Mindful eating is a practice that helps you become more aware of your relationship with food. It can be used for weight loss and maintenance, but it’s also a way to improve your overall health and well-being.
The biggest misconception about mindful eating is that it requires extreme discipline or self-denial. In fact, mindful eating is about making choices based on what you want and need rather than what others want you to eat. It is not about restriction or hard work; it’s about making choices based on your preferences.
Mindful Eating Is Not About Restriction or Hard Work
What is mindfulness?
Mindful eating is based on the Buddhist teaching of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present at the moment. It involves consciously paying attention to your thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.
Mindfulness isn’t about trying to achieve a certain state of mind or thinking positively. Instead, it’s about accepting your thoughts, emotions and circumstances as they are.
What is mindful eating?
It is giving attention to the food that you are eating. You are aware of the effect of foods on your body and health.
Mindful eating is also about being fully aware of the experience of eating. It involves paying attention to what, why and how much you’re consuming while making conscious decisions about your body, nutrition and what you eat.
5 reasons why you should practice it
1. You’ll enjoy your food more
2. You’ll eat less
3. You’ll feel fuller on fewer calories
4. It can help you lose weight or maintain your weight loss goals
5. It can reduce stress
Mindful eating is an excellent way to prevent or overcome binge eating and help you manage weight. It can also help avoid food cravings and other eating issues like bulimia or anorexia.
How to practice mindful eating
It is about paying attention to your eating and knowing how it makes you feel. It’s not about dieting, counting calories or restricting certain foods. Instead, mindful eating is a way of making peace with food so that you can enjoy your meals without feeling guilty afterwards.
- It starts with the selection of healthy foods. Therefore, it is necessary to find out the food content of your menu before eating. You can also plan your food habit a couple of days ahead. Besides, while shopping, avoid junk foods, as those are usually high in calories.
- Eat slowly – Take small bites and chew well, so your brain gets time to realize your stomach is full before it sends signals telling you it needs more food.
- Chew each bite slowly and mindfully to enjoy the taste and texture of what’s in your mouth.
- Put down your fork or chopsticks between bites – This allows you to take a few seconds’ breaks from eating. So that your brain can catch up with what’s happening in your stomach.
- Avoid distraction while eating. Switch off the TV and do not scroll down Facebook or Twitter.
The Bottom Line
Mindful eating is a way of paying attention to your awareness of your eating habits.
It helps you become more aware of how and what you eat to make healthier dietary choices.
It’s not just about weight loss, but it helps with that. Mindful eating is about eating healthier, feeling better, and finding peace within yourself.
