Q: One of the biggest reasons people do not eat mindfully on a more regular basis is that they are distracted during mealtimes and are paying attention to other things. Studies show that those people who eat when they're distracted tend to eat more and weigh more as well. The reasoning behind this is thought to be that while distracted, you're eating much faster and you're not creating the memory of having eaten. Both of these can cause an increased intake of food. Try to remove all distractions while you're having meals or snacks. Turn off the TV, avoid talking on the cell phone and stay away from your email or the internet. You may even need to let others know, like co-workers, to give you 20 minutes to yourself while you're eating instead of coming in with questions or things to do. If you're eating with a group - like your family - also remove distractions. This can help your whole group focus on each other and conversation rather than watching the TV or texting on their phones. A mindful eating practice should start prior to your actual meal. Taking a moment or two before you start eating a meal can help put you on track to be more mindful and present while eating. After serving yourself your meal or snack, sit down at a table with your food in front of you. Take a few moments to think about how you're feeling, what you're in the mood for and what you're planning on eating. You can start this little mini meditation by taking a few deep breaths and just looking at your meal and concentrating on the food in front of you. Take the time to review how you're going to eat mindfully (for example, by eating slowly and taking smaller bites) and the benefits that mindful eating brings you. If you feel yourself eating too fast or taking big bites or even getting distracted, feel free to stop eating and return to a few moments of breathing to refocus your mind. If you're with a group, you can comment on how good your meal looks or how great the menu looks and take those moments for yourself to get your mindset straight. Prior to starting your meal, also consider your hunger level. Understanding how hungry you truly are can help you work more effectively on controlling how you eat during your meal. Listen to your body's hunger signals. Is your stomach growling? Do you have an empty feeling in your stomach? Do you feel lightheaded or nauseous due to hunger? Try to rate your hunger on a scale from one to 10 with one being absolutely starving and 10 being so full you're sick to your stomach. If you're rating your hunger as a one, two, or three, you may have the desire to eat very fast, take large bites or eat more than you need. Understanding that a low hunger scale rating can make mindful eating more difficult may help you show more control and more restraint during your meal so you avoid those mistakes. Try to aim for a three to four prior to a meal. This means you're hungry and experiencing symptoms of hunger, but can control yourself more easily during your meal. This makes practicing mindful eating much easier. If you're with a group, maybe vocally saying how hungry you are can help you rate your hunger. One very important part of mindful eating is starting to and learning to listen to your body and it's satiation signals. Your body will provide you with a lot of information regarding whether or not you should eat, continue to eat or even stop eating. When you take the 20 or 30 minutes to eat a meal, you'll give your body enough time to communicate with your brain regarding your level of satiation or fullness. You'll need to pay attention closely to be able to "hear" and figure out these signals. It's important to listen to your body's "satisfied" signals. When you're satisfied, you've eaten just the right amount of food for your body. If you eat too much and feel full, you've overdone it. If you continually overeat, you may end up gaining some weight. Satisfied feels like a lack of physical hunger (no more growling stomach or empty feeling). There is no sensation of fullness or stretching in your stomach whatsoever. In fact, you may have wanted to finish the last few bites on your plate, but specifically chose to leave them. Although there are varying levels of fullness, you want to avoid any feelings like: a stretching in your stomach, a slight discomfort, a thought of "I could have left those last few bites", a sick feeling or a hurting stomach. Another trick that can help support your practice of mindful eating is by serving yourself a portion of food and leaving the leftovers away from where you'll be eating. When you serve yourself, you're taking control of what you're putting on your plate and how much. Others may give you too much or too little. Also don't put big plates or bowls of food on the table. Leave them in the kitchen so you're not tempted to go back for seconds at the table. Sitting and eating at the table is a great practice for mindful eating. It forces you to focus and get in the mindset of mindful eating. This theory also goes for snack foods. It's never wise to sit down with a box of crackers or a bag of chips. You cannot tell how much you're eating. Serve yourself an appropriate portion size and then put the container away. Not every eating session will be a full on meal eaten at the dinner table or even at your desk at work. If you eat a small snack every so often, you'll be able to be more mindful about your next meals nutritious quality, compared to eating anything you can grab quickly. Make sure you stay mindful during these quick bites or snacks as well. Some people can get into trouble when they snack mindlessly. If you find yourself zoning out in front of the TV with a bag of chips, this can lead to overeating and consuming too many calories. To avoid eating mindlessly through snacks, always pre-measure or pre-portion your food. Don't ever sit down with an entire box, bag or container. Also try to assess your hunger level and time until your next meal. Don't just grab any snack at the slight feeling of hunger. If you're feeling hungry and your next meal is in 30 minutes, you should wait to eat.
A: Take away distractions while you eat. Think about your meal for a few moments before eating. Rate your hunger. Listen to your body's satiation signals. Serve yourself and eat at the table. Snack mindfully.

Q: If you are not sure that you have actually sprained your thumb, it is helpful to know what symptoms to look for. These symptoms include: Sharp, pulsating and/or excruciating pain Swelling Bruising While you can sprain your thumb in a variety of ways, the most common causes of a sprained thumb include: Repetitive activities that involve the thumb and put excessive pressure on its joints. Sports like basketball, volleyball, and other sports where there is a good chance that the ball will put a lot of pressure on your thumb Contact sports like rugby and martial arts. Wrapping a sprained thumb does not only help stabilize the injured thumb, but also compresses it. Compression aids in stimulating the flow of lymph fluid, which carries important nutrients to the damaged tissues surrounding the injury. Lymph fluid also removes waste from cells and body tissues which is an important function during the tissue regeneration process. Wrapping the thumb also speeds the recovery process and keeps the injury from getting worse. In order to be completely effective, the bandage must be removed, the injury left to rest, and the bandage re-applied a few times a day. In this way, the lymphatic system can complete its evacuation of the injury site.
A:
Identify the symptoms of a sprained thumb. Familiarize yourself with the most common causes of a sprained thumb. Understand why thumb wrapping is beneficial.