Fasting with Sense

We all know what the five senses are … SIGHT, HEARING, TOUCH, SMELL and TASTE

   Let’s think about how these senses relate to food addiction and how we can use this information along with the practice of fasting to help manage the addiction.  

We eat with all 5 of our senses. Of course we taste it but even before that we see it and say “ Oh that looks good” Then we smell it and say “ Oh that smells good!” Or we touch it during preparation and hear the sound of it cooking. I mean seriously; the sound of bacon cooking is the best!!   The point is when it comes to food addiction any of these senses can trigger hunger as well as the urge to overeat. 

  Great news!!! 

 We can eliminate  those triggers using fasting and eating with our other four senses.  I like to think of it as  SENSORY FASTING.  I will explain how this can work by going through each of the senses and giving strategies for using them to control hunger and cravings. 

  It’s really a matter of reprogramming your mind to feel satisfied by using senses other than taste to satiate our hunger or control cravings.  Let’s take our sense of sight as an example. I love watching cooking shows. It feels so satisfying to watch what is being prepared; plus I get great recipe ideas. 

 How about the sense of smell? There are many times when I’m fasting but someone else in my household is preparing food and it smells so good. I would try to ignore the smell or get away from it all together, fearing it would make me hungry causing me to break my fast.  

 I discover by  taking a few long deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth the delicious aroma of the food gives me a sense of satisfaction right in my belly .

  Sometimes I have to prepare meals for my family while I’m in a fasted state . This is where the sense of touch comes into play. There is something so satisfying about preparing delicious food while in a fasted state.  I get more involved and creative. Another bonus is that I get to try out the recipes and tricks I learned watching cooking shows. 

  The sense of hearing can be a little trickier to use but as I said before just listening to the sound of food like bacon or maybe onions and peppers frying up can really help to visualize and satisfy hunger. 

I bet you’re asking how this could possibly work??? 

 The mind-body connection is an amazing thing and by fulfilling the other components that go along with eating, finding ways to eat with your other four senses, makes  fasting  easier and enables you to manage your addiction to food.  Do you want to  dive a little deeper ?  There is a ton of information about the mind-body connection out there. Take a look at some of these mind body  videos for more information that may help to understand this connection.

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