The current state of our fast-paced society means that everyone is always on the move. People rush through daily activities to catch up, including their meals. As a result, many individuals suffer from eating disorders. For example, about 28.8 million Americans experience eating disorders in a lifetime.
Mindful eating is a mindfulness practice that helps people control their distractions and take charge of their eating habits to live healthier lives.
This article discusses what mindful eating is, how it works, its benefits, and best practices.
Let’s begin.
What is mindful eating?
Mindful eating involves paying attention to food, moment by moment. It activates sensual awareness to fully experience the taste of meals, cravings, triggers, and hunger cues. Although A review of 15 studies on mindfulness-based interventions in adolescents states that mindful eating techniques lead to significant weight loss, it isn’t just for weight loss.
Essentially, its goal is to facilitate awareness and intentional eating so that people can savor the moment when eating and maximize their experiences. It shifts focus from life’s hustle and bustle and allows people to live in the moment, appreciating their food and evaluating how they feel after every bite.
How does mindful eating work?
If you eat rapidly and distractedly, you may not notice your satiety level, causing you to overeat. However, you shift your focus to the food and eat slowly with mindful eating, so it’s easier to know when you are full.
Essentially, mindful eating entails:
- Eliminating distractions when eating
- Taking time to chew and swallow
- Eating until you are full
- Activating the senses and appreciating the color, texture, and taste of the food
- Examining the mood and feelings accompanying the meal
- Managing food anxieties
Benefits of mindful eating
Studies have proven that mindful eating controls unhealthy habits and offers other health-related benefits. Below are the most prominent advantages of inculcating mindful eating techniques:
Controls binge eating
Binge Eating Disorder (BED), also known as intuitive eating, is a type of eating disorder characterized by eating large quantities of food in a short period. It is often associated with a lack of control during every episode, as affected individuals eat very quickly until they feel uncomfortably full.
Reviews on mindfulness techniques interventions have revealed that mindful eating reduces binge eating episodes. Another study performed a 6-week meditation-based group for 18 obese women using mindfulness techniques such as mindful eating. The study reported that participants’ binge eating episodes decreased by four to 1.5 times a week.
Mindful eating helps individuals to eat correctly by controlling their speed. It also helps them reach a state of awareness and self-consciousness, where they observe and understand their feelings.
Consequently, they can suppress negative hunger cues and enable natural hunger triggers to eat healthily. For example, if a person uses food as a coping mechanism for depression or anxiety, mindful eating makes them aware of their emotions and lets them control how they feel. As a result, they stop seeing food as a solace to escape from uncomfortable feelings and eat only when they are hungry.
Therefore, by introducing mindful eating practices into their routine, they can significantly reduce intuitive eating habits and take control of their food portions, speed, and eating periods.
Reduces emotional eating
People engage in emotional eating to suppress negative emotions. Negative feelings make individuals feel empty, so they resort to food to experience a false sense of fullness or completeness.
A systematic review reveals that mindfulness-based approaches reduce emotional eating in individuals, leading to weight loss. Mindful eating helps patients identify their triggers, including stress, boredom, loneliness, and emptiness.
When practicing mindful eating, people pause and ask themselves if they are starving before eating. In the process, they recognize negative motivations for food and control their cravings. This leads to restrained eating, helping patients curb impulsiveness and comfort eating patterns.
Prevents external eating
External eating is the increased desire to eat due to environmental triggers such as the sight or smell of food. A review on mindful eating reports that this mindfulness technique reduces external eating episodes as it eliminates the appeal to eat food based on packaging or advertisements. As a result, individuals can eat less, responding only to natural hunger cues.
Reduces weight gain
Studies show that mindful eating leads to significant weight loss. It eliminates abnormal eating habits like external, emotional, and binge eating, thereby helping with weight maintenance. With mindful eating, individuals can make intentional food choices, eating only during hunger and stopping when they are full, preventing excessive and uncontrolled eating habits.
Moreover, a recent study reports that changes in eating speed can result in changes in weight gain. People who eat slowly weigh less by controlling their appetite and helping them feel full to eat less. Therefore, those practicing mindful eating experience weight loss due to slow eating techniques.
Alleviates stress
Research suggests that mindfulness-based practices reduce cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone involving the flight or fight response. Hence, the more stressed an individual is the higher their cortisol level increases.
Mindful eating reduces anxiety by helping people stay in the present. They are focused on their meals, thereby distracting them from worries and stressful situations. As a result, they are better relaxed and calm.
Facilitates digestion
Research reveals mindful eating combats indigestion by reducing overeating and promoting slow-paced eating. In addition, stress is connected to functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). Hence, by reducing stress through mindfulness, individuals can experience better digestion.
Identifies satisfaction levels
Studies explain that mindful eating involves focusing on internal cues such as hunger and satisfaction to prevent overeating. People chew slowly, drink water between bites, and savor foods’ taste and aroma when practicing mindful eating. Consequently, eating becomes more enjoyable and pleasurable. Also, these activities promote awareness as one can quickly identify satiety and stop when satisfied.
Promotes healthy food choices
Mindful eating is a deliberate action to make better food choices for healthier living. Therefore, it doesn’t stop at how you eat; it involves selecting nutritious foods too. It discourages emotional eating and helps individuals make rational food choices to improve their well-being. Research shows that mindful eating can help promote a better diet quality, including opting for fruits instead of snacks or reducing calorie intake.
Best mindful eating practices (Tips and Strategies)
Practicing mindful eating may seem unusual at first. However, it becomes a lifestyle with time. Below are the best tips to follow for practical mindful eating sessions:
Shop for healthy foods
Select fresh and nutritious foods and avoid processed foods. This eliminates junk food and helps you stick to a healthy diet. Additionally, pay attention to every food you buy and ensure that every item reflects a healthier lifestyle goal.
Eat only when hungry
Be accountable for when and why you eat. Incessantly satisfying cravings promote binge, emotional and external eating. Therefore, before preparing a meal, ask yourself why you are eating and be sure you aren’t eating as a response to emotions and cravings.
Dish small portions
Limit your food portion. You can reduce your plate’s size to nine inches or less. This helps you minimize excessive eating and exercise control.
Appreciate your meal
Before eating, take a moment to think about the meal preparation process and those involved. Then, show gratitude for the privilege to eat and appreciate everyone who contributed to the food preparation.
Engage your senses
Use all your senses to appreciate the food. While shopping, cooking, and eating, pay attention to the food details, including the color texture. This will help you focus on your meal and savor the moment maximally.
Chew in small bites
Take small bites while chewing. This will help you relish the food taste. Additionally, avoid distraction and allow you to chew the food completely.
Chew thoroughly
Take time to chew your food for as long as you can. Doing this will allow you to savor different flavors associated with the meal. Also, place utensils on the table between bites to avoid getting distracted.
Don’t talk with food in your mouth
When dining with others, devote the first five minutes to mindful eating. This involves savoring every experience in silence. However, if you must talk, ensure you aren’t doing this while chewing.
Access your satisfaction level
Evaluate your hunger levels at intervals. Access your body signals to know if you’ve reached your satisfaction level and stop eating when you realize you are full.
Keep gadgets away
Turn the TV and phones off when eating to avoid distractions. This is because watching t.v or scrolling through social media won’t help you concentrate on your meal. You may receive phone calls in between or become engrossed in the t.v show, thereby diverting your attention from the food.
Additionally, put other activities on hold, including working, writing, or reading.
Journal after your meal
After eating, write your experiences in a notepad. This involves noting how you felt when eating, your dislikes about the food, and your favorite moments. Also, include observations about your hunger and satisfaction levels.
Conclusion
Mindful eating is one of the most effective mindfulness techniques to improve awareness, prevent stress, and promote weight loss, among other benefits. This article explains what mindful eating is and explores its various benefits. For more helpful resources, visit our online portal.
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