5 Tips for Mindful Eating
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What is Mindful EAting?
Mindful eating is a practice where you are intentionally aware of all physical and emotional sensations while eating, without judgement. Mindful eating helps you to tune into your body’s hunger and fullness cues, which we are often taught to ignore as children. Practicing the skill of mindful eating is very popular in other countries, but is much less common in the US. This practice can help to improve your relationship with food, and can lead to eating closer to calorie balance which can support weight control (loss, gain, or maintenance depending on what your body needs).
How Can I Start Practicing Mindful Eating?
Check in on your hunger and fullness levels regularly. The more you check in with your body on your hunger and fullness, the better you get at recognizing the signs of each. It is ideal to eat when you are slightly or moderately hungry but not ravenous, and to stop eating when you are satisfied but not uncomfortably full. Avoid meal skipping and have snacks available for situations where you may get hungry between meals or when a meal time may be delayed.
Honor your food. Some families do this through prayer but it does not have to be religious. Take a moment to reflect on the fact that most of our food is from plants which are able to take energy from the sun and nutrients from the earth to create edible components our bodies need to survive and thrive(it’s so incredible when you think about it!). Farmers work to harvest the food and it is transported to you. Having an appreciation for this process can positively impact your eating experience and gratitude.
Eat slowly. When you eat slowly it allows your body to communicate hunger and satiety with you. When you eat quickly the satiety signal often doesn’t make it to your brain until after you are uncomfortably full. Eat with your non-dominant hand, put your fork down while you chew and don’t prepare your next bite until you swallow, and/or drink water between bites to help to slow your eating.
Be fully mentally present while eating. It is increasingly common for people eat without even thinking about it. This may look like eating in front of the TV or while on your phone, snacking while you work, or eating while driving. In all of these scenarios you cannot fully focus on eating, because you are dividing your attention. Instead, sit at a table without any distractions, appreciate how your food looks, smells, tastes, the texture of the food, and any other aspect. Do this for the entirety of your meal. This helps you feel more satisfied than if you were to eat the same amount of food while distracted. It may feel strange at first, but the more often you do it, the more natural it feels.
Serve yourself smaller portions. This can help you to determine how much food it actually takes for you to feel satisfied at different levels of hunger. Use a 9 inch dinner plate and serve yourself an amount slightly smaller than what you may imagine will be enough to satisfy your hunger. Give yourself permission to get seconds if you are still hungry. If you find you are feeling satisfied before you finish that first serving do not force yourself to finish your plate - that experience will help you to know to serve a bit less the next time you’re at that same level of hunger.
If you implement some of these tips on your own, but still struggle with mindful eating, you would benefit from one on one health coaching. Schedule a free 15 minute consultation with me to discuss your health goals and to see if we are a good fit.