Mindful eating can be quite powerful. Many of us really don’t know what we spend our money on or what we actually eat in a day. So learning to be aware and in the moment when we are eating or drinking something can be a very powerful tool.
What is mindful eating? There are several different definitions. From the Center for Mindful Eating “As a practice, mindful eating can bring us awareness of our own actions, thoughts, feelings and motivations, and insight into the roots of health and contentment” https://thecenterformindfuleating.org/about-us
Here are my tips for mindfulness around eating:
- first observe when you are starting to eat – are you hungry – if not what is it about the situation that has you eating – are you out with friends and it is a social event? are you angry or sad and eating to “deal” with the emotion? or is it just habit – it is “time to eat”? -The goal here is to recognize if we are hungry we should eat – if it is something else then food isn’t the “best” answer if we have the disease of obesity.
- the next step of mindful eating is to “just eat” – don’t mutlitask when you are eating – don’t read a book, or watch TV – and if you are in a social situation be sure you are mindful of what is on your plate and keep the portion small
- now that you are only eating – pay attention to the food selected – what does it taste like, what did you choose.
All of these techniques begin to make us be in touch with our relationship with food and the next blog we will talk about how values affect our food choices.