A Practical Guide to Mindful Eating
In today’s modern world it is very rare that we sit down and focus on our eating, it’s become a mindless task. Have you ever found yourself sitting down to eat and before you’ve even realised it, you’ve pulled out your phone or turned on the TV? You end up going into autopilot with your food and not even noticing what you’re putting into your mouth while scrolling through your Facebook feed or getting lost in a TV show.
With mindless eating, you rarely register the amount you’ve taken in. In doing this you lose some of the body’s normal processes that tell us we’re full. Things like actively taking note of the how many spoonful’s you’ve had; by watching it go into your mouth, the process of swallowing, and believe it or not, even smelling the food, send chemical signals to the brain that eating is taking place, and to turn off the feelings of ‘hunger’. If you lose this because of concentration on other tasks, the brain can take up to 20 minutes to realise that you’ve actually eaten while it waits for the food to hit your gut. In this time, without realising it, overeating can easily occur.
How can we combat this?.. Answer: Mindful Eating
Mindful eating looks at applying mindfulness to focus our full attention on the act of eating, including the experience, your cravings and any physical cues of hunger and fullness. Over time, you’ll find you’re more naturally able to check in with these physical cues and allow hunger and sustenance drive eating.
Changing your Relationship with Food
Food is not the enemy, however, the complex relationship we have with food can be an issue. Whether we are eating to self-sooth, consuming food when we are not hungry, or constantly on perpetual diets it can change the activity of eating into something filled with stress, guilt and even shame, creating a negative relationship with food.
When we eat mindfully, we are fully attentive and engaged. Our senses are heightened. We pay attention to the textures, flavours, aromas and sounds as well as the environment around us – heightening our enjoyment of the food. We are able to realise how full we are much earlier and are less likely to overconsume. Even afterwards, because we’ve actively engaged in our meal, we feel satisfied and full for longer, and are likely to eat less over the course of the day. The positive cycle continues, you naturally start to notice the impact that different foods have on the way you feel afterwards; your energy levels, whether the food is nourishing, and even your overall mood.
A pattern of emotional overeating often involves eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time, mindlessly and without control. A stressful day at work, being unwell, relationship issues, feeling unhappy with your recent level of physical activity, and lots of other things can trigger this pattern of emotional eating. If this sounds like you, trying to incorporate mindful eating into your life can have a huge benefit.
It can help you differentiate between emotional and physical hunger, what specific type of stresses and emotions tend to trigger your overeating, and ultimately help you find healthy strategies to not be de-railed by negative experiences.
How to eat Mindfully
Ok, so let us looks at some things we can do to help us eat mindfully. The homework tasks will walk you through step-by-step to help you easily incorporate it into your normal eating patterns, but
1. When eating your meals, ensure you are chewing thoroughly.
2. Take away any distractions, turning off the TV, get off your phone, eating in silence or while conversing with family members avoids going into food ‘autopilot’
3. Asking yourself “why am I eating?” “Am I actually hungry?” “Does this align with my goals?”
4. Recognise when you are full and stop eating from that point. Resist the urge for that “just one more bite” moment.
5. Feel and focus on how the food you are consuming is making you feel
6. Enjoy your meal! Especially if you’ve cooked it yourself, revel in the flavours and tastes.. it will make you focus on the food effortlessly
Give it a try and let us know how you go!