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nhft.nhs.uk/dietetics

MINDFUL EATING

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01604 745 036 (Northampton)

WHAT IS MINDFUL EATING AND WHY CONSIDER IT?We can find ourselves eating out of habit or restricting ourselves to excessive food rules and in the process we may unintentionally learn to override our own body’s sense of hunger and satiety.

Take a moment to reflect on these questions:- Do you relate to times of eating more than you anticipated and maybe sometimes still feel hungry afterwards and wonder how or why? Is eating and feeling uncomfortable afterwards happening more often than you would like?

Mindless eating – not being aware of the process of eating e.g. at the computer or watching TV and eating at the same time.

Mindful eating – paying attention to the present sensory aspects of eating food (appearance, aroma, taste) and the thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations that accompany eating.

The benefits:

• Better understand your appetite

• Tune into your own body cues – learn to tell when you’re hungry and decide how full you want to be

• More appreciation and enjoyment of the food you eat

• Notice what best nourishes you - what gives you energy and leaves you feeling satisfied.

Become curious taking time to eat with all your senses to discover more about how you feel before, during and after meals.

What does it feel like to be ½ or ¾ full?

Where do you feel sensations in your body?

HUNGER AND SATIETYUnderstanding hunger and satiety can enable us to enjoy food more mindfully.

Hunger defined A physical sensation. The body has its own mechanism for how much to eat. It is ok to feel a sense of physical hunger at times e.g. prior to a meal time.

Satiety defined The point at which you feel satisfied; you’ve had enough.

The difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger

Although it is normal to eat when we are not just physically hungry, if it occurs frequently it may impact our health.

Our body’s biological cue of physical hunger is a signal to eat and the absence of hunger is the signal to stop eating.

We also experience sensations similar to physical hunger, which can take many forms. It may stem from food we see or smell. It may stem from a thought or emotion. We may at these times reach for just pleasurable foods yet actually be hungry for something other than food. Understanding what drives our eating, can help us refine how we respond.

EMOTIONAL HUNGER PHYSICAL HUNGERDevelop suddenly Builds gradually

Above the neck (e.g. ‘taste’ for ice cream)

Below the neck (e.g. growling stomach)

Not connected to time of meal Happens many hours after a meal

Eating can lead to feelings of guilt and shame

It is more likely that eating leads to feeling satisfied

Comes at a time when emotional response is experienced

Is not due to emotions

The ‘law of diminishing pleasure’ (Rick Kausman) describes how the first anticipated mouthful of a food is the most intense and often tastes the best.

If we take time to notice our food, we will reach a point when the food starts to become less palatable and less enjoyable.

Have you ever noticed when there is a lot of choice – a buffet, all inclusive food on a holiday, at home with a really full fridge it makes it more tempting to over eat, until eventually we sense we are overfull / stuffed and wonder how we reached that point?

Why does this happen?

We reach a moment during eating when one food becomes less pleasurable and then we turn our attention to a new food until the satisfaction from that diminishes. We reach for another new food until that becomes less satisfying, and so on…

Next time you find yourself in this situation, consider making some choices about selected foods which would nourish and satisfy you the most.

Become curious

Try the activity using the flowchart opposite to explore more mindful eating,

Choose any food – it could be your favourite type of chocolate, a biscuit, fresh or dried fruit. Now slow down for a moment and see what happens. Keep an open mind.

This video can help or ask yourself the questions below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYDXQQBojk8

Ask yourself these questions as you eat:

Choose just one square of chocolate / one raisin / one berry - which one is most appealing?

What does it look like?

Notice the shape.

Take a closer look – notice the colour and size from every angle (think of yourself as an alien who has just landed on earth and never seen this before – bring that sense of curiosity).

What does it feel like to touch?

Consider where it is from and the journey it has taken to get all the way to your hand (from growing in the sun / rain, all the people that have been involved in its transportation).

Bring it to your nose and smell - does it have a smell?

Touch it to your lips.

Next you are going to put it in your mouth – do not chew or swallow the food right away

Place it on your tongue.

Notice the texture now – is it different to when you held it in your hand?

Notice the flavours on your tongue

Now hold it between your teeth – is there a strong urge to bite? What does the anticipation feel like?

Take a bite.

Then...Start to chew very slowly

Notice the flavours – does this change? How does it develop? How intense is the flavour?

How does the texture change in your mouth?

Take a moment longer to finish chewing very slowly before swallowing

Notice the sensations in your throat, notice the flavours changing.

HERE IS A SPACE FOR YOU Write down your discoveries about mindfulness and mindful eating.

How was that experience?

Did the food taste any different eating it slowly?

Did you enjoy it more or less?

Do you feel satisfied?

It is not necessary to eat everything this way. The act of pausing can bring awareness to what was previously an unconscious process. It is great to eat using as many senses as possible and really take notice of what you are eating. It is interesting to see how different the experience of eating is,when we take time to slow down.

Maintain your curiosity

Understand your body better, try a body scan

To further explore the sensations in our body including hunger / fullness in the stomach, throat and mouth learn to listen to your body.

You may discover what else your body needs such as self-care in the form of movement or rest or something else relevant to you.

Listen to the link or read the guide below:

www.mindful.org/the-body-scan-practice/

• Sit or lie down in a position that is comfortable for you and notice your body in contact with the chair, floor or bed

• Notice the rhythm of your breath; when your breath starts and when it ends

• After 30 seconds or so, move your attention to the top of your head and gently scan down your body, not dwelling too long on any particular area of comfort or discomfort, observe and move slowly down to your toes.

You can come back to these experiments any time you wish.

WHAT NEXT - A MINDFUL HUNGER / FULLNESS DIARYA hunger and fullness diary can be great to keep for a few days to notice more about your eating habits. A mindful eating rating 0 – 10, with 0 being no awareness, 5 being some awareness and 10 being full awareness, can be a great addition. Make meals a more mindful experience:

• Change your environment – change napkin / table cloth / place mat / vase and when you notice what is different use it to remind you to eat more slowly

• Try setting a timer to bleep every 1 - 3 minutes, put down your cutlery when it bleeps, wait 10 seconds and resume enjoying your food more slowly or just put your cutlery down between each mouthful to help you slow down

• Take sips of water after every few bites

• Eat something hot

• Take a moment to tune into what it feels like to be ½ or ¾ full?

• Notice the time at the start and end of your meal, next time aim to take a little longer than before

• Place a napkin on top of any leftover food to reduce temptation to go back and eat more beyond your point of feeling satisfied

TOP TIPS:• A regular meal pattern of 3 meals each day in a relaxed

atmosphere and the occasional snack if there is a particular time you feel particularly hungry is ideal, ensuring excessive hunger is never reached and equally the next meal is never far away.

• If breakfast is often missed, consider changing evening routines so there is less pressure on morning routines e.g. sort clothes at night to create time for breakfast in the mornings, or try making overnight oats

• Enjoy new foods and new recipes of varying textures, flavours and temperatures to build a picture of what most nourishes and satisfies. Consider how you could rebalance the meal with vegetables that would go well with it or make it more satisfying maybe by adding more protein, or feel less uncomfortable if you were to reduce the amount of fat in the recipe?

• Try pausing half way through a meal (split the food on the plate in half before you begin or serve a smaller portion of your meal to make it easier to pause) so you can reassess hunger and eating pleasure status. This provides the options to decide to continue if still hungry or still enjoying it, or to put the rest away for later. If you consistently feel overfull adjust your meals to suit you better.

• Try to avoid judging the experience or yourself as either good or bad. If you eat past a comfortable point or past satiety, focus instead on the immediate experience of eating the food using all your senses.

• If you eat to keep an unwanted thought or feeling at bay, it is easy to then feel bad about the over eating too which creates another problem. Instead, although it may initially be uncomfortable, start to work out how you can deal with the original problem.

• Change your usual routine. Try something distracting, relaxing and incompatible with eating – it could be something social e.g. call a friend / play with a pet / pick up an old hobby or try a new one / do something you’ve been meaning to do for a while around the home or garden e.g. sort photos, re-pot plants

• Consider when you would most enjoy eating a particular food. Maybe you are tempted to eat while prepping a meal, or when in the office. Think about when you will be more relaxed, in a pleasant environment and being able to give the food your full attention, enjoying it to the most. Apply this to eating out as well - think of the cost of eating out as an entrance fee to a whole experience (the surroundings / service / conversation), rather than just the volume of food.

IN SUMMARYAim for neither excessive hunger or over fullness, rather neutral and satisfied comfortable fullness which is usually reached within 10-15 minutes as your gut hormones begin to kick in.

Take time to pause momentarily, curiously and without judgement, to explore why you are wanting to eat, particularly if it is not at a designated meal time. If food is trying to meet an emotional need, how else could that need be better met?

Consider you could have any food any time you want. Will you enjoy it more now or at a different time?

In all situations, including if you have a food craving, aim to eat mindfully i.e. small mouthfuls slowly paced without distraction. Do this until the point that positive sensory feedback declines (law of diminishing pleasure). Remember, the first few mouthfuls of any food will be the most pleasurable.

Gradually aim to eat to the point where your body feels good afterwards, with the aim of eating to feel physically better.

EXPLORE MOREMindful eating

• amihungry.com/• www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-eat-mindfully• www.thecenterformindfuleating.org/• The Diet Survivor’s Handbook - J. Matx

• 60 lessons in eating, acceptance and self-care - E. Frankel

Mindfulness• www.actionforhappiness.org/take-action/bring-mindfulness-

into-your-day• www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-

treatments/mindfulness/mindfulness-exercises-tips/#exercises• www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/how-look-after-your-

mental-health-using-mindfulness

Mindfulness Apps

• Headspace www.headspace.com/

• NHS in association with Be Mindful apps.beta.nhs.uk/be-mindful/

• Calm www.calm.com/

Mindful practice on YouTube

• The Honest Guys

• Stop, Breathe, Think

• The Mindful Movement

HERE IS A SPACE FOR YOU We have set aside the next few pages for you - to explore mindful eating and mindfulness and any discoveries you might make.

HERE IS A SPACE FOR YOU We have set aside the next few pages for you - to explore mindful eating and mindfulness and any discoveries you might make.

HERE IS A SPACE FOR YOU We have set aside the next few pages for you - to explore mindful eating and mindfulness and any discoveries you might make.

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Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Review date: Feb 22v-0220-2

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Dietetic DepartmentHighfield Clinical Care Centre

Cliftonville RoadNorthampton

NN1 5BUTelephone: 01604 745036

Email: northamptonshire.dietetics@nhs.netwww.nhft.nhs.uk/dietetics

Dietetic Department Kettering General Hospital

Rothwell Road Kettering NN16 8UZ

Telephone: 01536 492317