing reported, in the end, not enjoying the flavor as much as the seeded group. All right. So allow yourselves to enjoy it. Enjoy that brownie. So allow yourself to shift into a state of rest and digest by sitting down to enjoy your meal or snack. And take it a step further to kind of shift into that more relaxed state by taking three deep breaths before starting to eat. That simple act of just three deep breaths is gonna help you shift kind of out of that heightened state of stress, into just that rest and digest.
Rebecca Rankin (05:03):
And this can even be a great time to take a moment of gratitude or silence. And the bonus is that again, like you're signaling your body mind to be in a state of rest and digest. And this is actually something that my family has put into place and we go around and we do around of what we're grateful for. And, and funny story yesterday, my, my three year old told us that, that he is thankful that his stuffy, which is a, a well loved moose named Moosey, didn't poop in his food. So there you go, you know, you can be thankful for anything. All right. So mindfulness tip number two, turn off distractions. That means no phone, no televisions at mealtime. So I grew up in a family that there was always a TV playing in the background at meals. There was always one on kind of honestly, throughout the day.
Rebecca Rankin (05:53):
Now mind you, there might not be anyone truly watching it, but it was always on in the background. So fast forward to now my adult life, where we don't even have a TV. And no, I'm not saying get rid of your TV unless you want to - then of course you do you. Looking at our consumption in terms of not just what we put in our mouths, but also what we listen to and watch is in a important way to practice mindfulness all around. So even the simple act of putting your phones on silent and placing them on the countertop until the dishes are cleared, can be a simple trick to enjoy your meal, right? To enjoy those you may be sharing it with, or even just enjoy your own company. And I do believe there's a, a Buddhist saying somewhere along the lines of when you walk, walk, when you eat, eat, stay present, and truly experiencing your meals can make eating that much more enjoyable.
Rebecca Rankin (06:51):
A simple action step to, to further the experiential quality of eating is putting your fork down between bites, like in a way, let each bite be intentional. Now these last three tips that I'm gonna go over are ones that have honestly changed my eating habits so much. So the next one, tip number three, eat until you're 80% full. Now this can be a tricky one to navigate at first, or at least for myself, it was. Yet, it feels so good to not have that like overly full feeling when you're done with a meal. Rather than eating until you're stuffed, think of it as eating until you're no longer hungry. So this means honestly, slow down. We can kind of go back to that point of putting down the fork between bites eating until you're 80% full. This term is said to be a Japanese term that was originated in the city of Okinawa, where they have like one of the lowest rates of illness from heart disease, cancer, and stroke, and a fairly long life expectancy.
Rebecca Rankin (08:02):
So a tip to work with that is eat your veggies and your protein first, then carbohydrates like fill up on like all the nutrient dense foods first then kind of eat the filler foods that way, you know, like what you're getting in the 80% full, is all the nutrient dense foods. All right. Mindfulness tip number four, chew your food at least 30 times before swallowing. I know this sounds a little, a little much. Now you want your food to lose its texture before you swallow it. Remember your stomach doesn't have teeth. So it's important to remember that digestion actually begins in your mouth and by chewing thoroughly, you're helping support a healthy digestive process. So a little story here. Back in my early twenties, when I was living in San Francisco, I was dating a guy who was really like overly into mindful living if you will, and was really incredibly enthusiastic about sharing it with everyone and anyone he would talk to.
Rebecca Rankin (09:06):
And I remember when we first started dating, he told me that I should do this, like chew at least 30 times. And honestly like it, that tip landed poorly with me. And honestly, I, I think it was that the aspect of myself that was 'don't tell me what to do'. And the other aspect of me that was like, 'great, I can't even chew right' side of myself. So I, I kind of just brushed it off and would occasionally put this into practice cuz honestly like, I don't know, counting until 30, like every time you take a bite was just, I dunno, anyways, my, my 20 year old self was not into it. Then years later when I came across these findings again that eating your food until it loses its texture, which I find easier than counting 30 times each time you take a bite.
Rebecca Rankin (10:00):
So it was actually a lot easier to implement. So, you know, each bite I take, I just chew the food until it's like kind of liquified. If you are just loses its texture completely. It was probably the aspect of me that wants to do things on my own terms. So this technique has improved my digestion remarkably. I honestly think that the reduction of bloating and digestive issues that I've seen a lot of it has actually come from this practice of just chewing food until it loses its texture or 30 times. If you wanna count. Lastly, mindfulness tip number five, avoid drinking loads of water during your meal. Like give yourself at least 30 minutes after drinking large amounts of water or any beverage really, before eating and wait until another 30 or 45 minutes until after you are done before kind of drinking a bunch of water again.
New Speaker (10:53):
You want your digestive fire, if you will, to be kind of fully stoked. If you drink a large amount of water before you eat, then you're kind of diluting your digestive juices that help you process your meal. This one is simple. And to me actually makes a ton of sense. I can honestly say that since I was never taught this growing up. I never really put it into practice in more recent years and it really has helped improved just my overall experience in my digestive system as well.
New Speaker (11:25):
So there you have it, five mindfulness tips for your lunch break or honestly, any meal time eat, sitting down, turn off distractions, eat until you're 80% full. Chew until your food loses its texture and avoid chugging water during your meals. I hope you enjoyed this! As always, if you are finding this episode, especially helpful, please share it with a friend or a loved one of yours. And also, let's stay connected. You can find me on Instagram at Womens Moon Wisdom. And if you are interested in kind of diving deeper into all things, cyclical living, in other words, like really feeling into the rhythm of your cycle, your inner cycle, then check out my website, rebeccarankinyoga.com/wmw . My Women's Moon Wisdom course is all about how to live in sync with your cycle, and to honestly just get the most out of your female biochemistry. Enjoy, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.
