February is the month of love -- designated as National Heart Month and celebrating Valentines Day and National Wear Red Day. Another observance that is gaining in popularity is the National Love Your Body week, February 27 through March 3. This year's Love Your Body them is "Love Your Body, Love Your Land." The focus of this year's Love Your Body week is eating healthy, organic food and eating mindfully.

I really like the theme because it combines two topics of great interest to me: health and protecting the environment. Healthy eating and exercise are familiar topics in these Dr. Grandma's blog posts. Several of my blogs over the past year have dealt with the environmental issue of conventionally grown versus organically grown produce: Pesky Pest and the Havoc They Wreak and The Organic Food Label. As I have stated before, I believe that the health of the human race and the health of our planet are closely intertwined.

I have written several blog posts about the detrimental impact of stress on health; these include Stressed? Read This, Food and Addiction and Stress. However, I haven't written about mindful eating before and now seems like a great time. What is mindful eating? According to the Center for Mindful Eating, mindful eating can transform people’s relationship to food and eating. It can help to improve overall health, body image and self-esteem. Key aspects of mindful eating include :

• learning to become aware of your body's feeling of hunger and fullness.
• choosing to begin or end a meal based on those feelings of hunger and fullness.
• becoming aware of foods, situations, people and other factors that lead to overeating.
• valuing and choosing nutritional, healthy food.
• taking the time to slowly eat your food in order to appreciate the taste and texture.

According to a 2011 Harvard Health Letter a growing body of research suggests that mindful eating could help with weight problems and may help people to avoid some less-healthful food choices. Because it takes the brain about 20 minutes to register fullness, eating slowly and thoughtfully allows your brain to catch up with your body's feelings of satiety. When you eat when distracted, you don't notice what you are eating, how much you are eating or how the food even tastes. If you eat while watching TV, driving, or doing something else, you may miss the experience of eating altogether and eat more just so you can have that experience. Being mindful puts you in touch with the experience.

Loving your body is similar to loving and being in a relationship with another person: you have to be aware of your body's needs and be willing to make sacrifices to get those needs met (through exercise, rest and healthy foods for example). It also requires sometimes being gentle and compassionate. Being one -- if you will -- and realizing that you and your body are in this together, through thick and thin, for better or for worse, realizing that you will only win together. Being mindful can help you to overcome the separation of your body and mind. Start by loving your body, February 27 through March 3 and then see if you can make it last a lifetime.