Observational Eating

By Katie Mack
FoodHealth
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How to keep your Eating & Nutrition Habits in alignment while you’re stuck at Home with Katie Mack.

AK: If you’re like me you’ve gotten a bit lost in the daily home routine, and have been munching non-stop for the past eight weeks. For some of us, creative cooking has become the highlight of Covid and along with that… an expanding waistline. In an effort to calm our carb chaotic lifestyles, I reached out to Katie Mack of Katie Mack Fitness for some eating and nutrition tips before we run to our trainers at the gym, hopefully in the near future. 

KM: EATING HABITS
Before any meal or snack, try your best to relax and take 10 deep breathes from your rib cage down into your pelvis. Your rib cage is where your lungs are located, and attached to the bottom of your ribs is your diaphragm – also known as your “breathing muscle” that looks like a parachute. When you inhale, think of your rib cage filling up like a balloon and your diaphragm as a jellyfish sinking down into your pelvic floor. As you fully exhale, your rib cage “deflates” and your diaphragm floats back up. Pause for 2-4 seconds at the end of the exhale and repeat 

  • After you take a bite of food, put down your food/fork/spoon and finish chewing what’s in your mouth. THIS MAY BE WAY HARDER THAN IT SEEMS! Chewing your food completely will set you up for better digestion and force you to slow down.
  • Sip – don’t gulp – your drinks. Try to get in 2-3 liters of water a day.

Enjoy and appreciate your food and drinks. Taste the tastes, smell the scents, feel the textures. Being mindful this way can bring you into the present moment and allow for a calmer experience with better digestion.

NUTRITION 101:

Make sure your diet includes all three macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fat. Unless you have dietary restrictions or health issues, it’s important to know that each macro(nutrient) has beneficial effects on your overall health. Limiting one macro long-term may lead to nutritional deficiencies.

  • Try to have some sort of protein with every meal/snack. Protein is usually the macronutrient that I see most lacking in client diets, and protein has so many benefits that our body will thank us for.
  • Don’t forget your fruits and vegetables. While some people have issues digesting certain veggies, most people can benefit from eating a wide variety each day. Shoot for a RAINBOW of colors!
  • Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Most foods in the aisles are processed and unnatural. The more real food you can eat the better!

“Messing up”

When you’re stuck in a loop of guilt, shame or punishment for eating “bad”, you are not in a place of love and cannot move on. Forgive yourself if your head is in a negative loop, and make a better decision next. The more you beat yourself up the more self-sabotage and harm you will do.

Katie Mack is a NYC-based personal trainer who uses strength training and fitness in a way that focuses on improving both physical and emotional/mental wellbeing.  Trauma of any sort impacts our mind AND body – through measures and aspects such as blood pressure, heart rate, posture, senses, and self-image. With this in mind, we can use the body as a tool to help restore or improve these factors. Strength training, mindful movement and fitness are ways in which we may improve heart health, get more grounded and energetic, and create feelings of power, strength, stability and resilience. Contact Katie for a complimentary 20 minute Zoom Call today!

Katie Mack
Katie Mack

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Karjaka Magazine

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Aleksandr Karjaka
Aleksandr Karjaka
Aleksandr Karjaka came to New York for the music, but stayed for the visuals. As a classically trained musician, he’s had the honor of performing with some of the greatest musicians, and artistic houses, in the world. Often quoted as "Listening through his eyes." he's photographed the lives and stories of thousands of artists of all fields over the years. Here are their KARJAKA portraits.

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