Generally speaking, dieting is about controlling what we eat with the general aim of consuming fewer calories to create a calorie deficit. As we all know, there are many types of diets, ranging from the sensible, like the Mediterranean Diet, to the less sensible, like the old-fashioned grapefruit and black coffee diet. Mindful eating is a practice that allows you to fully enjoy food, without the worry of counting calories.
Mindful eating encourages you to pay full attention to the experience of eating. This means listening to what you are saying to yourself before eating, during and after. It involves observing cravings, physical cues and emotions. It is used to treat eating disorders and various food-related behaviors.
Fundamentally, mindful eating involves:
eating slowly and without distraction
listening to physical hunger cues and eating only until you’re full
distinguishing between true hunger and non-hunger triggers for eating
engaging your senses by noticing colors, smells, sounds, textures, and flavor
noticing the effects food has on your feelings
appreciating your food
making a greater connection to where your food comes from, how it’s produced, and the journey it’s taken to your plate.
What Eating Mindfully Matters
Being mindful of the food you eat can promote better digestion, keep you full with less food, and influence wiser choices about what you eat in the future. It can also help you free yourself from unhealthy habits around food and eating. By being aware of your negative feelings about food, you have the power to replace them with more positive ones. Rather than trying to talk yourself out of a craving, allow yourself to explore it. Cravings are simply body sensations, and when we try to resist or ignore cravings, they tend to get stronger. Instead of trying to ignore it, notice what the craving feels like in your body, ask yourself what’s going on that’s triggering it, even spend some time looking at and smelling the food you’re craving. Take a few deep breaths, then look at it again to see if it still seems as appealing. Think of mindful eating like exercise: every little bit counts. The more you can do to slow down and focus solely on the process of eating, and listening to your body, the greater satisfaction you’ll experience from your food and the greater control you’ll have over your diet and nutrition habits. Even if weight loss doesn’t occur, studies show that there’s still a benefit to eating mindfully. A 2016 study of 194 overweight adults, found that those who had mindfulness training had significant drops in cholesterol and blood glucose levels, compared with q group that got only dieted.
How to Begin Eating Mindfully
Eat slowly and don’t rush through your meals.
Eliminate distractions by turning off the TV and putting down your phone.
Focus on how the food makes you feel.
Stop eating when you’re full.
Ask yourself why you’re eating, whether you’re truly hungry, and whether the food you chose is healthy.
To begin with, it’s a good idea to pick one meal per day to focus on these points. The more you can do to slow down and focus solely on the process of eating and listening to your body, the greater satisfaction you’ll experience from your food.
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