Ask your body. It will tell you the truth. Your body will tell you when it’s starting to become hungry, exactly what it wants to eat and precisely when it’s had enough. You can lose weight by simply tuning-in to your body and honor what it’s telling you. You can leave a little room for what your mind wants, too.

When you’re deciding what to eat while looking though your cupboards and refrigerator at home, looking at a menu or a buffet table in a restaurant or walking through the aisles at the grocery store, ask your body what it wants to eat. If it’s not clear, present some choices to it and see how you respond to that thought.

The conversation might go something like this:

“Do I want a salad with grilled chicken?” “No, something a bit heavier.” “How about steak, rice and broccoli?” “No, not something as heavy as a steak.” “How about pasta with a few little meatballs with onion, green pepper and other goodies in it?” “Yeah, pasta sounds good… with, maybe, some seafood… Hey, I know! I want linguine with fresh clams in a light white wine tomato sauce and salad greens, too!”

You want to ask your body because it knows what foods are best for you today. Your mind is willing to eat donuts for breakfast and be spacey for the next couple of hours. Your body wants to be nourished. If you ask your mind to please come up with something nutritious, it can try to guess according to what was satisfying to your body last time. The mind has no idea what the body needs today. The body knows. For example, your body might ask for chili because you’re a tad low in iron that day. It knows that meat and beans are rich in iron and that the vitamin C in the tomato base will help the iron be absorbed.

Sometimes your mind will interfere. It might ask for brownies. Or, it might ask for pancakes for breakfast, while your body asks for eggs. Acknowledge what your mind wants to eat too, so you can give yourself the right amount. Perhaps, 3 savored bites.

Be mindful of your body sensations while you eat so you can know when you’re approaching the point of enough. Your tummy will be happy, your taste buds will become a little duller and your enthusiasm for the food will have waned. What truth is your body telling you?

When you eat what your body wants and perhaps include a little of what your mind insisted on, that’s when you can say, “Aah, what a perfect meal that was! It hit the spot!”

When you eat according to your truth, via your body, there’s no need for control, discipline or deprivation to lose weight. You can lose weight through pleasure and fulfillment.