What is Mindful Eating?

You may have heard of mindful eating on TV, in

magazines, or online. It’s a pretty hot topic right

now. In fact, it’s been being talked about so

much that a lot of people get the false

impression that it’s some kind of new fad diet.

In fact, mindful eating isn’t a diet at all – but it

can help you lose weight.

The goal of mindful eating is pretty simple. It’s

about being more mindful of the foods you eat.

It’s about really enjoying food and using it to

nourish your body instead of eating just to eat.

You take time to feel your body and learn about

hunger cues.

Your body knows what it needs but we’ve

stopped listening to it. We eat at specific times

instead of when we’re hungry, we eat until

we’re stuffed, and we learn early that we’re not

supposed to leave food on the plate when we

leave the table. These habits actually hurt you

in the long run.

Mindful eating isn’t a diet. It’s a lifestyle where

you eat when you’re truly hungry, you pick

foods that are delicious and nourishing, and you

take time to savor each bite. It’s also the best

step you can take towards getting rid of the

unhealthy diet mindset and developing a

healthy relationship with food.

There is a common slogan used along with

mindful eating:

Mindful eating is eating with intention and

attention.

The key steps to mindful eating are:

1. Listen to your body when it comes to

hunger. Eat when you’re actually hungry, not

when it’s time to eat. You should also take care

to make sure it’s actually hunger and not

emotional hunger or thirst.

You can drink water throughout the day to

avoid “thirst hunger” but “emotional hunger” is

a bit more difficult. The more practice you have

with mindful eating the better you’ll get it at it.

Mindful eating is more than just what

you eat, it’s how you eat it!

Mind Body Wellness News

Mindful Eating Edition

What’s Inside:

What is Mindful Eating?

4 Benefits of Mindful Eating

3 Tips for Getting Started With Mindful

Eating

Top 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Diet for

Mindful Eating

4 Great Grocery Shopping Tips for Mindful

Eating

The main thing to remember is that emotional

hunger happens quickly while actual hunger is

more gradual. Emotional hunger can be

triggered by stress, fear, and tons of other

emotions.

You should also stop eating before you feel

stuffed. Instead, aim to be done when you no

longer feel hungry. That stuffed feeling is

actually you overeating! Don’t be afraid to leave

some food on the plate.

2. There are is no “healthy” and “unhealthy”

when it comes to food. There are, however,

foods that are more nourishing.

As part of the mindful eating lifestyle you can

eat anything. You do want to aim to fill your

diet with foods that are nourishing to your body

but there is nothing wrong with having some ice

cream or chocolate.

You’re free to make that choice. Just make sure

you’re doing it because you want to, not

because of emotional hunger.

3. Eat your food slowly and enjoy it.

Eating food slowly will make you feel full more

quickly but it also makes sure you enjoy the

time you spend eating. Find a quiet place and

savor each bite. Really taste it and feel the

textures. Think about how the food will nourish

your body. In between bites put down your fork

and take a sip of water. Enjoy your meal!

The goal is to be mindful while you eat. Think

about the food, how you feel both physically

and emotionally, and learn to pay more

attention to the way food affects you.

4 Benefits of Mindful Eating

Mindful eating can help you in a lot of ways.

Some you may expect, others you may not have

thought of before. It’s a mindset that goes

deeper than any diet and I think that’s a big part

of how it affects us. Here are four great benefits

of mindful eating.

1. You’ll start to enjoy food more, even though

you won’t eat as much.

When you take the time to really focus on each

and every bite of your food you start to pick out

flavors and textures. You learn more about

which foods you love and when you’re eating

something particularly delicious you’ll get to

really savor it.

Eating your favorite foods becomes an even

more amazing experience when your focus is on

enjoying it to the best of your ability!

2. You’ll make the choice to eat more

nourishing food.

Mindful eating is about listening to your body

and feeding it for nourishment rather than

eating mindlessly. Not only do fruits and

vegetables offer great flavors and textures but

you’ll notice that after eating a nutritious meal

your body and mind will feel better. Of course

you can still have your treats, but they’ll be

conscious choices rather than “cheats.”

3. It can end the unhealthy relationship most

people have with food.

Today we’re taught that some goods are “good”

and some foods are “bad.” If you want to be

healthy there is this entire section of foods we

shouldn’t eat. The “diet mindset” is all about

restricting yourself to lose weight and it’s

something that leaves you feeling like you’re

missing out. It’s not something you can turn

into real lifestyle changes.

Mindful eating isn’t about restricting yourself.

It’s not about leaving the table hungry, avoiding

carbs, or eating in every night. It’s about eating

when you’re hungry, stopping when you’re not,

and taking the time to eat each bite of your

food mindfully.

4. You can lose weight!

This is a big one for a lot of people. Most people

look into mindful eating because they want to

lose weight but don’t want to count calories or

deprive themselves of their favorite foods.

Mindful eating helps you lose weight because it

helps you stop overeating and snacking

mindlessly.

When you eat more slowly and take a break

between bites you’ll feel when you’re not

hungry rather than just eating until you’re

stuffed.

Mindless snacking is a big issue you can help to

end through mindful eating. Have you ever

made a bowl of popcorn or grabbed a bag of

chips before sitting down to watch TV? It’s full

one minute and empty the next! You weren’t

thinking about the food as you ate it so you

didn’t realize exactly how much you were

eating. That’s what mindful eating aims to stop.

3 Tips for Getting Started

With Mindful Eating

For most people the hardest part of mindful

eating is getting started. The longer you work at

it the easier it gets and the better you’ll feel.

The main issue is that it’s so different from how

we’re used to eating.

Look around, the world today is full of people

who eat mindlessly. You may even be one of

them. How often do you see people go through

a fast food drive through, order two or three

cheeseburgers, and eat them all within a few

minutes?

How often do you make or buy lunch and eat it

as quickly as possible to get back to your day?

What about just snacking mindlessly while

watching TV?

These are habits we’ve learned that lead to an

unhealthy relationship with food where we’re

eating just to eat rather than to nourish our

bodies. Do you want to change that and start

eating more mindfully? Here are three tips to

get started.

1. Understand it doesn’t need to be all or

nothing. It can be hard to eat every meal

mindfully, especially when you’re first starting.

You can start out with just eating a snack a day

mindfully while trying harder to watch your

hunger cues.

Maybe you’ll focus on eating every meal but

lunch mindfully because you only have a little

bit of time for lunch at work. That’s fine!

Decide ahead of time and stick to that plan.

2. Go somewhere quiet to eat and really focus

on your food. Before you take your first bite

take a look at the colors and textures in your

food. Admire the aroma.

Once you take that first bite, savor it! Enjoy

each bite. Put your fork down between bites to

help slow yourself down. It’s too easy to take

bite after bite without really enjoying your food.

By slowing down you’ll feel full faster and also

get more time to really appreciate your food.

3. Remember, food is meant to nourish your

body! There are no bad foods, but there are

foods that are going to nourish you better and

you should try to include more of those in your

daily meals.

Try flavorful vegetables, colorful fruit, and new

foods you may have avoided in the past. It’s

amazing how delicious natural foods are when

you take the time to really taste them.

I know this is all going to feel a little weird at

first. It’s a huge shift in the way you’re probably

used to eating, but it’s the first step to eating to

nourish your body rather than just to eat.

Top 3 Reasons to Ditch Your

Diet for Mindful Eating

Mindful eating seems to be the hot topic on

everyone’s minds lately. When it gets into

popular or social media that people are using a

technique or practice to lose weight or get

healthy then it can be easy to file that thing

under “diet” or, even worse, “fad diet” and just

gloss over it.

Mindful eating isn’t a diet, but it can end up

being one of the best decisions you decide to

make when it comes to your personal weight

loss. Here are the top 3 reasons to kick your

“diet” to the curb for a healthy dose of mindful

eating.

1. Mindful eating doesn’t restrict what you eat.

Restricting what you can and can eat is the

number one thing diets do. The thing is, that’s

the number one reason that diets (particularly

fad diets) end up failing for most people.

When you have to pick from a list when you’re

deciding what to make a meal with, you tend to

get bored and feel restricted pretty fast which

can lead to cheating or even quitting your diet

altogether.

Mindful eating is more about actively choosing

healthy options without fully cutting anything

out. When you don’t feel like you have to cheat

you’re more likely to make a healthy and tasty

choice for your meals.

2. Mindful eating isn’t a rigid structure.

Diets often have very little give or leeway in

their plans. You have to eat this and only this at

these times and no more or less often. Sure

they give you plenty of structure, but eating out

of habit or because you “have to” is what

causes unhealthy relationships with food to

begin with.

The core of mindful eating is eating nourishing,

tasty foods when you’re hungry and stopping

when you’re full. It’s not something that you

can make a mistake with because there are no

wrong ways to eat mindfully.

3. Mindful eating doesn’t have to be done with

or without anything else.

Mindful eating isn’t a diet, it’s a mindset and a

lifestyle change that you choose to actively take

part in. You don’t have to tailor an exercise plan

to it or schedule your life around it.

All you’re really doing is choosing to pay

attention to your hunger cues and make good

decisions about what to eat, when to eat, and

when to stop.

You can use it alongside anything you’re

currently doing to lose weight or you can use it

on its own just to make healthier decisions

about what you’re choosing to eat. In the end,

it’s all up to you.

The best part about mindful eating is that, while

some diets “aren’t for everyone”, mindful

eating is for everyone and anyone willing to

take the time to listen to their bodies. You could

start today with your next meal if you wanted

to. In fact, that’s a pretty good idea.

4 Great Grocery Shopping Tips

for Mindful Eating

When it comes to making healthy choices it

starts from the ground up. What exactly does

that mean for you? It means starting at the

source of your food, the grocery store!

With mindful eating it is especially important to

make the right choices when making food

purchases because having access to healthy and

tasty foods makes it that much easier to make

an active choice towards those foods.

There are no right or wrong foods when eating

mindfully, but that doesn’t mean that there

aren’t some choices out there that are better

than others. Here are some basic tips to follow

when shopping while mindfully eating.

1. Don’t go shopping hungry!

This is a pretty basic tip in general, when you

shop on an empty stomach you’re more likely

to fill your cart with what you’re craving or

what looks good and you’ll leave the store with

a cart full of chips and snacks.

Mindful eating is all about following your

hunger cues so make sure that your hunger is

satisfied before you start your list and heading

to the store.

2. Do a little research

Buying groceries when you first start

mindful eating can be tricky.

Mindful eating is all about eating delicious,

healthy foods. You want to be eating foods that

taste good and are good for you, so if you want

you can put in a little extra credit by doing some

research online about which foods have good

nutritional value that you already enjoy.

Also don’t be afraid to get creative and try new

things, you want to enjoy your food so if you

see something healthy that looks like it tastes

good, pick it up and give it a try.

3. Don’t restrict yourself

Just because you’re eating mindfully doesn’t

mean that you can’t have some of your

favorites, too. If you’re feeling like you’ve got a

bit of a sweet tooth then don’t flinch when it

comes to adding a sweet surprise to your list.

Since the core of mindful eating is considering

your food as you eat, you just need to think to

yourself “I know this doesn’t have much

nutritional value but it tastes good” and make

sure to balance what you eat with something

healthy along with it.

4. Try to avoid “mindless” foods

You know what I’m talking about when I say

this. If a food is the kind of thing you can just

pop in your mouth or take handfuls of at a time

without thinking, you may want to avoid putting

it in your cart altogether. This includes things

like chips, popcorn, candy, or just about

anything else that comes in a big bag that’s easy

to reach into and scoop out of.

You want to be able to savor the flavors and

textures of your food, something you can’t do if

you’re just shoveling it into your mouth. If you

want snacks, pick out something healthy and

delicious you can take time to enjoy instead.

Just like the mindful eating itself, you should be

making an active choice to choose healthy,

delicious foods that you can take your time to

enjoy and savor while you eat them. Stay in

your mindful eating mindset while you shop and

you’re sure to come out with lots of great food

options from your shopping trip.

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