I have a mantra that I say to myself which helps guide my eating choices and decisions. I’m a huge fan of mantras to help us be who we want to be.
So what is my mantra for eating healthy?
It’s “light and filling”.
If you want to feel energetic with exceptional vitality, I think this is a mantra – and eating philosophy – that can have an immediate impact.
What Is A Mantra?
A mantra is:
1. A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation
2. A sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers
For our purposes, we’re focusing on the second definition, but in English.
When you repeat a mantra out loud or to yourself, it focuses your attention on the meaning of the mantra. We are building beliefs that create habits, which in turn manifest into reality.
My Mantra = “Light & Filling”
How can you eat light and filling? Isn’t that a paradox?
If you eat plenty of fruits & veggies and drink plenty of water, you can eat a meal that is both light and filling.
The total volume of food you eat can be significant, but the composition of the food will be water rich, nutrient dense, and calorically light.
I eat a lot of food, but it’s not very dense. And in general I eat until 80% full. I like feeling light, not weighed down. The lighter and more water rich the food, the lighter I will feel and the more energy and clarity I’ll have after eating and throughout the day.
Light Meal Examples
Heavy Meal Examples
For most of my life, my favorite foods were a cheeseburger & fries and chicken parm cutlet as a platter or sub. While I still enjoy these foods on occasion, I now know how they can decrease my energy levels. Also, eating processed foods in general is a lot less appealing to me. Finally, I used to eat until I was in a food coma, but those days are few and far between.
The north star of the BuiltLean Program and my own north star when it comes to my health and fitness is energy. Vitality. That’s what we all want and that’s what we all can have.
Such a great idea. All of my friends just want to eat. All the time and they are all fat. I am the least fat of them but still have a bit of a gut. I do eat like you suggest most of the week. You are a great help!
Thanks, JC. Our stone age impulses can sometimes get the best of us in an age of food abundance (at least in developed countries).
Thanks for the mantra Marc. That gives me something to think about.
Thanks Mark, gives me a target esp the 80%
Nice. Eating until 80% full is the eating philosophy in Okinawa, Japan which has an unusually large number of centenarians.