In our busy contemporary world, eating is something to endure instead of something to enjoy. Whether it’s having a quick meal during an overbooked workday or eating in front of the television, most of us have lost the habit of being fully present when we eat. Mindful eating is the antidote to this disconnect, inviting us to give our full attention to what we eat, when we eat and how much we eat. Mindful eating can help develop a more positive relationship with food and improve our health overall.
What Is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is based on mindfulness, the practice of being fully present, observing all your thoughts, feelings and physical sensations without judgment. In the context of eating, this means approaching every meal with a clear intention, enjoying every bite, and paying attention to how the food makes your body feel and your mind feel.
Mindful eating is not a restrictive diet or another set of strict food rules; it is simply a practice of awareness with regard to food choices, eating behaviors, and physical sensations.
Pay Attention to What You Eat
In the age of processed and fast foods abundance, mindful eating promotes us to make choices when it comes to food. We need to be mindful of what we’re putting into our bodies and ask about the nutritional value, taste, and quality of the food. Are we consuming something we will get energy from, or something that will just fill us for a little while?
When we make conscious choices about what we eat, we can make our meals more congruent with our individual health goals. We don’t have to ban sweets or comfort foods, but we need to be aware of when and how often we indulge in these foods. Mindful eating includes listening to your body’s hunger cues, as well as learning how various foods make you feel.
Pay Attention to When You Eat
Eating has to do not only with what we eat, but also when we eat it. While in our hectic lives we’re tempted to have no proper meal schedules, it only hinders good digestion and energy reserves. Mindful eating teaches us to eat only when we are hungry, not when we are bored, stressed or mindlessly chewing out of habit.
Listening to your body’s natural hunger cues is one way to practice mindful eating. That may mean not eating until you feel actual hunger pangs and recognizing the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Eating within these time limits also controls when we’re eating to avoid binging or overeating when we’re starving.
Also, avoid eating in response to external influences, such as social situations or commercials. Be more mindful of when and why you eat and become more intentional in forming healthier eating habits.
Track How Much You Are Eating
In a world of voluminous portions and limitless grabbing opportunities, it’s hard to control your portions. Mindful eating presents us with the opportunity to be aware of how much we’re eating, helping us to understand when we’re full and when we’ve had enough. Slowing down and tuning into the signals our body is sending can help us avoid overeating and better match our food intake to the cues we receive regarding our hunger and satiety.
Mindful eating requires that you eat slowly, paying attention to the taste and texture of your food and stopping various times during the meal to check how full you feel. This gives the body time to signal to the brain that it’s sated, helping to prevent overeating and allowing for better digestion.
Keep Your Screens Away from Your Eyes
And one of the basic approaches of mindful eating is to remove distractions, including smartphones, computers or television, when eating. Eating while we are doing something else makes us eat without being mindful, making it possible that we eat more food than we needed or we are not able to enjoy our meal. By tuning into the food itself, we hear messages from our body about when we’re satisfied or how much we’re consuming, and we’re also less likely to overeat.
Instead, aim to eat in a distraction-free environment. Sit at the table with the meal before you, and engage all your senses—notice the colors, smells, textures and tastes of the food. It enables a more pleasurable and satisfying eating experience and fosters the connection that you have with what you’re eating on a deeper level.
Why You Should Try Mindful Eating
- Better Digestion: Slow cooking and chewing food well helps in digestion and absorption of nutrients. It allows your digestive system to process food better.
- Improved portion control: When you focus on how much food you are consuming and listen to your hunger and fullness signals, you are likely to consume appropriate portions and avoid overeating.
- More Satisfaction: Mindful eating helps you savor your meals enjoy them more, because you do really taste the food, the flavors, textures, and the experience of eating.
- Healthy Relation with Food– Mindful eating tends to remove the guilt, stress, or shame that accompanies eating. You’ll foster a more balanced relationship with food and you’ll feel more in control of your eating.
- Healthier Choices: Being mindful of what you eat means that you are more likely to make nourishing choices, focusing on whole foods that nurture your health and well-being.
Why You Should Try Mindful Eating
- Better Digestion: Slow cooking and chewing food well helps in digestion and absorption of nutrients. It allows your digestive system to process food better.
- Improved portion control: When you focus on how much food you are consuming and listen to your hunger and fullness signals, you are likely to consume appropriate portions and avoid overeating.
- More Satisfaction: Mindful eating helps you savor your meals enjoy them more, because you do really taste the food, the flavors, textures, and the experience of eating.
- Healthy Relation with Food– Mindful eating tends to remove the guilt, stress, or shame that accompanies eating. You’ll foster a more balanced relationship with food and you’ll feel more in control of your eating.
- Healthier Choices: Being mindful of what you eat means that you are more likely to make nourishing choices, focusing on whole foods that nurture your health and well-being.
How To Practice Mindful Eating: Practical Tips
- Mindfully eat: Put down the phone, turn off the television and concentrate on your food.
- Slow down: Eat smaller bites, chew well and taste their food.
- Trust your body: Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full.
- Be present in the moment: Before you eat, pause to notice the food before you. Notice what it looks like, what it smells like and how it feels.
- Express gratitude: Recognize where your food comes from and thank it before you eat.
Conclusion
Practicing mindful eating is a much needed solution to food: a new way to relate to what we eat, how we eat, and when we eat. Mindful Eating: By eating mindfully, we can pick healthier food choices, savor our food, and build a healthy relationship with food. So the next time you’re having a meal, take a moment to hit pause, take a breath, and focus on the experience as best as you can—your body will thank you for it!
