Do you eat standing up, or while getting the kids out the door, or while still working on the computer?
If you are like I was, eating while multitasking is part of your lifestyle.
So think about this:
How can you really be aware of what and how much you are eating if your attention is elsewhere?
How do you know when you are full?
How do remember what you just ate?
So What is Mindful Eating?
Mindful eating is about listening to our body’s hunger cues.
It is a technique that can help you regain control over our eating habits, by noticing the smells, colors, flavors and textures of your food.
It is based on the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, which involves being fully aware of what is happening within and around you at the moment.
Eating with mindfulness is about creating habits that help you create a healthy relationship with food, feel satisfied with your food choices, appreciate the food you consume, and understand how your body feels when you eat. In the modern world, food is available anywhere at any time, so saying we have become a culture of mindless eaters is an understatement.
It entails eating more slowly, getting rid of distractions, such as the TV or computer, during eating times and letting go of guilt and anxiety over food.
How can you incorporate Mindful Eating into your lifestyle
Only eat while sitting at the table from a plate. No TV, no radio, no computer, just
you and your food. Make your meal more like a fine dining instead of a drive-thru experience.
1. Eat Slower
Rather than shoveling your food into your mouth so you can move onto the next thing. Take a little more time, chew your food rather than inhaling it, allow yourself enough time to enjoy the flavor, and your belly/brain enough time to realize it is full.
2. Rate your hunger
Rate your hunger on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is not hungry at all and 10 is I am going to drop dead (or someone around me will suffer that fate) if I don’t eat.
If you are only a 1,2 or 3 then you are likely reaching for that cookie out of boredom or habit, is there something else you could be doing instead?
3. What is really going to satisfy you
Sometimes we feel like we want something but don’t know what. So rather than thinking about what we really want we just grab what is closest to hand. When that doesn’t satisfy the craving you grab something else.
Instead, take a moment and work out what will really satisfy you. Once you know you are less likely to overeat.
If you really want chocolate, then go ahead and eat it slowly without guilt. You will find a small amount will be satisfying when it isn’t treated like a “forbidden” food.
4. Be a food critic
This is one of my favorite mindful eating tips.
Act like you're a food critic (whether your meal is fine dining or leftovers) and eat slowly and carefully while paying attention to every little flavor that arises while eating.
Eating mindfully takes practice and might seem like a lot of hard work. You might be tempted to say “I would rather just go keto for a few weeks to drop the pounds,” but mindful eating is about more than losing weight.
It’s about developing a healthy relationship with food and eating.